Amidst the torrential gales of the Arizona recession, ASU officials have had to make some tremendously tough decisions in the statewide struggle to keep the University afloat.
Sacrifices have been made.
Fiscal Year 2009 budget cuts led to staff and faculty furloughs and layoffs, program discontinuations and, according to an ASU press release, the warning: “Additional state budget cuts in Fiscal Year 2010 could result in closing two entire campuses.”
Last week Gov. Jan Brewer asked all state agencies to explore the possibility of an additional 15 to 20 percent cut later this year.
Well it’s official – ASU is doomed. Let’s open up another campus.
Or so argue representatives of the Colleges@ASU program, who are considering the city of Chandler as one of many locations for a new satellite campus as a way to stimulate the region’s economy and offer more career openings for local students.
“My impression is that Arizona State University is looking at opportunities to meet the demands for the future, and I appreciate them looking at the demographics of Chandler in a very positive way,” said Chandler Mayor Boyd Dunn earlier this month.
And it’s true — Arizona needs jobs badly. Last week, the Arizona Department of Commerce revealed that Arizona has lost more jobs in the past year than any other state except Michigan, reporting a 7.5 percent rise in unemployment from August 2008 to August 2009.
But perhaps Dunn skipped that day in English 101 when the professor covered ‘kairos,’ the Aristotelian rhetorical appeal to the opportune timing of an argument.
Let’s recap.
ASU is presently knee-deep in financial pandemonium, unsure what tomorrow will bring or whether its West and Polytech campuses will even remain open by the 2011 fiscal year.
All the while the Arizona Joint Legislative Budget Committee prepares itself for a slash and burn approach to adjusting federal spending, hoping to compensate for an immense August drop of 10 percent in state revenue.
Despite the admirable intentions of both the Colleges@ASU program and the city of Chandler, asking for a multimillion handout these days is likely to be about as fruitful as strolling over to Mill Avenue and asking a homeless guy for 10 bucks.
We can all wait until the day that the clouds part in the sky and President Barack Obama descends upon Arizona in his magical Hope Chariot sprinkling stimulus money and goodwill upon the citizens below, but until that day comes extravagant projects such as the foundation and maintenance of a new ASU campus are going to be reluctantly out of the question.
Let’s just focus on making it through Fiscal Year 2010, shall we?
Hal Cohen is an accounting major waiting on a Change We Can Believe In TM. Send him your two cents (or $10) at hscohen@asu.edu.
