ROCKY MOUNTAIN AIR
PANORAMA

NOVEMBER 1998, VOL. 12, NO. 1

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NEWS FROM THE STATES

* ARIZONA * COLORADO * IDAHO * MONTANA *
* NEVADA * NEW MEXICO * UTAH * WYOMING *

Arizona Board of Regents Central Office

by Christine Forester

Arizona's public universities have focused their state operating budget request for fiscal years 2000 and 2001 to respond to the needs of the state. The request emphasizes expanding access, making enhancements to undergraduate education, improving Arizona's K-16 initiatives, economic development, and technology improvements. The universities are asking for $74.5 million in additional state operating funds for FY 2000 and an increase of $63.5 million for FY 2001. The combined request is for an increase of $138 million, or 14.7%. The universities' current state operating budget totals $936 million. The budget request was submitted to the Governor and the Legislature on Oct. 1.

To help ease the transition to its first biennial budget request, the Board reviewed the time frame for setting tuition. Instead of setting tuition in the spring semester, the Board decided it would set tuition in November this year. The earlier date will provide more advanced notice to students and help better define one source of university revenue during the 2-year budget interval. The annual hearing on tuition levels for ASU, NAU, and UA was held Thursday, November 5 at 5 p.m. The hearing is designed to provide students and families a forum to discuss university tuition, financial aid, and other funding concerns. The hearing uses interactive television to connect the three main campuses with three branch campus sites. The hearing also will be broadcast on cable television. The Board will set tuition and fees for 1999-2000 at its meeting Nov.19 at ASU.

University and K-12 educators from around Arizona came together to discuss changes in teacher preparation needed to ensure the success of students. The Education Roundtable in June brought together, Regents, legislators, and many others from the K-12 sector as well as private institutions. They examined the role Arizona's public universities will play in making new student and teacher standards successful. The event included Regents Judy Gignac, Rudy Campbell, Kay McKay, Lisa Graham Keegan, and Jennifer Reichelt; Senator John Huppenthal, chair of the Senate Education committee; Representative Dan Schottel, chair of the House Education committee; Representative Tom Smith, chair of the House Public Institutions & Universities committee; Representative Laura Knaperek, and Representative Marion Pickens. Also attending were members of the State Directors for Community Colleges of Arizona, the State Board of Education, presidents from Arizona's public and private universities, and members of school district Boards across the state. The next step will include the formation of subcommittees to pursue issues raised at the Roundtable. A follow-up session is anticipated for this fall.

Between 48,000 and 62,000 additional students are expected at Arizona's public universities by 2015. A recent national survey showed that high school graduates from Arizona's high schools would increase by up to 62% by 2012. These graduates will join a surge of older students who are expected to return to improve their chances in the workplace.

Pima Community College

by Bob Teso

The Office of Research and Planning presented Tucson Metropolitan Area (TMA) community leaders with an update on the progress of a Work Force Development (WFD) project commissioned by the group in the spring of 1998. Participants in a WFD conference held in October of 1997 overwhelmingly agreed that:

To this end, a Workforce Investment Plan (WIP) is being developed to address these issues. Under the WIP, a market segment approach is used to target three specific human resource populations within the work force, namely:

Under the WIP, a Training/Education Database (TED) is being built by Pima Community College with the aid of city, county, non-profit, and other private organizations, public schools, and the University of Arizona all of which are "providers" of educational/training services. To date 863 programs have been identified and are included in the database and this number is expected to increase. These programs are provided by 117 distinct educator/trainer entities and are distributed at 165 locations. When complete, the database will include classification elements designed to enhance the "search" and utilitarian aspects of the database. Data categories will include those for local and state industry clusters, the number of students enrolled in these programs and the student capacities of each program.

