The Arizona Board of Regents and the presidents of Arizona’s three public universities met at ASU Thursday to discuss educational plans and legislation affecting the schools.
The board addressed educational goals for 2010-2020, which included lowering tuition, increasing sustainability, ensuring financial aid based on need and merit and increasing graduation rates.
ASU President Michael Crow said he wants ASU to measure up to other state institutions on the national level in terms of academic excellence and graduation rate.
“We intend to design ASU to perform at the level of those institutions,” Crow said.
The board and ASU's administration also recognized the technological developments the University has already made to create a greater rate of success among students.
One such program, eAdvisor, allows students to track their progress in their selected major from students' MyASU accounts.
ABOR said it is opposed to both Senate Bill 1474, which would allow students 21 years or older to carry concealed weapons on campuses, and House Bill 2675, which would require students to pay at least $2,000 out-of-pocket for higher education.
The board said it will be lobbying against these bills and encourages students and faculty to do the same.
ASU Chief of Police John Pickens said he strongly opposes SB 1474 because of its dangerous nature.
“I don't believe that we need additional weapons to make a safe campus,” Pickens said. “We stand very firmly that we do have a safe campus. Incidents do happen, and we do have things in place to take care of that.”
UA Chief of Police Anthony Daykin and NAU Chief of Police Gregory Fowler said they were also opposed to students carrying concealed weapons on campus.
Allison Jones, vice president for postsecondary collaboration at the Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, addressed efforts to better prepare K-12 students for university academics.
Jones said the PARCC's goal is to align academic standards for graduating high school students with academic standards for incoming college freshmen.
The program will focus on increasing critical thinking skills in high school classrooms, Jones said.
The board said they are considering changing the full-time student credit requirement from 12 to 15 credit hours.
The board said this proposal has not yet been fully developed and may not be put in place.
Reach the reporter at dgrobmei@asu.edu
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