Gov. Katie Hobbs is losing patience with University of Arizona President Robert Robbins after the latest in an unfavorable series of reports about the school’s leadership.
UA acquired an expensive online school and is now contending with a huge budget deficit. The Arizona Republic reported on Wednesday that Robbins hired a lobbyist, for $10,000 a month, to try to stop the California attorney general from fining the online school UA acquired.
Hobbs said it doesn’t seem Robbins has been sharing everything he knew with her and the public.
“I am continuing to lose patience with the situation and the fact that we’re hearing one thing from him and then something else from reporting, and I will say that it’s exceedingly frustrating,” Hobbs said on Thursday.
Hobbs is a part of the Arizona Board of Regents, which governs Arizona’s public universities, and she’s put harder pressure on both the board and school leadership over the last several weeks.
Hobbs says it’s concerning if the school took on the online university without understanding its liability, or if UA leaders understood and tried to cover it up.
As for the governor’s next steps, it’s not yet clear.
“We’re still looking at options. I would love for President Robbins to just share what he knew at the time he knew it,” she said.
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