A second component of the WIP seeks to gather together the available resources on Labor Market Information including wage and salary, job openings, benefits, and occupational prospects. It is anticipated that this data will cover state and local labor market conditions and some additional coverage on national and global perspectives. Labor Market Information for individual states is available through the America's Labor Market Information System (ALMIS). Available job data for Arizona are extrapolated to develop LMI data for Pima County based on the proportion of the state's population that are found in residence. Currently, the LMI data feed into the program feasibility study process in use at PCC. The data are used as one criterion in determining the value and need for newly proposed occupational programs.

Ellen McGregor and Louis C. Attinasi, Jr. presented a paper at the RMAIR conference in on benchmarking at a community college. Copies of their paper are available upon request from the IR Office, Pima Community College. The paper noted the various uses of benchmarking, the creation of a consortium of similar multi-campus community colleges, and data collection.

University of Arizona

University President Peter Likins recently released a statement of priorities and principles following comments to an earlier discussion paper that solicited community input into the future direction of the institution. These principles will be used to guide important university decisions.

Foundation Principles

Operating Principles

Fall enrollment highlights included the best prepared freshman class ever. The 1998 freshman class boasts increased average SAT and ACT scores as well as an increased overall high school grade-point average. Freshman enrollment was 5,262 students, up nearly 700 from last year. Total University enrollment is up 590 students over 1997. The increase in student quality coincided with diversity gains. Figures show that the number of women enrolled has increased along with minority student enrollment.

Jon Maner joined the Office of Decision and Planning Support as a Research Specialist in September. His primary responsibilities include salary and financial reporting, as well as other ad hoc reporting. With a background in multivariate statistical research, he seeks to investigate trends in compensation and other financial characteristics of the University.

University of Phoenix

by Kate Hough

The fall Enrollment for the University of Phoenix is 53,249 reflecting 21 campuses in 13 states, plus Puerto Rico and British Columbia. This year we opened two campuses in Florida: Jacksonville (7/98); and Ft. Lauderdale (11/98). We opened two campuses in Oklahoma: Oklahoma City (7/98) and Tulsa (8/98). We received licensure to open in Maryland and are awaiting approval from the North Central Association of College and Schools Commission on Institutions of Higher Education (NCA).

In August we were approved by NCA to offer the Doctor of Management degrees in Business, Education, Counseling, Psychology and Organizational Leadership. In June we were approved to offer 3 new Bachelor of Science degrees in Information Technology--Human Services and Health Services.

COLORADO

by Steve Chambers

This past fall, 28 public postsecondary educational institutions submitted their first reports to the Colorado Commission on Higher Education (CCHE) in response to HB 1219, The Higher Education Quality Assurance Act. HB 1219 was passed by the General Assembly in 1996, and was the successor of several earlier legislative attempts to establish performance indicator reporting for the state's colleges and universities.

CCHE entitled the new reporting initiative the Quality Indicator System (QIS), which employs several sources of information.

Early feedback from CCHE mentions that institutions apparently had some difficulty in providing meaningful evaluation statements of their own performance. Some stated "we're doing a great job in all indicator areas" while others said, "we're doing a great job considering the amount of money we are working with." No doubt, self-reflection will be an area for continued improvement in the QIS process.

CCHE provided information concerning several additional indicators. "Undergraduate student success rates," defined as graduation, persistence, and/or transfer 6 years was calculated for each institution based upon unit record data regularly supplied to CCHE. Institutions had the option of using the CCHE generated numbers or using their own tracking system to arrive at undergraduate success rates. CCHE also reported institutional passage rates on national and state exams (i.e., CPA exam, bar exam, registered nurse's exam); although technical issues related to this indicator continue to be worked out. By using state and national financial data, CCHE further determined each institution's instruction and academic support expenses as a percentage of educational and education expenses. This latter measure is intended to indicate the proportion of resources devoted to instruction-related activity over other functions.

CCHE is also in the process of reviewing the results of a recent study of employer satisfaction with recent Colorado college graduates. Preliminary results, shared by CCHE, indicate that employers are generally satisfied with the quality of graduates emerging from the State's institutions.

