Monthly Archives: September 2017

The Word is Out on the Greed and Mismanagement of the Arizona State University Administration, ABOR, and the numbers don’t lie…

Don’t trust lying bureaucrat fat cats, check the facts for yourself. Go to an inflation rate calculator online and check the inflation on ONE U.S. dollar from January 2002 when Michael Crow became the university president and compare to January 2017. One dollar ($1.00) in 2002 equates to ($1.37) in 2017. That’s a 37% increase, not a 370% increase, an increase to students that is 333% more than the steadily rising rate of inflation. 

Click picture below for details:

Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich sues Regents over outrageous tuition costs https://www.azag.gov/acrab [EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich discusses his lawsuit with Dennis Welch]

[WATCH RAW VIDEO: Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich announces lawsuit against Board of Regents]

[EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich discusses his lawsuit with Dennis Welch]

Tuition is up 300-plus percent since ’02

The word is out on the greed and mismanagement of the Arizona State University Administration, ABOR, and the numbers don’t lie…

http://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/laurieroberts/2017/09/08/brnovich-takes-regents-over-cost-tuition-hallelujah/647748001/

http://azcapitoltimes.com/news/2017/09/08/arizona-attorney-general-sues-board-of-regents-over-tuition-setting-policies/

http://www.statepress.com/article/2017/09/sppolitics-asu-arizona-attorney-general-sues-board-of-regents-over-unconstitutional-tuition-raises

http://www.jackcentral.org/news/arizona-ag-files-lawsuit-against-abor/article_1e301fe8-9d91-11e7-9d1f-f392847af9a8.html

http://www.wildcat.arizona.edu/article/2017/09/ag-brnovich-sues-regents

https://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/news/2017/09/08/arizona-attorney-general-sues-state-universities.html

http://tucson.com/news/local/arizona-attorney-general-sues-regents-over-tuition-hikes/article_149a2a30-1cf9-5fbb-aaf5-d5a1ce4e416f.html

http://www.kvoa.com/story/36324412/arizona-attorney-general-sues-universities-over-daca-tuition

http://www.azfamily.com/story/36324829/arizona-ag-sues-board-of-regents-over-university-tuition-rates

https://arizonadailyindependent.com/2017/09/09/ag-sues-arizona-board-of-regents-for-unconstitutional-unconscionable-tuition-hikes/

http://sonorannews.com/2017/09/12/ag-sues-arizona-board-regents-unconstitutional-tuition-hikes/

https://www.reddit.com/r/NAU/duplicates/6yy06l/abor_sued_by_az_attorney_general/

https://seeingredaz.wordpress.com/2017/09/09/az-ag-brnovich-sues-board-of-regents-over-tuition-hikes/

 

Laurie Roberts: Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich says the Regents have “dramatically and unconstitutionally” nearly quadrupled tuition over the last 15 years.

Yet Arizona State University President Michael Crow has the stupidity to lie and say, “I can say with confidence that ASU today is delivering great value to students from Arizona at a cost of tuition as close to free as possible.” What a lying sack of shit.

[EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich discusses his lawsuit with Dennis Welch]

[WATCH RAW VIDEO: Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich announces lawsuit against Board of Regents]

  Tuition is up 300-plus percent since ’02 (We believe the actual costs are higher, at 370%, but Crow will say everyone gets nearly all their costs met via financial aid. Maybe he thinks a loan and % interest is financial aid?)

Below copy courtesy of the AZ Republic.

Commence the hallelujahs. At long last, somebody’s taking on the Arizona Board of Regents over the outrageously high cost of tuition at Arizona’s three universities.

Attorney General Mark Brnovich on Friday sued the Regents, saying they have “dramatically and unconstitutionally” increased tuition and fees by up to 370 percent over the last 15 years.

The lawsuit says the Board of Regents has “abandoned its duty to serve as a check on the university presidents” and allowed an “unprecedented series of lockstep tuition hikes” that violate the state’s constitutional mandate to keep college “as nearly free as possible.”

“ABOR has raised the base tuition and fees for in-state students … at approximately nine to 10 times the rate of inflation and approximately 12 to 13 times the rate of increase of median family income over the period covering the last 15 years,” the lawsuit says.

That’s going to leave a mark.

Brnovich also is challenging the Regents’ decision to continue offering in-state tuition to qualified undocumented students. The state Court of Appeals in June ruled that those in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program don’t have “lawful immigration status” and thus don’t qualify for in-state tuition.

It’s no surprise that Brnovich sued over tuition subsidies for dreamers. If he hadn’t, former Senate President Russell Pearce and Judicial Watch would have sued on Monday – collecting hefty legal fees when they inevitably prevail. (Or do we think that any court would say it’s OK to ignore the unanimous ruling of the Court of Appeals, in hopes that the Supreme Court might eventually overturn it?)

The shocker – and a pleasant one, at that – was Brnovich challenging the Regents over the overall runaway cost of tuition. The Republican AG is pulling no punches.

He notes that the cost of attending an Arizona university was about $2,600 a year in 2002-03. This year, it’s $12,228 at University of Arizona (a 370 percent increase), $11,059 at Northern Arizona University (a 325 percent increase) and $10,792 at Arizona State University (a 315 percent increase).

“This annualized 12 percent rate of growth has doubled in-state tuition and fees over the past eight years and represents the second fastest rate of growth among all 50 states,” the lawsuit says.

Don’t buy ‘lawmakers forced us’ excuse

No doubt, universities will blame the state Legislature for the need to massively hike tuition. Indeed, the Legislature has slashed per-student state funding for universities by 63 percent over the last 10 years, according to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee. But in that same time, the Regents have increased tuition and mandatory fees by 90 percent (at ASU) to 121 percent (at U of A).

