WILDCATS ANSWER THE CALL IN CALI
STUDENTS MAKE THEIR SUPER BOWL PREDICTIONS
THE AIR UP THERE, NOW DOWN HERE
SPORTS — 6
ARTS & LIFE — 5
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SERVING THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA SINCE 1899
Biden hosts call on higher education By Kyle Mittan DAILY WILDCAT
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan discussed issues in higher education during a conference call with student journalists across the nation on Thursday. The issues were previously outlined in President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address on Jan. 24. During the call, Biden spoke
extensively about the affordability of higher education across the country, recalling his own experience with putting his children through college. “Being a father of three children who have a combined total of 20 years education — undergraduate and graduate school — there’s a reason why I’m listed as the poorest man to assume the office of vice president,” Biden said. “Like many of you, they worked all through
college, and they ended up with an extreme amount of debt.” Biden specifically referred to parts of Obama’s “Blueprint for Keeping College Affordable and Within Reach to All Americans” during his time on the phone, listing and explaining several aspects of the plan. In particular, Biden addressed the issue of students graduating with high levels of debt. The Obama administration, according to Biden, has proposed
a provision that would cap graduates’ loan repayments at 10 percent of their disposable income. “We think that when you graduate, you shouldn’t have to graduate buried in debt,” Biden added. “You’ve got to go get the highest paying job whether it’s the one you wanted or not.” The vice president also explained the administration’s plan to create an incentive for colleges and universities to bring
down costs for students. Called the “Race to the Top: College Affordability and Completion,” the initiative would allocate a $1 billion investment to states and institutions that make efforts to maintain tuition and keep costs low for students. Biden concluded by describing the significance of higher education, saying, “The universities in the United States of America remain the envy of the world.”
SCOUTING THEM OUT
Sander rejects guns on campus By Elliot P. Hopper DAILY WILDCAT
UA President Eugene Sander publicly declared his opposition to guns on campus on Thursday, as well as discussed his recent meetings with state legislators regarding the College of Medicine and the university’s budget during his fourth town hall-style meeting. Sander began the meeting by explaining some of the proposed legislation that would allow guns on campus, saying that because the UA is an academic hub that houses scholars, athletes, professors and children, having guns on campus would be neither smart nor safe. “I believe in the Second Amendment and I even own a host of guns, however this does not give me the right to take it in certain locations,” he said. “I stand by the newest right made by the Legislature that guns on campus are not permitted.” Sander also said he spoke with state legislators about increasing the overall class size of the UA’s medical school from 48 to 88 students. By doing so, he said, more students can practice medicine with a degree from one of the finest programs in the country. “We can look up from our hospital bed one day and have more comfort knowing that this physician attending us was possibly a graduate of the University of Arizona medical school,” he said. Sander was asked about the Incentive Program for Voluntary Retirement that began last year, which would allow qualified UA
TOWN HALL, 2
ALEX KULPINSKI / DAILY WILDCAT
Dierdre Dimmick, 17, runs a booth in Alumni Plaza selling Girl Scout cookies. The Girl Scouts of the USA launched a campaign this week called ToGetHerThere, which strives to promote gender equality in leadership roles.
Girl Scouts of the USA makes an effort to become role model for women leaders By Savannah Martin DAILY WILDCAT
The Girl Scouts have announced a new initiative that will pave the way for women nationwide as they pursue their leadership goals. Led by UA alumna Anna Maria Chávez, Girl Scouts of the USA launched what it has called “the largest women’s advocacy cause campaign in the nation’s history dedicated to girls’ leadership” this week. The campaign, ToGetHerThere, seeks to reach balanced
leadership in the U.S. within one generation. “Balanced leadership” means “allowing everybody, irregardless of race, ethnicity, gender to have the opportunity, should they desire, to take leadership roles,” said Chávez, CEO of Girl Scouts of the USA. “This is not boys versus girls or men versus women, it is literally allowing the talent in this country to participate in leadership.” Women make up only 3 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs and 17 percent of U.S. senators, representatives
and governors, according to the Girl Scout Research Institute. “Girls are looking across the landscape and not seeing role models that look like them,” Chávez said. The problem isn’t that girls don’t aspire to be leaders, but that the ambition they have as children gradually diminishes as they grow older. When they are about 8 years old, girls’ desire to lead hits its peak, but around fourth grade, girls start to opt out of leading, and participating in male-dominated fields like math and science, according to
the institute. In order to reverse this trend, Girl Scouts hopes to create awareness surrounding the nation’s “leadership gap” and encourage adults to advocate for girls, Chávez said. Providing younger girls with positive role models is one of the first steps to increasing their drive to lead, according to Laura Lelicoff, a senior studying accounting and entrepreneurship and the founder of Campus Girl Scouts at
GIRL SCOUTS, 2
QUOTE TO
NOTE Campus sees decrease in bike theft
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By Samantha Munsey DAILY WILDCAT
Apparently, dating multiple people simultaneously while on national television isn’t an effective way to find true love.”
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While a large decrease in bike theft is due in part to an increase in promoting bike safety and more people locking up, some students still feel more can be done. The number of bike thefts reported to the University of Arizona Police Department decreased by 65 percent in 2011, according to police records. That year, UAPD logged 251 bike thefts around the UA campus, in comparison to 389 bikes reported missing in 2010 and 427 reported stolen in 2009. “The decrease can be from more enforcement, people paying more attention or locking up their bikes,” said Sgt. Juan Alvarez, public information officer for UAPD. “We do make arrests for people stealing bikes, but because there are so many bikes in and around campus, it’s always going to be appealing.” Over the past year, UA’s Parking and Transportation Services along with UAPD have made efforts to promote bike safety and education around campus. David Heineking, director of PTS, said he thinks the decrease in bike theft is due in part
to these actions. This includes the introduction of the PTS free bicycle station this semester, which is open every Tuesday and Wednesday on the UA Mall. Developed by PTS, students can visit the station to register their bikes as well as get information on how to properly lock it up when it is not being used. “At the tent we talk to students about getting good U-Locks, not the chain or wire locks because they are the easiest to break,” Heineking said. “We also teach them how to properly lock their bike, with the frame of the bike in the lock and not just the front tire.” Students who do not have a U-Lock for their bike can purchase one from UAPD for $15, and all money made from the sales gets reused to purchase more locks. On top of using a well-made lock, Alvarez said students should also register their bikes with PTS so it is more likely for a student to recover their bike if it goes missing. “It’s important that when a bike gets stolen students have a serial number and a description of the bike,” Alvarez said. “So, in order to do
BIKES, 2
KEITH HICKMAN-PERFETTI / DAILY WILDCAT
According to University of Arizona Police Department records, bike theft on campus has decreased from 389 in 2010 to 251 thefts in 2011.