ASU welcomes a new campus...in California. Plus, Attorney General Mark Brnovich is taking aim at student loan forgiveness, and Prop. 308 looks to give Dreamers in-state tuition. Join hosts Sonya Sheptunov and Naomi Dubovis as they explain this week's biggest ASU news stories on "State Press Play."
State Press podcast transcripts are produced by a third-party transcription service and may contain errors. The official record for State Press podcasts is the audio.
SONYA SHEPTUNOV
Hi there. I'm Sonya Sheptunov.
NAOMI DUBOVIS
And I'm Naomi Dubovis.
SONYA SHEPTUNOV
You're listening to state press play.
ASU promoted its California center this week, Arizona attorney general Mark Brnovich filed a claim against Biden's student loan forgiveness plan. And what a yes vote on Prop 308 would mean for students under DACA.
NAOMI DUBOVIS
We've got all this and more for you this week. Tune in for the ASU community's top stories. Every Wednesday right here right now.
SONYA SHEPTUNOV
So downtown LA has a new resident and its Arizona State University. What was previously the Herald Examiner building is now the newly renovated ASU California Center with classrooms boardrooms and assumed to be ground floor retail space. It's open to ASU students and the community of LA. We're joined today by State Press Managing Editor Wyatt Myskow. To talk about why this matters. Wyatt, thank you for being here.
WYATT MYSKOW
Thanks for having me.
SONYA SHEPTUNOV
What does ASU stand to gain from this whole thing? It sounds pretty high risk.
WYATT MYSKOW
It is a tad high risk. But it is something that I think fits into what ASU has been doing for a long time, which is expanding its footprint to more and more students over the past 20 years or so that's been obviously in the state of Arizona with things like the downtown Phoenix campus opening. And places like the new Mesa campus opening over in the West Valley. Basically, what's happening here is that President Crow and the university saw an opportunity to get California students enrolled at ASU. Already a good chunk of ASU out of state students come from California. And what President crow himself has said, as long as well university staff, ASU spokespeople is that this new campus in downtown LA is to serve California students who are you know, longtime residents of the state who did not get accepted into the Cal State, or UC system, which is California's own public university systems. And instead, you know, they obviously still want to go to college, maybe they don't want to cross the state and go into Arizona. So why not bring ASU to them, essentially. And it is something that's I mean, this is kind of unheard of a public university, bringing a whole new satellite campus to a state with the goal of serving those State students is kind of something that just doesn't happen.
NAOMI DUBOVIS
So is this new location, a campus? Could it even be called that if it's not a campus? What is it?
WYATT MYSKOW
I mean, it is technically kind of a campus. It's called the California Center. So I guess campus isn't in the name, but it is serving students. What this Herald Examiner building has done in the past, and what the Senator has done is, you know, like, for example, Cronkite la students have obviously worked out of that building, that's were part of it. Cronkite News is agency kind of works out for reporters, their students, student reporters there. But this is also now they're starting to enroll just California residents at ASU. And we've done a bit of reporting on this in the past, there's not a ton of students, I believe it's around 80 students total currently enrolled. But the university has spent around $400,000, lobbying the state of California to create a pathway for students enrolled at the California Center to get federal financial aid. Because to get federal financial aid, you have to be accredited by the state. And ASU was not accredited, because there was no way for a public university not from California to be accredited in state of California. Because again, that's not something that happens, you know, a private university may come in and open a new campus. And there's ways to be accredited through that. But there's no way for a public university that because, again, this is just kind of weird, and not something that really happens. But this is basically a campus that is going to be providing, I assume, essentially a full regular college experience for the most part. Um, there are some problems with that this is a brand new campus, there's not going to be ASU football games for you to attend or any sporting events. Obviously, there isn't that community that's been built in that like something like the ASU Tempe campus has, because it's been around for decades, those things are going to need to be slowly brought in and if they ever will be, we'll have to see how that turns out. But it is basically a campus. Yeah.
SONYA SHEPTUNOV
How will the new location affect Arizona based ASU students? How will it affect the LA population?
