Time to have rural reps on AZ Board of Regents

(EDITOR'S NOTE: The following editorial was written by Ben Hanson, Editor of the Prescott Courrier, a sister pulication of the Navajo Hopi Observer.)

A wise man defined "political science" as "the authoritative allocation of the values of a society." That means the people with authority decide who gets the goodies.

Half of Arizona's 5.5 million people live in the Valley of the Sun. Thus Phoenix and its surrounding communities do most of the deciding in the state. In fact, "The Great State of Maricopa" has become an in-joke.

In today's Navajo Hopi Observer, Western Newspapers writer Heidi Dahms-Foster reported how that dynamic works on the Arizona Board of Regents, the board whose 11 voting members govern the state's three major universities -- Arizona State University, the University of Arizona and Northern Arizona University.

Currently the board has no members who represent the half of the state's population that live outside the Valley. Seven of the 11voting members hail from the Phoenix area, and three from Tucson. The voting student member is from Tucson.

Thus, a board that has no understanding of the rural parts of the state isn't likely to consider rural Arizona's needs in allocating money and resources to the state's universities.

The universities are supposed to serve all of the state, not just the more populous half of it.

The terms of Phoenix lawyer Chris Herstam and Tucson executive Jack Jewett expire in January, 2006.

Gov. Janet Napolitano owes it to the 2.5 million Arizonans who don't live in the "Great State of Maricopa" to appoint rural Arizonans to those vacancies who can help direct resources to genuine need rather than simply to power.

When she makes those choices, likely this December, she needs to level the playing field.

In fact, isn't it time to consider having Native American representation on the board?

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