Those who gathered for Friday's 4 p.m. meeting included prominent local businessmen, wealthy donors, prominent Wildcat alumni and elected officials. And despite Gov. Katie Hobbs' letter the day before condemning UA's leadership, Robbins' sudden resignation as athletic director, an emergency-imposed university-wide hiring freeze, unrest among UA's faculty, and Despite Thursday's presentation by UA Interim CFO John, Arnold called UA's spending trajectory “alarming,” and those at the table had nothing but praise for Robbins.

“I just want to talk about how much we admire and respect him,” Click said. “We are so grateful to this man for all he has done for this community.”

Crick, a car dealer who is a community and political leader and philanthropic donor, organized the conference, and the roundtable included key figures including philanthropist Sarah Smallhouse and president of the Thomas R. Brown Foundation. Participated. Pima County Executive Jean Lesher. Pima County Supervisor Rex Scott; and businessmen Humberto Lopez, Ryan Harper, Mike Myers and Matt Russell. HSL Properties' Lopez said Robbins has donated “probably $20 million” to UA since becoming president in 2017.

The goal, Click said, was for community leaders to share their passionate support for Robbins. Participants repeatedly commented that they wanted to speak out about the need for Robbins to remain at the university and Tucson and continue his leadership of the university because all the headlines are negative voices and “squeaky wheels.” did. Lesher said he is encouraging Tucson residents to voice their opinions by calling Hobbs' chief of staff.

The group said it accomplished much under Robbins' leadership. That includes what several people said essentially prevented the loss of the University of Tucson Medical Center. Spearhead a successful fundraising campaign. She cares about student success and supports initiatives such as UA's Osiris-Rex space mission. But in the face of UA's current financial woes, Smallhouse warned that calls for Robbins to resign will grow louder, and Click said he is concerned that Robbins will resign. Stated.

Since Robbins revealed what he called UA's financial crisis in mid-November, he has appeared before the Faculty Senate multiple times and has been furious about how his leadership team has handled university finances. received criticism. The department and the governor have called for an external audit, and the union representing faculty, staff and student workers recently called for Robbins' resignation.

But his supporters who attended Friday's rally said UA's financial situation needs to be put into a fuller context. Harper, an adjunct professor at the university, cited Interim CFO Arnold's report on Thursday that found UA's budget deficit was $140 million last year, adding, “Probably about three or four of the university's total spending. That's equivalent to 5 percent.” UA Eller College of Management. “I think most universities have been in the red over the past five years.”

Several people said Mr. Robbins was doing the right thing by “pausing” hiring, raises and other spending while he developed a corrective plan, something every company must do from time to time. He said that.

“We're really biased,” Click acknowledged of attendees' feelings toward Robbins. “We don't know the financial details. We know they'll figure it out. We're confident they'll figure it out.”

Many university officials, including faculty, urged a “no confidence” vote in Robbins after Hobbs released a letter Thursday night questioning UA's leadership and the process of responding to the financial crisis. .

Hobbs also said naming Arnold as UA interim CFO could be a conflict of interest because Arnold is also executive director of the Arizona Board of Regents, the state's public university oversight board. .

“I don't understand where there's a conflict of interest,” Myers, a businessman and former president of the UA Alumni Association, said in Click's office. “He doesn't report to Bobby, and he doesn't get to make all the ABOR decisions. He's just one person.”

Some noted that Mr. Arnold has extensive experience in finance and administration, having previously worked for several Arizona governors from both political parties.

Ms. Hobbs wrote that she was concerned about UA's controversial acquisition of the online school, formerly Ashford University and now UA Global Campus, under Robbins.

“The acquisition of UAGC is a great example of him being in it for the long term,” countered Scott, the Pima County coach.

Harper said his career has involved acquisitions and mergers, and UA essentially intends to acquire the internet platform from Ashford, reshaping the institution from its starting point to serve online students. He said it makes sense to build.

Several conference attendees said the role of a university president is less academic and more business-like. They often referred to Robbins as CEO rather than president.

The University Faculty Senate announced that the University's Faculty Senate has announced that Robbins will remain in the Spring of 2023 after a consultant's report conducted on behalf of the University cited the University's lack of security and safety prior to the shooting death of Professor Thomas Meixner in October 2022. A vote of “no confidence” was passed in Mr. Made numerous threats known to university personnel. UA recently paid a multi-million dollar settlement to Meixner's family.

“I think it's really inflammatory to bring up the fact of a murder on campus,” Myers said. “Frankly, I don't think it's possible to completely police this without putting up walls around universities and other buildings. So personally I'd put that aside.”

