Budget cuts are nothing new to a public university, but the past four years at the UA have been marred by nothing but fiscal crisis. Since 2002, the Arizona Legislature has made $30 million in cuts to the UA, despite the university’s increasing costs. Although President Robert Shelton is trying to stabilize the budget and decrease reliance on temporary funds, his $19 million in cuts this year alone has crippled departments. While it’s easy to chastise the Legislature for failing to see the value of higher education, the UA should consider a drastic change. Tuition increases hardly make a dent in the problem. Former President Peter Likins’ idea to cut weak programs (dubbed Focused Excellence) was good in theory, but difficult to execute: Weaker programs vehemently objected, and stronger programs never came to the administrator’s defense. If all else fails, the UA should cut ties with the state and pursue charter status.

I want my degree to have the highest possible value. I don’t want to take my diploma to an employer one year from now or 10 years from now and have them sneer at me like I presented them with an Arizona State University degree. And the truth is, the more students who come to this great institution to dick around, skip classes six times a week and blow off their work, the less valuable my degree becomes – it’s like the actual worth of a UA diploma is indexed to the number of students living in Arizona-Sonora and Coronado residence halls (and that’s a really bad thing). So, please, if you really don’t care about being here, if you aren’t interested in a high-quality education, then get out, because you’re degrading the value of that for which the rest of us work so hard.

I hate that many upper-division classes in my major aren’t challenging. I have taken classes in which my grade is determined by three multiple-choice tests. I find it hard to believe that my analytical thinking skills are challenged by regurgitating information. Lecture, multiple-choice test, lecture, short-answer test. I’m definitely not advocating group projects, but please! I’m paying tuition to be challenged – and I want to graduate knowing the real-life application of textbook information. Students love multiple-choice tests because they’re easy, and professors and graduate students love them because they’re easy to grade. I didn’t come to college for “”easy”” – I came for an education.

For years, the best iced chai latte in town (and possibly the world) was served at the Canyon CafǸ in the Student Union Memorial Center. Then, about a year ago, the management decided to change the ingredients, which resulted in a far-less-appealing concoction. Life has not been the same since. The highlight of my days is gone, and my taste buds are in perpetual mourning. I can forgive many things, but the assassination of my chai latte is not one of them. Shame on the Canyon CafǸ for being the one thing I truly hate about the UA.

I hate obnoxious California fashion trends leaking into Arizona and infiltrating the UA. Bleached white hair and orange skin are not attractive! A naturally blonde adult woman is about as rare as an albino. Oompa Loompas: not found in nature. Take pride in being naturally beautiful. Also, mini skirts and leggings together – not attractive. Leave this fashion trend for the middle school kids. Or, even better, just bury it altogether with Ugg boots worn in 100-degree weather, tacky shorts with writing on the butt and sunglasses that make you look like a fly. Show some individuality and taste, ladies.

OK, OK, so this may sound a little selfish, but I know I’m not alone. Why only two food establishments in the SUMC accept debit cards is beyond me. More often than not, I’ll go to the Union craving a sandwich from On Deck Deli or a fruit smoothie and realize that because I’m not holding the greens, I’ll have to settle for fat-laden McDonald’s or Panda Express. Come on people, it’s 2007! No one carries cash anymore, so stop living in prehistoric times and warm up to some plastic, why don’t cha?

The worst part about the record tuition hikes students made in 2002 and 2003 was the rationale used to explain the burgeoning costs. The explanations for increasing in-state tuition by $1,012 in 2002 and $493 the next year did not include improving programs or hiring more faculty. No, the excuses for upping tuition were to increase the amount of need-based financial aid and, the next year, to “”keep up with the Joneses.”” Who cares if increasing tuition will increase the number of students who will need financial aid? Shame on the UA for using communal reasons – not the support of educational goals – to increase its budget.

When Bakerzin opened on East University Boulevard, my heart skipped a beat. A sushi bar – with a bizarre name! Yes! Finally! Sushi on University! Amen! … No. Not a sushi bar. Overpriced desserts. And an interior that makes a warehouse seem comfortable. What a disgrace. The UA needs a sushi bar within walking distance of campus, something on, say, University Boulevard. It’s all right, though. I didn’t defer graduation in expectation that maybe next year a sushi restaurant will open. I’ll move on. But those who come after me, demand a sushi bar, protest, picket, chain yourselves to the doors of Bakerzin, those charlatans!

The UA student body is a diverse group, but for all that diversity, you won’t find much political passion (or even knowledge, for that matter). Oh, sure, there are the Young Democrats and the College Republicans, but their activities are generally confined to symbolic protests and dogmatic displays of patriotism, respectively. Others might consider themselves “”political,”” though the extent of their participation is usually repeating what they heard at their parents’ dinner tables. I don’t mean to sound elitist, but it’s in students’ best interests to consider what politicians – from ASUA to the federal government – are doing every day that affects them. Perhaps we should consider Plato’s wisdom: “”One of the penalties of refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.””

I rarely have anything to complain about the UA, but after much thought, I decided that the thing I hate most about the UA is our lack of time off. I have a friend who not only gets six weeks for winter break but also gets Cesar Chavez Day off. We have a building on this campus named after him and we don’t even get that day off, let alone other important holidays like Martin Luther King Jr. Day or Rodeo Day. (Pima Community College gets Rodeo Day off.) So maybe a fall break would help make the UA even better.