In addition to reporting on a common set of indicators, each institution provided responses to identified institution-specific indicators. This second set of indicators allowed institutions to address issues and measures that are more mission-driven than the common set of "statewide" indicators.

QIS reporting contained both quantitative and qualitative evidence. Obviously, some indicators were driven by one type of information over another, but in general the reports were a blending of hard number measures along with documentation of "best practices" in place.

By December 1, CCHE will report to the Governor and the General Assembly on the first cycle of HB 1219. There is some hope that $5.5 million will be made available in QIS related funding. At the current time, it is not sure whether any money made available will go to institutions as a reward for doing a good job in the indicator areas, or as a supplement to institutions in need of bolstering their performance. One thing is for certain, performance indicator reporting is now a prominent part of public higher education landscape in Colorado.

The elections here in Idaho continued a recent trend. While the state has been predominately Republican for years, the last few elections have come very close to making Idaho a one party state. The results of November's balloting maintained a Republican lock on those elected to national offices and reduced the number of state level offices held by Democrats. In the newly elected state legislature, 12 of 70 representatives are Democrats and 4 of 35 senators are Democrats. In the only high-level race that saw a Democrat replace an incumbent Republican, Marilyn Howard replaced controversial Anne Fox as superintendent of public instruction.

These results mean that education in general and particularly higher education will find little support for increases in state support this legislative session.

After a couple of years of slight enrollment declines, the senior postsecondary institutions experienced a slight enrollment increase this fall. Headcount increased 2.5% and FTE 2.0%. At the state two-year schools, headcount decreased by slightly less than 1.0% and FTE increased by slightly more than a percent.

There are several higher education issues being debated at this time at the state level. The amount of out-of-state tuition is being discussed again. This time there is interest in reducing fees for certain programs that have low enrollment, but high job demand. A closely related issue is methods for increasing the number of students training for information technology occupations.

Another issue that frequently receives state level attention is articulation. Current efforts are underway to improve articulation between vocational/technical programs and academic programs.

Six Mill Levy

Weird things are going on in Montana, as usual. All you visitors to RMAIR probably thought the place looked pretty normal, but you didn't factor in our electorate or our Board of Regents. On November 3, 63% of voters approved renewing the six-mill levy to support higher education. The six-mill levy raises about $14 million, or 14% of state support for the Montana University System, and must be approved every 10 years. On the same day, at the same polls, the same voters narrowly approved Constitutional Initiative 75, which changes the constitution to require that most new or increased taxes and government fees be ratified by voters. Because CI-75 takes effect immediately and the six-mill levy requires a vote of approval by the Legislature in January, state legal experts have said that another vote on the six-mill levy is required. The Board of Regents at their November meeting unanimously voted to file a friendly lawsuit against the state to force a district court judge to decide whether or not to uphold the six-mill levy. If not, the levy will have to go back to state voters in next June's primary and take its chances with dozens of proposals for competing tax hikes. The Regents' lawsuit made The Chronicle of Higher Education, by the way.

Proposed Tuition Hike

The Regents also approved a tuition increase of up to 4% a year for schools in the Montana University System, stating that the increase is needed to maintain the quality of existing programs, not fund expansion. The increase may not be applied equally across all schools in the system, however, Richard Crofts, Commissioner for Higher Education, has proposed raising tuition by $300 at the two universities to pay for lowering tuition by $300 at the four-year colleges and by $800 at the two-year colleges of technology. Reactions have been strong--and predictable. Student senators at the smaller schools have voted in favor of the idea, and university student leaders are strongly opposed. Crofts argues that creating a tiered tuition system would ease crowding at the universities, make better uses of the faculty and facilities at the smaller schools, and help low-income students get an education. The current system is only slightly tiered. For example, full-time students pay $2,869 per year at MSU-Bozeman and between $2,063 and $2,446 at the two-year schools.

