It’s not often that we’re compelled to comment on the machinations of the Associated Students of the University of Arizona, but it’s also not often that seven members of student government resign en masse. After the ASUA Senate apparently tried to rein in the wayward Appropriations Board (which has been accused of letting political bias sneak into appropriations decisions), the seven members threw in the towel, saying that the once-mighty Appropriations Board had been reduced to a mere “”screening board.”” That kind of whining might play well in, say, the U.S. Congress, but UA students have a right to expect sufficient oversight in something so innocuous as student government. For ensuring that checks and balances are (still) a part of the appropriations process, the ASUA Senate’s new bylaws get a Pass.
Pop quiz: What’s the county with the biggest population increases in the country? If you answered Maricopa County, you’re right on the money. According to newly released census figures, Maricopa swelled by 100,000 people just in the last year, propelling Arizona to the top of the nation’s fastest-growing states. That’s been the case for some time now, but you wouldn’t know it if you talked to our state legislators, most of whom seem content to pursue “”pro-growth”” policies that translate into more highways, more pollution and more wasteful policies that abuse Arizona’s scarcest resource – water. So with legislators in Phoenix donning their horse blinders, it was nice to hear that 20 conservation groups converged on the state Capitol on Tuesday to provide some much-needed education about sustainable growth policies. They might be fighting a losing battle (for now), but for injecting a bit of pragmatism into the debate, the environmentalist groups get a Pass.
If you’ve been sleeping a little better at night, here’s why: Even though violent crimes have risen in the U.S. from ’05 – ’06, Tucson hasn’t followed the trend, thanks to new sectors of enforcement created by the Tucson Police Department, including a Targeted Offender Program that sends police to high-crime areas. Incidents of violent crime (homicides, assaults and robberies) actually decreased in 2005-2006, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. With Tucson (and Pima County’s) bustling population, it will take more resources than ever before to keep the crime rate down. But for keeping us safe in the meantime, the TPD gets a grateful Pass.
You’d think if you make your loan payments on time, you wouldn’t have to pay late fees. It surely sounds simple enough. Apparently, the U.S. Department of Education doesn’t agree. According to a Washington Post article, a lawsuit was filed on Monday regarding a “”complex billing problem”” that ended up charging graduates with consolidated loans more than $72 billion in the form of late fines imposed on people who made their payments on time. Some students even say they tried to contact loan officials with little to no responses. Now how’s that for proper money management? Students should be able to trust the Department of Education, especially since the department deals with billions of dollars of loan money. Not only is this inexcusable, but it unfairly punished people who were simply trying to pay back their loans. For allowing the higher education system to live in a state of perpetual dismay, the Department of Education gets a Fail.
Opinions Board
Editorials are determined by the Wildcat opinions board and written by one of its members. They are Justyn Dillingham, Allison Hornick, Damion LeeNatali, Stan Molever, Nicole Santa Cruz and Matt Stone.
