TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Now that the University of Arizona has rejected a White House bargain to trade administration influence for grants, the question is what now?
After 20 days of suspense the University of Arizona said it was not going to take a White House offer of a bargain: to trade access to Federal funding for commitments to some of the administration’s ideals but the university does say it still wants to talk about some of the things raised in that compact.
Before U of A said no to the offer, students and faculty protested. They said it was a threat to free speech and a threat to academic freedom.
The deal set ten conditions: Among them, remove sex and ethnicity as criteria for admissions and hiring, forbid transgender people on sports teams, and forbid actions that would suppress conservative ideas. It asked universities to cap the number of foreign students and limit tuition costs.
U of A President Suresh Garimella told the Education Secretary that Arizona will earn grants on the quality of its research so it does not want that deal.
Freshman Matthew Rock says that was the right decision.
“I just think holding funding over a school’s head in order to employ different policies just leads to a slippery slope where the Federal government can be too involved with the policies of specifically U of A.”
Speaking just for herself, U of A Faculty Chair Leila Hudson likes that Arizona’s President did more than say “no.” He said let's talk— about University of Arizona’s principles, and how universities and the Trump administration can make education better.
“And I think, speaking personally right now, I would love to have that discussion about how the state of Arizona and the federal government can assist with the financing of open, free, rigorous, merit based education for all comers.”
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Craig Smith is a reporter for KGUN 9. With more than 40 years of reporting in cities like Tampa, Houston and Austin, Craig has covered more than 40 Space Shuttle launches and covered historic hurricanes like Katrina, Ivan, Andrew and Hugo. Share your story ideas and important issues with Craig by emailing craig.smith@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook and Twitter.