Credit Cap

Limiting the number of credits a student can take with state-subsidized tuition has become more popular at public institutions across the country. The Montana University system first instituted a cap of 170 in 1991. Montana students who take more credits must pay the full cost of those classes, or the same tuition charged to nonresident students, roughly three times resident tuition. The policy was announced with little fanfare, and students took little notice until some of them began to be affected by the policy. Meanwhile, the credit cap was reduced to 150 credits for students tarting in or after fall 1996, and it's schedule to go to 144 credits next fall. Now students are up in arms, and registrars are under scrutiny for granting exemptions to the cap. University officials and the Montana Associated Students are asking the Regents to return to the cap of 170 credits. The general feeling seems to be that students shouldn't be entitled to take an unlimited number of credits at state expense, but that the lower caps of 144 and 150 prevent students from getting double majors, switching majors, earning additional teaching certification, etc.

Candidates

On a more personal note, the provosts from both The University of Montana-Missoula (Robert Kindrick) and Montana State University-Bozeman (Joseph Chapman) are 2 of the 8 finalists for the presidency at North Dakota State University. For the record, Cel Johnson's success in driving away bosses is much higher than Jim Olomon's!

University of Nevada - Las Vegas

Enrollment at UNLV is on the rise. UNLV's FTE increased by 6.0%, with 5.3% of the increase at the undergraduate level and 9.7% occurring at the graduate level. Headcount increased 5.1% to the current 21,213 students. UNLV enrollment now represents 33.6% of the total enrollment in the University and Community College System of Nevada and the institutions in Las Vegas produce 62% of the FTE enrollment in the System.

As the result of a Teacher Education initiative involving cooperation from UNLV, UNR, and CCSN; UNLV is planning to double the number of graduates ready to teach in the Clark County (southern Nevada) public schools over the next 4 years. The new plan will require a commitment of $3 million from the 1999 Nevada legislature. Of that, $2 million would be allocated to UNLV and $1 million would go to the Community College of Southern Nevada. UNLV's President Harter told school district officials that they would have to lobby the Legislature for an additional $1.5 million to offer non-traditional students financial incentives to pursue teaching careers. One plan offers loan forgiveness to students who switch careers and commit to teaching in the Clark County School District for several years. This past year, the Clark County School District hired 2,000 teachers. Three hundred of the 536 UNLV teacher graduates are employed by the county public school system. The county public school system anticipates a need of at least 1,500 teachers annually as southern Nevada's population continues to grow.

The University of Nevada, Las Vegas has received the largest charitable gift pledge in Nevada history from James E. Rogers and the Rogers family for the new William S. Boyd School of Law. The donation, a combination of an outright gift and pledges of future support, will total more than $28.5 million. Rogers, a Las Vegas attorney, founded Valley Broadcasting Company in 1971 and owns and operates NBC-affiliate television stations in Nevada, Arizona, California, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming.

Norval Pohl, UNLV's vice president for finance and administration, has accepted a post at the University of North Texas in Denton, where he will serve as provost and executive vice president. As a result of organizational changes, the offices previously reporting to Dr. Pohl will report to two different administrators. Juanita Fain, formerly UNLV's dean of enrollment management, will serve as vice president for administration, and will oversee the offices of the Registrar, Admissions, Financial Aid, Diversity Initiatives, Human Resources, and Facilities Management. The assistant vice president for budgets, George Scaduto, will serve as interim vice president for budgets, and will administer the offices of the Controller; Purchasing, Grants and Contracts; and Thomas, Mack and Silver Bowl Stadiums. UNLV's office of Administrative Computing will report to the director of academic computing services.

University and Community College System of Nevada

Following the November 3 statewide elections, there will be four new regents on the 11-member board governing the UCCSN. They are Reno lawyer Doug Hill from northern Nevada, and from southern Nevada, telemarketing business owner Steve Sisolak, computer specialist Doug Seastrand, and retired UNLV education professor Tom Kirkpatrick.

State of Nevada revenues are falling below projections, prompting Governor Robert Miller to impose a hiring freeze on state-funded positions. The freeze, affecting replacement as well as new positions, is in effect for the rest of the current fiscal year. System campuses are consequently facing problems in planning for the 1999-2000 academic year.

