EAST VALLEY (By Judd Slivka, Arizona Republic) June 4, 2004 - A radical redesign of the state's university system began Thursday not with a bang, but a whisper.

None of the 20 members of the public who spoke at an Arizona Board of Regents meeting at ASU said it was a bad idea. In fact, most of them agreed that the state's three-university system needs to be tweaked.

Virtually every group that could be affected - Hispanics, students, ASU-West faculty, NAU alumni, presidents of community colleges, West Valley businesses and a group from Lake Havasu City that wants a university there - had something to say.

The original plan has Arizona State University and the University of Arizona continuing their missions as primarily research institutions. ASU-West would spin off into the free-standing Central Arizona University, focused on undergraduate education. Northern Arizona University would continue its role as an undergraduate-focused institution with some doctoral programs, and NAU-Yuma and UA-South would combine to become the undergraduate-focused Southern Arizona University.

Central, Northern and Southern Arizona universities would be collectively known as the Arizona Regional Universities.

The first time nearly everyone in the state heard about the plan was May 23, when they read about it in newspapers around the state.

Everyone wants input

Thursday's meeting was the first public hearing. The message the regents heard: We want to be involved in the design process. We don't want to comment when it's done. We want to help mold the new system with our own good hands.

"We urge you to include input from students at all campuses, as we will be the ones most affected," said Tracy Chavis, president of the ASU Graduate and Professional Students Association.

The challenge for the regents is to create a plan while being subjected to the push-pull-punch of interest groups.

The board authorized a feasibility study for the redesign. The study will probably cost $35,000 to $75,000, depending on its complexity, and the state is hoping that some economic assistance will come through the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education, which has two grants that could be applied toward the Arizona study.

2-year college concerns

Arizona has an exemplary community college system, one that transfers credits nearly seamlessly into the state's three public universities. And with about 400,000 students enrolled in community college classes this past year, the colleges collectively pack a lot of political power, particularly in the state's rural areas. Eastern Arizona College in Thatcher, for example, is one of Graham County's largest employers.

And maybe that explains the strongest reaction the regents got at Thursday's meeting.

"The plan as proposed falls short in meeting the needs of urban and rural communities. A model that is community-based, focused on workforce preparedness and economic development, would be best for all citizens and business throughout the state of Arizona," said Terry Calaway, president of Central Arizona College in Coolidge and incoming president of the Arizona Community College Association.

Other concerns weren't as sharply worded as Calaway's, but the same themes kept surfacing: namely, don't turn ASU-West and NAU - and though no one said it, the proposed southern university - into lower-level schools.

"I'm very worried . . . that when this is all done, NAU is going to be on the short end," said Charles Pilon, an NAU graduate and former professor there. "Call it what you want, but I guarantee you in two or three or four years, when this is all played out, NAU will be on the short end.

"I do not want my degree to be diminished. I do not want NAU to become a second-rate school."

Troublesome 'tiers'

That was something that Gov. Janet Napolitano tried to address early in the meeting, when she told the regents, "We need to watch our vocabulary. How we articulate is very important. For example, we shouldn't talk about tiering. Tiers imply one thing is better than something else."

Some of the other comments and proposals put forward at the meeting:

• Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne, who, like Napolitano, sits on the board as an ex officio member, suggested changing the proposed constellation of university presidents. Rather than each of the regional universities having a chancellor report to the president of the Arizona Regional Universities, who would be on par with the UA and ASU presidents, Horne suggested that each university have its own president.

• A delegation from Lake Havasu City asked that the regents consider placing a regional four-year university in that western Arizona locale.

• ASU-West's chapter of MEChA, a Hispanic activist group, suggested a plan to grow ASU-West as a large free-standing research university and turn Glendale Community College into a four-year university focused on undergraduate education.

• Angela de la Cruz, incoming president of the NAU Alumni Association, told the regents that the association wants to be an "active participant" in the redesign process, but "we will be unwilling to support those efforts which diminish Northern Arizona University."