WYATT MYSKOW
Well, for the LA population, it gives you another potential opportunity to enroll at a public university get that education that you want that bachelor's degree on the Arizona side, it's quite interesting because I don't really know what the benefit is right now for the average ASU student. Like I mentioned before, you know, if you're a journalism student at the Cronkite School and you want to do the Cronkite LA Bureau, that's an possibility that is available at this new satellite campus. But for also for film students, I believe they will based on opportunities, but for the average student, there's not going to be much for you for this campus. And also, I mean, ASU is a public university funded by the state of Arizona, it's funded by Arizona tax dollars. And this is not really benefiting that many of Arizona's taxpayers. The university, we have an argument that it will. I have not heard that argument yet. But it is something that's quite interesting. And I think in the long term, what is really probably about is enrolling more students. This is an opportunity if ASU plays its cards right for them to potentially enroll hundreds, if not 1000s of California residents to pay tuition, which is a increasingly large chunk of ASU's budget and where they get their money from, just like pretty much any university in this country, the more students you have, the bigger that budget is, which is increasingly important. As you know, the state legislature in the state of Arizona has not increased higher education's funding in the years. And so this is a way for them to make money and to grow in other areas as well. And so some of those dollars, if this is successful, will likely probably come back to ASU students here in Arizona as well. But again, time will tell what that will actually look like and how it will play out.
NAOMI DUBOVIS
What do you think the average person's opinion on this is just based off of what you heard?
WYATT MYSKOW
I mean, I think most people probably don't know that this is a thing. You know, I mean, it is it is brand new. I mean, they're just I mean it opened last year, but they're starting this week to roll out kind of the welcome events and really introducing this to the broader ASU community into I think the broader California community as well. But I imagine most students probably don't know that we just opened a California campus just like most students probably don't know, ASU has a little, you know, offices in Washington DC, or that it has a whole nother satellite campus in Lake Havasu City. This is just some that's going to take time for people to realize, but I imagine ASU will market this heavy, especially to California residents as a potential alternative to Cal State and UC public universities. But as of right now, I imagine most students probably don't know about it. And if they do, they probably think it's no different than something like the West Campus opening up or the downtown Phoenix campus opening up or the the new Mesa campus opening up. But it is really quite different. Because again, this is not, you know, ASU in its charter, and it's constitutionally obligated, like educate Arizona residents. This is not, it's they've said this very like loud and clear on the university side that this new campus is about enrolling California residents, which is kind of, you know, not technically in their purview, but they argue that it is and that it's in their charter, to educate as many people as possible as a public university. And obviously, this is one step of doing that, though some may disagree that this is the right step to take.
SONYA SHEPTUNOV
Is there anything else students should know?
WYATT MYSKOW
What I think is really important that the ASU student may not know is that across higher ed, there is this kind of competition between both public and private universities to compete with students. Higher education in general shrinking, it's something that people in the field refer to a lot because less and less students are graduating from high school less and less students are going on to a university. And you're often seeing that in the form of like a big public university like Oregon State University, opening up a satellite campus in Portland, which is not where their typical campus is based, and competing for students at Portland State University. And that's but those are universities in the same state. What we're seeing here at ASU is once again, an Arizona based university, going directly into California not to get out of state students who come to the Tempe campus, but stay in California and enroll at ASU and go to classes at a new ASU University in California. That's not something that happens really ever. And it's gonna be really interesting to see if they're successful in this and how state lawmakers react to it.
SONYA SHEPTUNOV
That was State Press Managing Editor Wyatt Myskow. Thank you for joining us today. Thank you so much. For more on the California Center, read the article by Kristin Appoline Castillo at state press.com. Up next, a new ballot initiative could benefit Arizona dreamers plus Arizona's Attorney General is taking aim at student loan forgiveness.
NAOMI DUBOVIS
Proposition 308 is a new ballot initiative that would allow Arizona students in state tuition regardless of immigration status. Undocumented students would be eligible as long as they have graduated from or attended in Arizona public or private school for at least two years. Undocumented graduates from home schools in Arizona would also qualify. A yes vote would overturn the current law under proposition 300. According to the higher ed Immigration Portal, prop 300 made it so undocumented students cannot pay in state tuition, so no vote would mean that this law remains. Currently undocumented students pay up to 150% of in state tuition, and many students have to rely on private scholarships. Currently, undocumented students pay up to 150% of in state tuition, and many students have to rely on private scholarships. ASU student activists and advocacy groups are trying to spread the word about the proposition. One group is A liento and its main purpose is to help undocumented immigrants with well being and leadership development. Maria Garcia, a junior at ASU and undocumented student is hoping for a yes vote, claiming that it would change lives. For more on the proposition read Alyssa Horton story at state press.com.