University of Nevada - Reno

Headcount enrollments at UNR are down slightly at 12,303, a 1.1% decrease from fall 1997 (12,442). The majority of the decrease has occurred in the number of non-degree students, dropping 25.5%. However, FTE enrollments increased by 1%, from 9,397 to 9,488. The College of Agriculture has a new dean, Dr. David Thawley, formerly dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Minnesota for 12 years. He replaces Dr. Bernard Jones, who was dean of the college for 17 years.

Fall Enrollments

First-time Freshmen enrollment for almost all universities in the "Land of Enchantment"is up! Possible reasons for the enrollment boost are the "Lottery Success Scholarships" that the State offers for New Mexico high school graduates, out-of-state tuition waivers for Texas students that live within 135 miles of the New Mexico border, and a larger pool of a high school graduates.

Total Headcount First-time Freshmen

F97 F98 % dif F97 F98 % dif

ENMU 3,495 3,510 0.4% 488 587 20.3%

NMHU 2,543 2,513 -1.2% 320 571 78.4%

WNMU 2,519 2,457 -2.5% 321 311 -3.1%

NMSU 15,067 15,409 2.3% 1,701 2,095 23.2%

UNM 23,770 23,744 -0.1% 2,162 2,670 23.5%

Banner Software Purchase

The software search is over for four institutions in New Mexico. Eastern New Mexico University-Main and Roswell, New Mexico Highlands University, Western New Mexico University, and New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology have purchased Banner 2000 from SCT Education Systems. Modules purchased include student, finance, human/resource, financial aid, alumni and web-enabled services. Factors that influenced the decision to purchase Banner were the Web access, year 2000 compliance features, long-term use by other universities and companies, and users' positive responses to the software as it was demonstrated. Partial funding of the purchase comes from the approval of a general obligation bond this November.

Staff Change

There has been a staff change at Eastern New Mexico University (ENMU) for the executive director of planning and analysis, Dr. Alec Testa has left this position to start a new venture in the world of virtual learning. He is now the director of assessment at the Western Governors University. During Dr. Testa's time at ENMU as coordinator of the Assessment Resource office and as executive director, he strengthened and improved assessment efforts. Dr. Patrice Caldwell, former executive director of Institutional Renewal is now the executive director of Planning and Analysis/Institutional Renewal and also directs the assessment efforts at ENMU.

UTAH HIGHER EDUCATION ENROLLMENTS ARE DOWN - AS EXPECTED

Student headcount enrollments this fall for the Utah System of Higher Education total 113,704 down 6% from 121,046 students enrolled during fall term 1997, according to a report issued October 8th by the State Board of Regents office. The drop in full-time students is 8% from 87,076 full-time-equivalent (FTE) students in the fall of 1997 to 79,394 students this year.

"This initial drop in enrollment was expected with the conversion from quarter to a semester calendar this year," said Cecelia H. Foxley, Commissioner of Higher Education.† "It's a national phenomenon that happens whenever a calendar conversion takes place, because students at first don't know how many classes to take for a full load. Once they get used to the semester system and to starting school several weeks earlier in the fall, the enrollments will come back. Some students just were not ready to quit their summer jobs in August.

Regents had observed an enrollment drop at Utah Valley State College in the fall of 1990, when the college converted to a semester calendar.† But enrollments began to climb the next semester In fact, of Utah's nine public colleges and universities now on the semester system, only UVSC, which had previously converted, had an enrollment increase this fall, up 13.6% in headcount and 11.3% in FTE students.

Commissioner Foxley also noted that the college and university personnel worked diligently to prepare students for this semester conversion. Many students loaded up on courses last year and during the summer session in order to complete their educational programs in advance of the change to semesters. As a result, the graduating classes were larger than expected.

