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Arizona governor Katie Hobbs is exploring options to remove members of the Arizona Board of Regents amid a financial crisis at the University of Arizona, NPR affiliate KJZZ reported.
The threat comes amid the Democratic governor’s mounting frustration over how ABOR and the University of Arizona have handled a financial crisis, first identified in November. Currently UA faces a $177 million budget deficit.
Hobbs has demanded a series of reports and a meeting with regents regarding finances. She recently accused ABOR of failing to take responsibility for the crisis, lacking a coherent vision to fix it and getting bogged down in personal squabbles amid a clash with UA’s Faculty Senate over questions about a potential conflict of interest for ABOR chair Fred DuVal, which he has denied. (DuVal also threatened legal action against the Faculty Senate chair who raised the question.)
The governor’s move to dismiss regents comes the same week that UA’s interim chief financial officer, John Arnold, who also serves as executive director of ABOR, told university staff in a meeting Tuesday that phased layoffs will take place throughout the spring, The Arizona Daily Star reported. Layoffs will reportedly begin with the University of Arizona’s senior administrators.
The university has already implemented a number of cost-cutting measures, including implementing a freeze on hiring, travel, compensation and construction projects.
