Plan to Reorganize Arizona's Higher Education Causes Heated Debate

Article, Chronicle for Higher education, October 8, 2004
http://chronicle.com/free/v51/i07/07a02301.htm

Arizona has been one of the fastest growing states in America over the last decade, and it's putting a lot of pressure on Arizona's university system.

Currently, there are three main research universities in Arizona: Arizona State University, Northern Arizona University, and the University of Arizona. There are branch campuses associated with these three universities located across the state. As the student population grows with Arizona residents, it is harder for both the state and education system to keep tuition down.

Chris Herstam, the president of the Arizona Board of Regents that oversees higher education in Arizona, introduced a proposal last may that sent a shockwave throughout the academic community. His proposal called for the creation of three new regional universities in Arizona focused on providing only bachelor degree educations.

These three new schools would be created from certain branch campuses currently under the umbrella of NAU, U of A, or ASU. The rationale for creating three new universities was to cut costs. Because the new universities would not be designated as research institutions, they wouldn't qualify certain funding, which would ultimately save the state and university system money.

Of course faculty and students at the campuses designated to become new universities are angry, claiming that the proposal would hinder each campus' ability to hire quality faculty, which would in turn lower the academic quality of the institutions themselves.

Those who support the new proposals are mainly from the University of Arizona's and Arizona State's main campuses in Tucson and Tempe, respectively. Under the proposal, these two campuses would maintain their research university status.