The initial drop in enrollments was also expected by State Legislators, who endorsed the semester conversion adopted by the Board of Regents to take effect this fall at all nine public colleges and universities Legislative intent language, adopted during the 1998 session, states that "Fiscal Year 2000 enrollment funding of USHE institutions will be no less than the total amount appropriated for enrollment in fiscal year 1999."

End-of-semester enrollment totals may mitigate these figures somewhat, since significant numbers of short-term intensive training programs primarily at the community colleges and many of the concurrent enrollment courses for high school students offered by all nine institutions are not included with the fall semester enrollment data reported this year. These types of enrollments will be captured in subsequent enrollment reports, but their absence in the fall report makes the reported declines appear more severe than they otherwise would be. In addition, year-end enrollment reports will include last summer's enrollments, which were higher than usual for several institutions.

Source: Press Release from the Office of the Commissioner of Higher Education

Community Colleges

Wyoming Community College Commission Executive Director Tom Henry stated at a commission meeting in October that the state's community colleges need to consider a new funding formula. Henry said that basing funding allocations on full-time equivalences will not meet the colleges' needs in the next century. Dennis Jones, president of the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems (NCHEMS), then presented a new plan. A major feature of the plan is the use of an increased base fund for each school that would eliminate the current dependence on FTEs, add projected costs of renewal of buildings and equipment to that base, and make allowances for equitable funding to all seven schools. Emphasis would be on balancing state and local needs. State priorities should come from recommendations by the commission, with concurrence from the governor and legislative leadership. Accountability to the legislature for the funds would be based on what each school accomplished with the money, if the stated mission of the school was met, if buildings and equipment were maintained, and the school's contribution to statewide education priorities.

Some meeting participants express distrust of placing too much control in the hands of the commission and the state government. "We need the active participation of the local decision makers in the formula, not only as it is implemented, but as it is carried out and revised, as well", said Steve Thulin, Junior College Faculty Alliance president. Jones and Henry stressed that creating such a formula was an ongoing and adaptive process between the schools and the commission.

University of Wyoming

Lisa Muller and Susan Jones reported a good regional conference in Bozeman. Thanks to the host institution and individuals who made it such a success.

On campus enrollments for fall were up 1%, from 9,614 in 1997 to 9,679 in 1998. This was welcome news after several years of declines. Especially encouraging were the 3% increase in new transfers and 9% increase in new freshmen. Part of the increase is due to increased participation in the Western Undergraduate Exchange (WUE) program. Total enrollment at all UW sites was 11,124.

In his annual State of the University address, University President Philip Dubois revealed some of the possible features of future university planning efforts. His goals are to address the needs of the staff and faculty, increase the retention rate of students, disperse scholarship money more evenly, look into revising programs that require more than 124-128 credit hours, and explore a possible $6 million yearly increase in revenue through charging students for every credit hour taken over 12. He also repeated a finding of an NCHEMS study done in the late 1980's, which stated that "the University can no longer afford to be all things to all people". This has been interpreted as referring to possible program cuts and fewer faculty. At the same time, he hopes to increase our strength in the state, especially at the local community level.

Thomas Buchanan has been selected as the new vice president for academic affairs. He has been serving a two-year term as associate vice president for academic affairs since 1997. Buchanan replaces Kenyon Griffin, who delayed his retirement to serve as interim provost following the departure of former Provost Al Karnig. Dr. Buchanan came to UW as an assistant professor in 1979, and has served as professor in geography and recreation as well as adjunct professor in statistics; chairman of the department of geography and recreation; and associate dean of the college of arts and sciences. In 1992 he was named a college of arts and sciences exemplary alumnus, and is the recipient of two prestigious teaching awards. Dr. Griffin will continue until the end of 1999 as a special assistant to the president to assist with the academic planning process.

Robert Aylward has been named vice president for information technology after serving in an interim capacity for 9 months. Aylward earned a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering and an MBA with honors from UW. He is a former director of systems, telecommunications and operations here, and served from 1987 to 1994 as associate director for information technology. From 1994-97 he worked in marketing for government, University, and corporate national accounts for MCI in Cheyenne.