SONYA SHEPTUNOV
Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich took action against Biden's student loan forgiveness plan last Thursday, after threatening to sue in early September Brnovich follow through and filed the lawsuit and the district court of Arizona while berkovich filed the lawsuit alone. Six other agencies and red states have filed a joint suit against the Biden administration and the Department of Education, arguing Biden overstepped his authority. And at the same time, the Education Department changed its guidance regarding federally backed but private loans, these loans will no longer be forgiven. State Press politics editor Reagan priests reported it's unclear why the Department reversed its guidance and it has not announced it publicly. Out of the estimated 40 million eligible for forgiveness. This move would cut some 700,000 applicants from the program according to an article from the New York Times. To learn more about the lawsuit and student loan forgiveness read the article by Regan priest at state press.com.
NAOMI DUBOVIS
And as we near the end, here are our favorite stories from this last week.
SONYA SHEPTUNOV
KJZZ host Mark Brody sat down with Arizona Daily Sun reporter Sean Golightly this week to talk about what is quite possibly my new favorite animal. Forest ninja bison called the Grand Canyon National Park and its surrounding areas home.
NAOMI DUBOVIS
Why are they called forest ninja bison?
SONYA SHEPTUNOV
I'm so glad you asked. The Ponderosa forest regions of the Grand Canyon National Park have proved to be the perfect environment for these bison to thrive, but they're not native to the area. Golightly says the bison have learned their safe from hunting there. They've gotten so good at it though that the area is now overpopulated the Grand Canyon herd started at around 100 bison in the early 1900s and numbered almost 600 in 2014. Limited lethal culling efforts in 2021 prove difficult because these bison have learned to be stealthy. I have to say these 2000 pound animals have earned both their nickname and my respect.
NAOMI DUBOVIS
Yes, it is very respectable that they're 2000 pounds. They're Bison, and they still managed to be sneaky and stealthy. I don't know how that's possible.
SONYA SHEPTUNOV
Neither do I and I have great respect for such a large animal going out of its way to be a misanthrope.
NAOMI DUBOVIS
I'm sure many, many introverts can relate.
SONYA SHEPTUNOV
Listen to the full story by Mark Brody a KJZZ.org .
NAOMI DUBOVIS
An article from the Phoenix New Times reported on John biochars collection of memorabilia from a defunct amusement park called legend city. The story is quite unique, so I recommend you take a look at Benjamin Leatherman story at Phoenix new times.com. So this legend city operated from 1963 to 1983 and it was located on the Phoenix Tempe border. The parks creators wanted to create a wild west version of Disneyland, but some financial instability and constant change of ownership forced the owners to sell it to the Salt River Project. And to keep the pun intended legend alive. Beuker wrote a book about the park and kept an archive of posters, tickets and other souvenirs. He also made a website with a log of rides, maps, newspaper articles and pretty much anything else you can think of. I have to say my favorite attraction from the ones I've seen is got to be the Lost Dutchman mine. It's this thing where writers can go into a minecart and tour through a haunted mineshaft Mix. You wonder sometimes if it's actually haunted.
SONYA SHEPTUNOV
Oh absolutely that if if ghosts could gather anywhere and abandoned mineshaft has to be on that list.
NAOMI DUBOVIS
Oh absolutely makes me want to go back to a time machine just to interact with the ghosts. I will say that when I looked at the photos on the website it reminded me of Temple Run Two.
SONYA SHEPTUNOV
Oh my god next temple run game dropping Temple Run Arizona.
NAOMI DUBOVIS
Yes, Temple Run Arizona edition where you were being chased by coyotes and you have to jump over cactuses. Cacti?
SONYA SHEPTUNOV
Cacti. Thanks for listening to this episode of state press play. But don't pause this just yet. If you're powering through some session A's and grinding through midterms, we feel you will be taking fall break off just like you. So catch us next time on October 19.
NAOMI DUBOVIS
And so you don't miss our next episode. Follow the State Press on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Follow us on Instagram and Twitter at State Press. To learn
SONYA SHEPTUNOV
To learn more about the stories we talked about today. Check out the articles online. You can find all of these stories and more at state press.com. Thank you to Wyatt Myskow for being here with us this week. This show was edited and produced by the State Press podcast desk.
NAOMI DUBOVIS
Thank you to our editor Kate Ourada. And thank you to our managing team Andrew Onodera and Angelina Steel. Our music is courtesy of Epidemic Sound. I'm Sonya. I'm Naomi.
SONYA SHEPTUNOV
You've been listening to stay press play. Happy fall break
Sonya Sheptunov is a podcast producer at The State Press. They take an interest in data, counterculture, and all things nerdy. In their free time you can find them drinking too much coffee or attempting to crochet.
