The Daily Agenda: Reproductive healthcare takes a hit at UA
The university is closing its Campus Health pharmacy ... Students and staffers will have to get their birth control pills elsewhere … Santa Cruz County treasurer in hot water with FBI.
University of Arizona President Robert C. Robbins announced yesterday that the budget deficit for the 2025 fiscal year had dropped by $110 million, thanks to steps taken as part of the school’s financial action plan.
The now $52 million deficit is the result of belt-tightening across departments, with the largest savings coming from a reduction in administrative expenses, according to Robbins.
But Robbins’ announcement didn’t address the layoffs and cuts that have quietly been taking place across campus over the past few months, the most recent of which impacts student health.
Earlier this month, the UA announced that Campus Health pharmacy services would be eliminated at the end of June, saying that the decision had been made “in response to the changing landscape of retail pharmacy in recent years.”
This includes filling prescriptions, but the UA’s announcement said that patients have several nearby options to purchase medications, including pharmacies within walking distance and online vendors that offer delivery.
That may be true, but what jumped out at us in the wake of the Arizona Supreme Court’s decision last week to uphold the state’s Civil War-era abortion ban is that this pharmacy was the only on-campus location to get birth control prescriptions filled.
And soon, it will be just a little less convenient for female students and staffers to manage their reproductive health.
A UA spokeswoman told the Tucson Agenda that the pharmacy had been operating on a deficit in recent years, but that doesn’t lessen the impact for some students, who say this is a devastating loss to the campus community.
“The closure of the Campus Health pharmacy, in retrospect I didn’t necessarily expect, since it’s such a big resource that all students use across campus,” said Grace Harrington, co-director of the student group Feminists Organized to Resist, Create and Empower (FORCE.) “Given the abortion ban, it does seem timely.”
Harrington said the demand this school year for emergency contraception and other products has been the highest FORCE has seen yet, with the group distributing more than 500 doses of Plan B to students.
And while FORCE’s feminist pharmacy stocks and will continue to distribute emergency contraception and other safe-sex supplies, they aren’t a real pharmacy and can’t fill the void left by the Campus Health pharmacy.
Co-director Nousha Aldhefery, who heard about the Campus Health pharmacy’s closure for the first time from the Tucson Agenda, said the timing of the decision is especially unfortunate, given that FORCE and many other student clubs are preparing to downsize to a single director and will be working with a reduced budget when school returns in the fall.
“We’re the only pharmacy on campus with hygiene and safe-sex products and we’ll be operating with a lower budget, higher work endurance and all that comes with that,” Aldhefery said.
Harrington said FORCE is working with the Associated Students of the University of Arizona to draft a memo of understanding to secure funding for the next two years, as the club prepares to transition out of ASUA and operate under the Women and Gender Resource Center.
But since most of the feminist pharmacy’s products were purchased with a $5,000 sustainability grant awarded to FORCE at the start of the school year, Aldhefery has concerns, since the club hosts regular programming and big events, including its annual “Slut Walk.”
“I worry about having the budget set for the next two years and what will happen without the grant as a safety net,” Aldhefery said.
The UA’s Campus Health pharmacy stocks 20 different types of oral contraceptives, as well as emergency contraception.
FORCE staffers and interns will continue to direct students who need prescription birth control pills and other types of contraception to contact El Rio’s Reproductive Health Access Project and other local programs and pharmacies.
Meanwhile, the campus workers’ union is standing firm on its belief that the cut is the result of the financial crisis.
“We know this is in direct response to the financial blundering at the hands of Robbins’ and (Lisa Rulney,)” the United Campus Workers of Arizona said in an Instagram post. “This is a critical service that our campus community relies on to fill their prescriptions, and this decision demonstrates just how devastating Robbins’ and his senior leadership team's extreme mismanagement truly is.”
The union’s post said that pharmacy employees will be laid off, but the UA wasn’t able to confirm that or tell us how many jobs would be lost as a result of the pharmacy’s closure.
“Because of the confidential and personnel nature of the information, we are guided by Arizona law and Board of Regents policy and will not be providing details about specific individuals or positions,” said UA spokeswoman Pam Scott.
The Campus Health pharmacy had been operating since 1967 and the UA is the last of the three state universities to offer on-campus pharmacy services, according to Scott.
“Now, patients can easily fill prescriptions online or at any of the pharmacies near campus,” she said.
And for students still looking for an on-campus option, Harrington and others will keep working to get the word out that FORCE is available for students seeking emergency contraception, in the hopes that they won’t resort to more drastic or harmful options.
“A lot of students don’t know we exist and they don’t know this is an option for them,” Harrington said. “We’re trying our best to spread the word and get in touch with other organizations across campus.”
In hot water: The FBI is investigating the Santa Cruz County treasurer after reports of suspicious activity in the county’s bank accounts, the Nogales International’s Angela Gervasi reports. The county board of supervisors issued a joint statement about the probe to the NI after Treasurer Liz Gutfahr abruptly resigned. They said her resignation and the investigation are related. The NI heard from county residents who said they’d seen federal agents in Rio Rico and Tumacacori. The FBI told the sheriff’s department on Tuesday they were planning to execute a search warrant at a residence on the same street as Gutfahr’s house.
Crunching numbers: The University of Arizona’s Athletic Department wasn’t the only one in the Pac-12 that needed financial help, Jon Wilner of Pac-12 Hotline News reported. Nearly all of the conference’s athletic departments needed direct financial support, to the tune of $150 million last year. The difference was a $31.6 million bridge loan the UA made to its athletic department. When you take that away, Wilner calculated a shortfall of $43.5 million, considerably more than most other Pac-12 schools, but still $200,000 less than the shortfall at Arizona State University’s Athletic Department.
Hitting home: The Baltimore bridge collapse stranded the new big ride for the Pima County Fair, KGUN’s Jacqueline Aguilar reports. The “Overdrive” ride wasn’t on the ship that crashed into the bridge. It was still in the port. But when authorities had to prioritize what could be moved out of the harbor, the fair ride didn’t make the cut. Still, organizers say there are plenty of fun attractions to enjoy at the fair.
Flaming hot pizza: Also at the fair, lots and lots of “wonky” food. Tucson Foodie’s Matt Sterner dives into the Hot Cheeto pizza, pickle split, and other culinary oddities you can expect to find at the fair.
Going it alone: Oro Valley is going to make its own way when it comes to tourism, Tucson Local Media’s Dave Perry reports. Town officials ended their $410,000 annual agreement with Visit Tucson. The managers of the biggest leisure destination in town, El Conquistador Tucson, weren’t happy. They said it would cause a “significant and long-term negative impact” on Oro Valley hotels and erode the tax base.
Time to deliberate: The jury in the trial of a Nogales rancher, George Alan Kelly, accused of fatally shooting a Mexican man who crossed the border near his ranch has now heard arguments from prosecutors and defense attorneys, KGUN’s Craig Smith reports. Prosecutor Mike Jette (who also is running for Pima County Attorney) said the rancher’s story kept changing and wasn’t trustworthy, while defense attorney Brenna Larkin said there was no forensic evidence the bullet that killed Gabriel Cuen Buitimea came from Kelly’s gun. The bullet was never recovered. And Larkin noted Kelly was the person who notified authorities about the shooting.
29,378: The number of female students at the UA as of the Fall 2023 semester.
Campus Health is a great service. This is a travesty.