Judith Powell, long-time associate provost for academic affairs, was recently appointed dean of the School of Extended Studies and associate vice president for academic affairs. Dr. Powell joined the faculty in 1982 as head of the department of family and consumer sciences in the College of Agriculture. Her previous faculty positions were at Oregon State University, Colorado State University, and Oklahoma State University. At its October meeting the University of Wyoming Board of Trustees amended its bylaws to change the duties of the board's community college and outreach committee to include oversight of UW outreach activities. They also discussed recommendations made by Dean Powell and Provost Griffin concerning the future of outreach programs, largely to make off campus programs more central to the university mission.

Students will be able to register for online classes beginning Nov. 13. Designated as UW Online, these courses will be taught entirely on the Web. Nine classes will begin in January, to be followed by 10 more in the fall of 1999. The courses were developed by Real education, a consulting service that is redesigning the distance learning Web pages, as well. The UW Online courses will also be made available to the Western Governor's University (WGU). There are no plans at this time to develop courses specifically for WGU.

President Dubois expressed satisfaction that the UW senior leadership team is nearly complete as we enter the academic planning process. Nominees for one vacant associate vice president for academic affairs slot will give public presentations in the next week, and Dr. Griffin is forming a screening committee to select candidates for a second associate vice president opening.

Sherry Warren joined us in August as director of the Center for Academic Advising. Janet Constantinides, former head of the English department, is now associate dean of arts and sciences.

The Faculty Senate has adopted a policy authorizing performance review for faculty previously awarded tenure. The senate was asked by the Trustees in 1995 to help draft a post-tenure review policy. The recommendations will be reviewed at the November Trustees meeting.

The Associated Students of the University of Wyoming (ASUW) approved an increase in student fees from $193 to $200 per semester for full time students. The increase is intended to offset expenses for equipment and a rock climbing wall and salaries for additional staff members following a remodeling of the campus recreational gymnasium. Funding was arranged previously for the remodeling, and senators favoring the student fee increase argued that it was necessary in order to allow full use of the expanded facilities. The University Trustees must now approve the new fee rates.

A settlement was reached on Aug. 14 with former men's basketball coach Larry Shyatt. He will pay the University $286,000 in five installments, the first payment due before Dec. 31, 1998, and the last due before July 31, 2002. This is the amount he would have been paid on a net basis over his contract period. A provision of his 1997 contract obligated him to pay UW $392,000 when he resigned in April of this year to become head coach at Clemson University. He filed suit in May to be released from this provision, and in July the state of Wyoming and the University filed a counter suit to recover the obligation. President Dubois expressed hope that this would be "a demonstration to universities across the country that coaching contracts have meaning and are enforceable".

The entire Laramie and state community was stunned by the ghastly murder of Matthew Shepard, a 21 year old political science major at the Laramie campus. He was found unconscious 18 hours after being robbed and assaulted on Oct. 7 and died on Oct. 12 in a Fort Collins, Colorado, hospital without regaining consciousness. Two local residents who were being held for the assault had their charges changed to first degree murder, aggravated robbery, and kidnaping with intent to inflict bodily injury or terrorize. Charges against two females were upgraded to accessory after the fact to first degree murder.

Numerous events were held to commemorate the life of Matthew, who was gay, and to decry the type of hate crime many suspect his death to be. Yellow arm bands and signs with green circles on them were distributed and worn or displayed by faculty, staff, students, and other area residents. The yellow is a reflection of the yellow ribbons that appeared after the Oklahoma City bombing, and symbolize zero tolerance for violence. The green circle is a universal symbol for peace. Among the speakers at one memorial service was UW President Philip Dubois, who recalled "a week of overpowering sadness" and "a few hours of unspeakable horror" and called for a collective opposition to violence and bigotry, something that can be aided by the education process. In an earlier statement, Dubois said that "His suffering is over. Ours as a community continues." Flags on campus were lowered to half staff on the day of Matt's death.