“I think what teachers are hearing is something like, 'Well, there's this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this.' Frankly, a lot of things are like that. I don't think you can expect it to be resolved,'' Myers added, snapping his fingers. “You have to let things work out. And you can't blame the people on the sidelines who are trying to work things out.”

Lopez, the UA donor, said he can't run a company with lifetime employees who have guaranteed jobs.

“I don’t know how on earth you can run a company if you can’t lay off or lay off employees like tenured professors do,” Lopez said. “We wouldn't have had the success we have now.”

Ten percent of the university's new hires are tenure-track positions, a rate that faculty members complain is too low.

The athletics department has been at the center of controversy since Robbins revealed at a Faculty Senate meeting in December that the university had loaned the department about $86 million in recent years. Arnold updated the board on UA's finances Thursday, saying the athletics department is operating at a $30 million deficit.

Smallhouse said she thinks athletics is “embedded” in the university.

“Big donors are going to lose their ties,” she says. “My understanding is that on Monday they will release a sketch of where they are going.”

Smallhouse acknowledged that Robbins was “ultimately responsible” for the deficit, adding that there was probably too much funding for various athletics and academic programs.

Professor Myers said the problem of overfunding was something Robbins had “inherited” because it was not centralized within the university.

“This has been going on for 50 years,” he said. “It wasn't Bobby who started spending money. It's been going on for literally 50 to 60 years,” he said, adding that when past presidents tried to rein in spending, “faculty went crazy.” .

Robbins is incredibly approachable, prominent Tucson residents said. Robbins is often reachable by phone or on the golf course at any time of the day, and he readily gives out his cell phone number to students and others.

Despite its experience, the Arizona Daily Star has repeatedly requested a sit-down interview with Robbins, but has been denied. Public records requests against universities often take months or more to be fulfilled.

“He's easy to get to,” Myers said, and during the meeting he texted Robbins to say he had brought a newspaper and asked if he would be willing to be interviewed by the Star. Robbins immediately said yes, Myers said.

“There are some things we can't talk about,” Click said, defending some of the university's lack of transparency. “You have to remember that sometimes when someone is no longer with you, you can't tell people why.”

Earlier this month, the Star and Tucson Agenda reported that former CFO Lisa Rulney, who oversaw the budget office that led to a $240 million miscalculation of UA's cash reserves that was exposed in November, was temporarily suspended. Robbins, who remained at the university in an advisory role, kept his salary of more than $500,000 despite informing regents of his resignation in December.

The Robins announced Monday that athletic director Dave Heake was abruptly resigning, but did not publicly explain why. In response to questioning from the Star, UA later said Heeke would be paid the remainder of his contract through March 2025.

“Leadership is a learning experience,” Harper said, adding that he is confident UA will become more open in the coming months.

Boosters emphasized the connection between the university, one of the region's largest employers, Tucson's economy and the cultural, intellectual and economic opportunities for its residents.

“If Tucson is successful, it helps the university and vice versa,” Smallhouse said. “We have enough problems. We don't want to build things we don't need. It's easy to destroy things. It's really hard to build them.”

She said Arizona State University has benefited from Michael Crow's long tenure as president, and that she and others believe Arizona State University has suffered from too much presidential turnover over the years. He said there was.

“He really changed (the university) for the better,” Smallhouse said, noting Robbins' work with UA's medical school and health sciences program.

UA partners with Banner Health at University Medical Center and Banner-University Medical Center South.

“We almost lost that hospital and that facility,” said Pima County Executive Lescher, but Banner stayed because of Robbins' relationship with company executives.

Meyers said there is a “silent majority” of Robbins supporters. He added that he is very excited about Robbins' leadership and recently made a gift of well over $100,000 to the university.

“I think he makes good decisions, but they're not always popular,” Myers said. “And I read that the faculty was angry. Well, if (Robbins) didn't do that, we'd fire 40 percent of you guys, and in six months he'd close three departments. It might have been.”

Smallhouse said there is no single reason for the financial crisis.

“Make things as simple as possible, but never too simple,” she said, quoting Albert Einstein. “You're moving in that direction. It's complicated. There isn't one.”

As public pressure mounts on Robbins, Click said he plans to “walk the board” in the race for president.

“I truly believe he is the right leader at the right time. He has his problems, but I have confidence. He has to rise up and solve the problems. If he If you don't.'' Crick paused, looking at his folded hands and shaking his head slightly. “He just has to fix them.”