The semester has moved quickly and it's hard to believe there are only 17 class days left before finals. The last few weeks have been a blur of activity, but that is what I enjoy. As you can see, the blog has undergone some changes and my website will follow next week. I invite you to visit and offer your feedback.
In response to recent posts, you'll be surprised to read that I've received some mail about ASU football lately...
I know our season has been tough, but it doesn't diminish the goals we've set for our program or our support for our Sun Devil student-athletes. What happens on the field is important, but it's one part of the equation. A good football program also involves keeping almost 100 student-athletes in class and eligible to compete, increasing graduation rates, building physical and mental strength in our players, as well as fostering discipline, talent, respect and team morale, among other things. Lisa Love, VP of University Athletics, looks at all these factors when assessing a program. Granted, the goals we set aren't always easy to reach, but we don't stop striving for them. As a former student-athlete, I understand the significance of adding to your school's athletic tradition, but it's also important to recognize that being a Sun Devil is about more than winning, it's also about perseverance. We need to stand behind our team.
Regarding fan support, Cody Thompson posted a comment about football wristbands at Polytechnic and I can tell you that both Lisa Love, VP of University Athletics, and Dr. James Rund, have been working to resolve that issue. ASU is "one university in many places" and that includes athletics. The university-wide support of students is vital and appreciated.
Another student wrote in about the differences between campuses, and I feel very strongly about providing the best living and learning environments across all of our campuses. This is why, for example, we were very pleased to receive a significant appropriation during the last legislative session for new construction on the Polytechnic campus. Thanks to this appropriation, Poly is undertaking its largest construction project to date. Through this endeavor and other projects that make up ASU's Comprehensive Development Plan, we plan to continue advancing the university as a whole and to better provide you with what you need to succeed.
On a final note, I'd like to congratulate the winners, participants and supporters of ASU's inaugural Academic Bowl. I was invited to moderate last night's final round and I had a great time. Kudos to the Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering for pulling out the win, and to the teams from the W. P. Carey School of Business, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and the Mary Lou Fulton College of Education for providing outstanding competition. Great job by all.
For anyone who couldn't be there. the final rounds of the Academic Bowl will be broadcast on Channel 8/KAET on Sunday, November 19 at 5:00 p.m.
Don't forget to vote today...
The article in USA TODAY had
The article in USA TODAY had an interesting quote, "ASU students, or a good chunk of them, are going to be paying university tuition and they'll be getting a community college education for it." President Crow, this has been an opinion of many for years. I had a class in the College of Design last semester where a contract professor was fired halfway through the semester. This is crazy! The class turned into a community college class without a doubt. The USA TODAY also highlighted the average SAT score of ASU students at 1083. Hardly a number to be proud of.
Here's a way to bring ASU
Here's a way to bring ASU together: Use President Crow's and ASU's considerable clout with the community to persuade Valley Metro to provide bus service from north central, west, and north Phoenix that WORKS. Let me tell you what happened when, now that the serial killers have stopped picking off people from street corners, I finally decided to take advantage of the free bus pass we got from Valley Metro Transit.
Though I live fairly close to Metrocenter, that shopping center suffers the highest rate of automobile break-ins and thefts in the state; so, because I can't afford to lose or repair my Toyota and because apparently no express bus runs from Metrocenter to Tempe anyway, I decided to catch the Red Line on 19th Avenue near my house. I carried ASU's laptop with me so that I could use the hour-&-fifty minute trip to edit some math copy for one of our office's client journals. The bus arrived about on time, and it was reasonably clean. BUT...the bus route seemed to have been specifically designed to torture the hapless riders on the suspensionless coaches. It went over every single road that is under construction for the lightrail train.
This made for a bone-jarring ride. It was next to impossible to do office work, since every 10 seconds brought another bump and another whack. In fact, the ride was an assault on the senses: noise (one of the homeless mentally ill riders carried on a loud one-sided conversation with no one in particular), smell (a rider in a wheelchair pooped himself), hard bumps and whacks...and it was endless.
It took two hours to get to Tempe over the dug-up city streets, stopping at every corner. That's TWO HOURS to make a trip that normally takes about 30 minutes at that time of day. Getting home took two and a half hours, and at the bus stops in Tempe I was panhandled six times and hit up for a cigarette once.
ASU's parking problem would be much ameliorated if it were possible to get to Tempe on public transportation in a reasonable period of time and in reasonable comfort and safety. With freeways that take you almost to the campus's front door, there's no excuse for Valley Metro not to have express service from Metrocenter and from the Downtown Station over the freeways, direct to the bus stops at College & University.
Seattle's public transport system has busses running on the freeways. Why doesn't Maricopa County's? President Crow, you have done a lot to cause Phoenix to start behaving more like the world-class city its leaders wish it could be. How about putting some pressure on the city transport system to provide workable public transport from all parts of the Valley to Tempe?
And no, handing out free passes to a bus system that doesn't work won't make it. Neither will the lightrail system, since a) it will serve only a narrow corridor and b) it also will take two hours to make a thirty-minute trip. Yesterday's round-trip commute from 19th Avenue & Northern took four and a half hours, following approximately the same route that lightrail will take. The ASU community needs BUSSES, and they need to GO ON THE FREEWAYS. They need to go often and during the hours that ASU faculty, staff, and students need to have them running--from early morning until the last night class dismisses.
Well, one thing's for sure: the experience showed that $85 a month for gasoline and a parking sticker price so high it no longer registers with my consciousness amount to a bargain. Parking and gasoline will have to go much, much higher before I put myself through another commute on Valley Metro again!
Victoria Hay, Ph.D.
Editor
CLAS Journals
5-7404
I strongly agree with your
I strongly agree with your support of our football team and coaches. As an alumnus of ASU, I want to see all our student athletes win on and off the field. I continue to support our student athletes through the Sun Angel Foundation and I am currently working with Steve Ponder on starting a "White Mountain Sun Angel Support Group" in Pinetop, AZ. My long term goal is to have Sun Angel Support Groups in various communities throughout Arizona.
President Crow, if I recall correctly, you have made statements in the past that stated that you not only support athletes, but see our athletic teams; especially football, basketball and baseball as a way of marketing the university to the nation. Is this correct? If this is correct, I just want you to know that I can't agree with you more! In fact, I would ask if you have had a chance to express your support of our athletic programs to the local sports radio programs including Lisa Love's weekly radio show? I listen to Lisa Love each week and I have noted that this station along with others seem to believe that "President Crow" does not support our athletic programs. Thus, it is very hard for any coach to be successful. May I sugguest that you either attend some of these sports radio shows with Lisa Love and/or our coaches to again remind the media and other ASU supporters that this assumption is incorrect. Thanks for your time and response.
I don't really have anything
I don't really have anything of terrible importance to say, but just wanted to say thanks. I know you're working hard on implementing new things and ideas into our school, and it's starting to show.
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