“An absurd proposition”

February 5, 2010 by Jorge Labrador 

Illustration by Tiarra Wantz.

The budget cuts facing Nevada’s colleges and universities may lead to “literally destroying the system that has taken decades to build and will take as long or more to rebuild,” Chancellor Dan Klaich said at Tuesday’s special Board of Regents meeting.

The Nevada System of Higher Education faces the possibility of a cut of $37 million in the 2010 fiscal year and $110 million in the 2011 fiscal year as a result of a projected 22 percent cut in the state’s general fund.

The board met to review the impact of the projections, set at the Jan. 22 Economic Forum meeting where it was determined that Nevada could face a budget deficit of more than $800 million, and explore the option of financial exigency – a declaration that there is not enough money to cover system expenses.

Klaich outlined the drastic impacts the cuts would have on the system with three scenarios that would cut the budget by the necessary $110 million: A 20 percent pay cut across the board, an additional 5 furlough days for faculty and staff or 1,290 layoffs system-wide.

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According to Klaich, any of these moves would also require the board to declare exigency.

NSHE would be the first educational system in the United States to take that action.

“We would be the poster child. That’s a terrible burden,” said University of Nevada, Reno President Milton Glick.

Regents Chairman James Dean Leavitt said he had already asked his staff to prepare the needed paperwork to declare exigency, so it would be ready in case it was needed for the March Board of Regents meeting.

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Klaich explained that another option is to collect additional student fees to fill the deficit.

Given this scenario, all students in NSHE institutions would see a 48 percent increase in fees on top of the 39 percent increase passed over the last five years: the undergraduate fee would increase to $232 per credit and the graduate fee would be $345 per credit.

These figures would raise sufficient funds assuming current enrollment levels persist. But, Klaich estimated that at those rates, approximately 15,750 students would be unable to enroll, further decreasing revenue and forcing institutions to cut full-time faculty and staff by approximately 1,025.

According to Klaich, other options are being considered before taking any action.

The chancellor is meeting with the State Legislature’s Interim Finance Committee today to begin the process of hearings and town hall meetings to discuss the budget cuts.

Governor Jim Gibbons is expected to address the statewide budget crisis in his State of the State address on Monday, Feb. 8.

Further discussion of the budget matter, and possibly action, is expected to take place at the March 4 Board of Regents meeting.

“I do not recommend that you take any precipitous actions,” Klaich told the Regents. “We will have time for that in the very near future when we better know what we have to deal with.”

Leavitt described it as “a historic day.”

“When the Economic Commission spoke,” he said, “the Earth stood still.”

“I think our collective breath was taken away and our planning to date became moot on that terrible Friday afternoon,” said Klaich, describing the shift he and the presidents of Nevada’s eight public higher education institutions were forced to make when they learned the figures.

Klaich and the presidents had been working under the previous 8 percent budget cut figure throughout the winter break and were shocked when the new number was announced in January.

Four days after receiving the news, the leaders met to discuss how the cuts would be taken if they pass the legislature and how each institution would be affected. Klaich explained that dealing with the proposition meant throwing out all the careful plans the group had made.

“We are unwinding almost a decade of significant progress in higher education and being asked to do it in a few weeks,” he said. ”This is truly an absurd proposition and no one should confuse what we are discussing with the kind of carefully thought out plans that would normally accompany changes of this magnitude.”

Klaich lamented the conditions he said would be the result of these cuts:

First, he said students will be turned away, worsening the conditions that have led Nevada to stand at 50th in the nation for the chance of a high school student to finish an undergraduate degree on time.

He said the quality of faculty will be impacted, as will externally funded research.

“We will lose the ability to train the workforce necessary for the very economy we wish to attract,” he continued. “Nevadans who in record numbers wish to upgrade their skills to move off the unemployment rolls will be told ‘there is no room.’”

Schools, departments or colleges will be lost and operations and maintenance will be deferred, Klaich predicted.

“We will own some of the worst higher education funding in the country, a powerful disincentive to any company wanting to relocate in Nevada… We will drive Nevadans and Nevada businesses out of state… We will own a system of higher education that does not match our spirit, our needs or the goals of this state.”

CURRENT BUDGET CUT IMPACTS:

UNLV:

Eliminated 100 faculty and 281 staff positions, cut more than 100 class sections and 30 percent of the budget for part time instructors. Two colleges merged.

University of Nevada, Reno:

Eliminated 281 positions, equal to 13 percent of the state-funded work force, along with sharp reductions to writing and math centers.

Nevada State College:

Eliminated a vice presidential position.

College of Southern Nevada:

Henderson business operations closed, Tropicana site to improve articulation to UNLV closed.

Great Basin College:

Deferred a million dollars in maintenance and left 1012 vacancies, equal to 10 percent of its workforce.

Western Nevada College:

Hiring freeze in effect since 2007 and instituting a voluntary workload increase.

Desert Research Institute:

Eliminated a vice presidential position and terminated a decades-long cloud seeding program.

Truckee Meadows Community College:

Reduced its testing center, its career center and its placement center, combined two vice presidential positions and is down 59 positions.