So, not buying that excuse. And neither is Brnovich. (And neither should you.)

In addition to massive tuition increases, Brnovich slams the Regents on multiple other fronts, saying they are breaking the law …

… By forcing students to pay fees for such things such as athletics, technology, recreation and health in order to take classes.

… By charging part-time and online students more than the cost of furnishing instruction.

… By failing in their legal responsibility to ‘differentiate the tuitions and fees between institutions.”

How is this ‘nearly free as possible?’

“The fact that all three institutions’ tuition was hiked in lockstep over a 15-year period … means that ABOR acted to prevent any meaningful competition based on price,” the lawsuit says.

This isn’t the first time the Regents have been sued for attaching tuition bills to a rocket and sending them skyward. Four U of A students sued in 2003, after the Regents hiked tuition by 39 percent. But the students lost, with the Supreme Court calling the setting of tuition a political question.

Now, 15 years later, the courts are once again being asked to stop the Regents’ end run around the Constitution.

Or does the near quadrupling of tuition over 15 years – outstripping the growth of family income 12 to 13 times over – now count as a college education that is “as nearly free as possible?” 

MORE FROM ROBERTS:

Russell Pearce piles on dreamers with lawsuit threat

Ducey ally calls for education tax increase. Breathe, governor

School voucher vote is a go. You listening, Ducey?

In an internet search we stumbled across these articles on happenings at the university.

Sept. 30, 2014: Gifting ASU’s Prez with $95K raise+benies = one helluva deal

Apr. 22, 2014:  AZ higher education: As nearly free as possible? & Update

March 7, 2013: ASU’s Crow backs lower tuition for illegals — again

Feb. 8, 2013:   Michael Crow, Sybil Francis: A$U’s pricey duo

May 7, 2011:   ASU’s Crow tackles budget reductions by raising tuition – again

Feb. 2, 2011:   ASU’s overpaid Crow warns of tuition increase as stimulus ebbs

Apr. 11, 2009: “Economic recovery surcharges” hit AZ university students

March 6, 2008: Disputed scholarships for illegals revived

Nov. 23, 2008AZ universities feel students’ pain as tuition spirals and money dries up

Apr. 26, 2008:  ASU’s overpaid King Crow issues threats

Nov. 17, 2008: ASU’s Crow in cash glut while economy tanks and tuition rises

Sept. 8, 2007:  ASU’s Michael Crow subverts intent of law

Arizona State University President Michael Crow runs to TWITTER to unsuccessfully to defend his absurd position to justify a 370% increase in costs for students during his tenure.

Click on the Twitter picture below to see Michael Crow’s unsuccessful attempt to excuse a 370% cost increase for students.

 

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Congratulations to AZ Attorney General Mark Brnovich! How many universities get sued by their state attorney general’s offices?

http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona-education/2017/09/08/arizona-attorney-general-lawsuit-against-regents-universities-tuition-increases/647025001/

Seriously, when does this ever happen? Something must be seriously wrong with the management of the Arizona State University when the state’s Attorney General’s Office is suing them! ASU management will simply throw other people’s money at the problem in hopes it will go away and they will be free to conduct business as usual, just as they did with the 8 police officers who were suing them. We are hoping for a release of some of that information and their evidence to us, so that it can be published. Send it and it will be!

Apparently, times are changing. Hats off the The Arizona Attorney General’s Office for taking this initiative, but we will see if they have what it takes to follow through on behalf of the citizens of Arizona getting stiffed by it’s representatives in State University Government. Is it really any surprise? Our prediction is that corruption will win the day and this will all go away. Why?

ASU has a network of current and former state legislators tied to it in quid pro quo financial exchanges for legislative influence. Is it any wonder that HARVARD commissioned a study finding ARIZONA the MOST CORRUPT STATE IN THE US in a virtual tie with New Jersey. https://ethics.harvard.edu/blog/measuring-illegal-and-legal-corruption-american-states-some-results-safra  (Further exploration of this issue will be reserved for another article.)

Typically, we cover the corruption systemic within the Arizona State University Police Department, but there have been some interesting developments lately. Employees of ASUPD have been wondering for decades…how can a top heavy, grossly mismanaged, hobbled, chronically & perennially understaffed police department continue to fail year after year?  Enabling. The ASUPD is enabled, expected to be a show of legitimacy without the staffing, training, experience, equipment, and especially the leadership to take it there. Active law enforcement catches real criminals committing real crimes and raises crime statistics, which are a source of bad publicity for ASU because it impacts enrollment $$$. Students are literally endangered and killed year after year because of stat manipulation, propaganda, and misinformation that could have allowed their families to make an informed decision about where their kids would go to school.

The fact is Michael Crow and friends can laud attendance or more money coming in all they want, they compare ASU to Harvard, which it’s not. Harvard understands corruption and they are managed with people  who have sense enough not to become the subject of those studies. More money is coming from kids with less and less means to pay back the loans in what’s now a king’s ransom to go to school.

If Attorney General Mark Brnovich and other responsible Arizona leaders are serious they will dig further into what the Arizona State University does with it’s money and CONDUCT A FULL FORENSIC AUDIT. With corruption as common as it is in Arizona, they’ll surely find something worthwhile. (Consider this a draft. More contributions will be coming, we are still dealing with a back log of information and requests from people still at the department, nothing has changed.)

And one more time, for recollection: ASU POLICE MANAGEMENT, Cmdr. William Orr present.

 

 

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