Arizona State University Professor Matthew Whitaker has withdrawn his company’s six-digit, diversity-training contract from the Phoenix Police Department following his demotion for plagiarism. The Phoenix City Council approved the $268,000 contract with Whitaker’s company, Whitaker Group, LLC, in a 4-0 vote on May 13. Officials said at the time that…
Phoenix City Councilman Sal DiCiccio wants a diversity-training program for police canceled following news that the professor in charge of the program, Matthew Whitaker, has been demoted for plagiarism. As New Times reported on Friday, Arizona State University officials demoted Whitaker to associate professor and made him co-director of the…
Popular Arizona State University professor Matthew Whitaker has been demoted in the aftermath of his second plagiarism scandal, just weeks after he won a $268,000 no-bid contract to teach Phoenix police about “cultural consciousness.” In a recent email to ASU faculty, Interim University Provost Mark Searle states that “significant issues”…
Following months of protest from teachers, Arizona State University officials Thursday abandoned their plan to increase the number of classes writing instructors are required to take on each semester. Instead, the teachers will be able to choose whether to teach five classes or four, as they were required to do…
More than half of Arizona State University’s writing instruction staff signed a letter this week pledging to fight the school over what they say are unfair employment contracts. The teachers have been testy since December, when university officials announced writing instructors would be required to teach five classes each semester…
Faced with an urgent need to reform Arizona’s withering public schools, Governor Doug Ducey proposes giving them $1.8 billion in the next five years from the state land trust fund. Ducey’s office calls the proposal a “win-win,” since it involves raising no new taxes and the money is destined for…
A band of concerned community members marching under the moniker “Save Our Students” has filed a ballot measure to cap in-state tuition rates at Arizona universities. The initiative, which the group hopes to put up for vote in 2016, seeks to block the Arizona Board of Regents from increasing tuition…
A proposed tuition rate for undocumented immigrants that the Arizona Board of Regents will vote on next week was created by guesswork, New Times has learned. At a public meeting last month, the board proposed the new tuition rate of 150 percent of in-state tuition for undocumented immigrants who qualify…
A Tempe man received an urgent text message from his roommate on Thursday: Your girlfriend broke into the house, and she’s upset. Not exactly the sort of news anyone wants to hear. Claudia Rose Drinnan, an Arizona State University student and sorority sister, was ticked over something — it’s not clear…
New resident undergraduate students at Arizona universities will pay about 3 to 4 percent more in tuition and fees this fall, the State Board of Regents decided Monday…
As thousands protested racially motivated police brutality in Baltimore this week, about 420 people gathered at Arizona State University to talk about the hyper-surveillance of black males. “We have to talk about things that make us uncomfortable in order to grow and change,” said Walter R. Allen, a professor of…
A small group of undocumented immigrants who hope to attend Arizona State University and their allies canvassed the school’s Tempe campus Tuesday passing out fliers and drumming up public support for allowing students who came to the United States as children to pay resident tuition rates. “We’re here to fight…
A deal between Arizona State University and edX, a nonprofit Internet firm, aims to give future freshmen the option to take their first year entirely in MOOCs. The announcement by edX and ASU comes after a flurry of news articles last year critical of the “massive open online courses,” which…
A controversial proposal before the Arizona Board of Regents to offer a lower tuition rate to some undocumented immigrants would not be subsidized by taxpayers, board chair Mark Killian told New Times. Under the plan, outlined in a the agenda for the board’s next monthly meeting May 4, undocumented immigrant…
Arizona university students aren’t exactly happy to pay more tuition, but during a public meeting with the Board of Regents last evening, many said they support proposed price increases in the name of maintaining quality amid deep cuts to state funding. “It’s not students’ fault and it’s not the administration’s…
The girlfriend of a highly touted Arizona State University football recruit publicly recanted claims yesterday that her boyfriend assaulted her. Davon Durant, a junior college transfer ranked by multiple recruiting services as the nation’s top junior college linebacker, was suspended indefinitely from the team last month after his arrest on…
Three new videos of the arrest of Ersula Ore have surfaced, showing different perspectives of the infamous take-down and allowing viewers to hear the concern of witnesses. Arizona State University released the videos following a public-records request by New Times. Last week, ASU Officer Stewart Ferrin resigned, allowing the university…
Arizona State University Police Officer Stewart Ferrin resigned on Monday, about nine months after video of his violent arrest of a black professor went viral. Although ASU officials had said previously that Ferrin’s arrest of Ersula Ore on May 20 was proper, they flip-flopped when the public weighed in following…
Professor Ersula Ore, convicted for resisting arrest and suing ASU for $2 million, is defiant as ever in a new statement that blames Officer Stewart Ferrin for her troubles. “While I requested he respect the exercise of my constitutional rights, his anger clearly grew to frightening proportions. He unjustifiably grabbed me and threw me to the ground with the excessive force that he…
ASU is taking a hit in the news for offering a senior-level English class next semester called U.S. Race Theory and the Problem of Whiteness. The controversial 18-student class will be taught by assistant professor Lee Bebout, whose expertise is critical race theory, American studies, and Chicano studies. Critics of…
On Monday afternoon, Arizona State University approved a new student-faculty “amorous relationship policy.” Faculty members applauded when the vote was tallied, and Faculty Senate President Helen Ossipov told New Times she was “very glad this passed.” The university called it “an important step” toward “[ensuring] that faculty members and lecturers…
In a final vote Monday afternoon, the ASU Faculty Senate passed a new student-faculty “amorous relationship” policy. The vote was 76 to 11, with four abstentions, and came after months of vigorous and contentious debate…
