There seems to be a theme developing in the world of Arizona's education system.
One of bad ideas passed off as revolutionary solutions. Much like the reevaluation of scholarship requirements, Arizona's newest idea to save students and schools a little money is a catastrophe waiting to happen.
According to an Arizona Republic article, Sen. Andy Biggs, R-Gilbert, may be reintroducing a bill in the coming session that would entirely separate the West and Polytechnic campuses from ASU.
They would function as their own individual universities, with their own professors, faculty, administration and independent governing bodies.
The bill was introduced initially by Biggs in March of this year, but did not make it to committee.
It has been dredged up from the depths again for the upcoming legislative session, although it has not been officially introduced.
The claim is that dividing up the West and Polytechnic campuses into their own universities would reduce the cost on students and provide a lower-cost local option for Mesa and West Phoenix area students.
This, like so many other ideas that have bubbled to the surface in the desperate attempt to save money, is just plain dumb.
Dividing up ASU not only undermines the political clout that a large, research-based university has with the local and federal governments, it wastes time and money restructuring the three new administrative systems that would be necessary for two new universities and a newly shrunken ASU Tempe and Downtown.
And in a time of perhaps the worst budget crunch education has seen in decades, spending money on new facilities, new staff, new programs and expanding the two new campuses to meet the demand seems ill-advised.
In another Arizona Republic article, Biggs said he is trying to get “greater autonomy and greater stability and flexibility” to the state universities by dividing them up and creating a new board of trustees and new administrative systems for each. .
The money-saving claim is that by dividing up ASU — which is currently a research university and therefore more expensive than non-research schools like NAU — students have the option of attending a lower cost school near where they live, saving them money in tuition and transportation costs. Students who want to attend ASU in Tempe or Downtown Phoenix would still have the option.
This logic is fatally flawed. Yes, perhaps creating new schools to serve the West Phoenix and East Mesa population as a low cost option would save them tuition. However, the starting costs for that sort of operation are immense. New dorms to accommodate more students, more classrooms to allow for general education classes and others that have not been previously offered on those campuses, more faculty and creating a new administration full of people that need to be paid. It would also increase the tuition for the students who wish to stay on Tempe campus, or whose major the satellite schools do not offer.
What I don't understand is why this bill is being introduced now. Perhaps one day in the distant future when the streets are paved with gold and all our debt problems are solved, perhaps then we can consider creating a new state university. But until then, perhaps a focus on the flailing standards of Arizona education, the pitiful percentage of our budget that goes to education and ASU's own personal fiscal crisis should be the focus.
Reach the columnist at omcquarr@asu.edu
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