The UA Freedom Center and extremist AZ legislators helped cause UA’s fiscal crisis. Tell President Robbins to put the $4.3 million those legislators want to give the Freedom Center again this year into UA’s general fund instead!
Koch-sponsored members of the Arizona legislature have been drastically cutting state funding for the University of Arizona for years. Market fundamentalist pundits in the UA Freedom Center encouraged those legislators because they believe in privatizing higher education. (Freedom Center founder David Schmidtz rewarded right-wing legislator Mark Finchem by making him the center’s first “legislative fellow.”)
To make ends meet after the cuts, the University administration began running UA like a business. Academics, not entrepreneurs, they made some poor investments (such as buying scandal-ridden Ashford University and lending the UA Athletics Department $90 million). When the hoped-for returns on these investments did not materialize, the current $200 million budget crisis reared its ugly head.
To dig itself out of the fiscal crisis, the administration is turning to austerity – which is another right-wing, market fundamentalist approach. The administration plans to freeze hiring and salary increases for faculty, lay off many non-tenured faculty, and eliminate tuition guarantees and research assistant positions for students.
This is a wrong-headed response to a self-inflicted crisis. At a minimum, the UA administration should transfer into the University’s general operating budget the $4.3 million that the legislature wanted to give to the Freedom Center this year. The administration has that option because Governor Hobbs removed the language in the budget that said the $4.3 million could be spent only on the Freedom Center.
The UA administration typically takes six months to answer a public records request. Therefore we don’t know if UA gave the 4.3 million to the Freedom Center this year or if they left it in the University’s general operating fund. If they gave the $4.3 million to the Freedom Center, they should claw it back!
Let your voice be heard on this huge issue! Write President Robbins by clicking in the box to the right. Send him our sample letter, edit it, or write one of your own.
*NOTE! You can send this new letter even if you already sent our previous letter to Robbins.
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