Michael Crow

An article in the August 27 issue of the Arizona Republic announced a decision of yours to trade asu land with the mormon church.

This decision is going to jeopardize the existence of the Dept. of Psychology’s CHILD STUDY LAB PRESCHOOL. No explanation on has been given on what the school will do once its parking lot and playground are gone.

Since plans have already proceeded, what will happen to this one-of-a kind school that has been around for over 20 years?

I was wondering what President Crow's opinion was of special graduate programs charging fees for credit hours not directly used towards the degree. I.E. any credit hour taken while enrolled in the program is assessed the special program fee even if it is a prerequisite to taking special program classes or even if the class is not used as a prerequisite. (ie. If a person wants to take a second language class which is not part of the core program, the specail fee is added on top of the tution.) In this case it essentially doubles the tution for that class.

President Crow, I was wondering if you could comment on the (apparently) growing trend towards charging special program fees for ''specialized'' degrees and the ability of the University to change these fees at any time without notice. It would appear that these fees are not regulated like state tuitions.

These range from undergraduate "Professional" business management degrees to graduate programs in Nursing and Computational Bioscience (CBS). In some cases, as with the Nursing and CBS degrees, the tuition is essentially doubled.

Nurses are in short supply across the nation, and a CBS degree will be critical in the Bioscience industries we are trying to attract to the valley. I can't help but wonder if this will not make programs like these available only to the wealthy or those who are eligible for large financial aid (beside student loans).

Has anyone done projected salary research to know whether these fees are justified? I understand from doctor friends that the medical industry is having difficulty attracting potential students to general practice because the salaries do not justify the educational investment.

Thanks for the opportunity to ask questions,
Saragrace Knauf

President Crow,

You recently announced a plan to turn ASU West into a 20,000 student, nationally ranked interdisciplinary college. Would you comment on the future of the ASU West campus given your plans considering the proposal of Arizona Board of Regents President Chris Herstam to create a three-campus state college system including ASU West, NAU, and a not-yet-created Southern Arizona University?

My concern as a part of the academic community is that ASU West will be marginalized by Herstam's plans and never expand to it's full potential (tripling in size, new programs, dorms, cultural center, etc. for starters), but instead will take a step down by sending research programs and grad students elsewhere and be reduced to offering little more than baccalaureate degrees.

Can yours and Herstams proposals work together without sacrificing your vision of growth? What can we can do to insure your plan succeeds?

Parking may seem a trivial matter to those who have a spot secured or who can afford to secure one, but to those of us who are not in that position, parking quickly becomes a stressful topic. I am simply looking for an explanation as to why more and more parking lots/structures are being torn down for more building and new lots/structures are not going up as quickly as necessary. I pay 225$ a year to park in a structure that is fastly becoming overcrowded as rows of spots have been sanctioned off for reserve spots.
Like I said, parking may seem a trivial issue but with ASU growing like it is, parking is a forefront issue for many people. I am simply asking for reasoning behind the apparent lack of care, concern, and senselesness.

Additionaly, who authorized the land swap with the LDS without consulting the parties it affected? The CSL parking lot and playground were seemingly carelessly given away without consultation. Why?

I applaud Mr. Crow's stance on growing ASU through collaborations with the private sector, however, I am concerned about disciplines that are not big money generators. What is Mr. Crow going to do to protect and grow the History Department for example? Higher education is more than hard sciences, business ventures, and sports, and I hope Mr. crow recognizes this.

You have engaged the metropolitan area and the state with the challenge of creating a new american university.

How will the university market the current and future campuses to symbolize this new era?

Currently the campuses are not well-defined and difficult to use. I drove past the Tempe campus for months when I first moved here and did not know what it was or that I should be proud of it.

I'm concerned that ASU is doing a great effort in converting itself into a highly recongized institution, especially with it's out-of-state outreach. However, as a public institution that is supposed to "be as free as possible" to Arizona resident students, I am noticing that ASU is not focusing enough on it's in-state student population. I feel that ASU cares more about it's image rather than it's state-wide student population. What does Dr. Crow have to say about this?

President Crow,

I must agree with a previous question: although I think you're making dynamic changes in some areas and I applaud you, there are many other departments being left behind. Here in Foreign Languages (an important aspect of gaining international recognition--albeit in the "soft skills" perhaps) we can't get even the most basic teaching tools from lack of funding and are overcrowded in both the classrooms and the entire building. Do you propose any improvements in these other departments, which are crucial to the university, yet not big "money makers"?