Making the case for education

February 8, 2010 by Leslie Ventura 

Community protests cuts at finance committee hearing

Students and faculty from all over the state sat in on Thursday’s Interim Finance Committee meeting, telling Nevada legislators they cannot abandon the state’s future leaders.

The meeting between legislators and Nevada System of Higher Education representatives met Thursday in Carson City while others gathered at a live telecast in the Grant Sawyer State Building in Las Vegas.

Rallying against proposed budget cuts, UNLV President Neal Smatresk told the IFC that university faculty across Nevada are fearful the state is no longer committed to higher education.

“I think we should celebrate what the University of Nevada, Reno and UNLV bring to our state in terms of reputation,” Smatresk said.

“We have faculty being called every day, being given rather nice offers from other states that are more fortunate than we are right now. We need to do everything we can to keep high-quality faculty at the university to avoid a brain drain that could really set us way back.”

During the meeting, State Senator Steven Horsford, D-Las Vegas, addressed growing criticism of the research requirements at the university level for teaching and research faculty.

“There is no gap between teaching and research,” Smatresk responded.

Smatresk told legislators that some professors who have active grants are able to bring in as much as $3 millon a year to the university. Those funds can be used to purchase cutting edge equipment and to support graduate and undergraduate students.

“They produce a superior educational experience that allows our students to gain the highest levels of achievement on a national scale,” Smatresk said. “While expensive, the most effective mechanism for educating our students [is] personal attention… The engaged faculty member is… a far more passionate advocate for their discipline and has the ability to relate what’s going on in that cutting-edge world to their classroom.”

Marc Johnson, executive vice president and provost, told the committee that the level of uncertainty among faculty is already making it difficult to maintain some of the top positions.

“It’s going to be very important that we not cut salaries greatly across the board or else we will leave ourselves in a non-competitive position,” Johnson said.

Eli Riley, student body president at UNR, said it seems like a suffocating blanket has been thrown over the state and nothing is being done to remove it.

“You as a governing body are faced with a monumental task. Nothing less than the future of this state hinges on the series of decisions you make over the several weeks,” he said.

Since Riley enrolled at UNR, tuition has increased 39 percent and record numbers of students have begun to apply for financial aid, he said.

“If you are alright with looking your constituents in the eye… [and saying] that you’re satisfied with Nevada having the lowest-ranked public education system in the country, then continue to slash the budgets of higher education,” Riley said. “If you are alright… that generations of Nevadans will relocate elsewhere to guarantee their children and families access to a higher quality education… then continue this philosophy of maintaining a low-tax state.”

Made up of a diverse group that reflects our state, a small portion of Nevada college students shared their stories with legislators.

Students told the committee how attending school has helped them overcome adversity.

People from UNLV, UNR, Nevada State College, the College of Southern Nevada, Truckee Meadows Community College and Great Basin College shared stories of overcoming struggles with family members with drug addictions and gambling problems, raising their own children, working full-time and even being homeless, to now be in school with a future in sight.

Carla Washington, non-traditional student at UNLV, told legislators what a 22 percent budget cut would mean for her education.

“Because of a second chance and because of higher education, I’m an Honors student now… our diversity and inclusion program is amazing [and] I’m learning to be a culturally aware global citizen,” Washington said.

“I’m afraid that if you cut the budget… those programs will be depleted,” she continued. “I could not afford those on my own.”

About the implementation of more furlough days, was a topic of interest at the meeting for both legislators and university representatives.

Addressing the committee, Klaich said furloughs have been a disaster in the state and have created enormous management problems.

“I think we all know what the alternative to furloughs is,” Klaich said. “If you want me to say the word, the word is ‘pay cut.’”

Universities across the country have implemented furlough days as a way to cut costs without laying off more employees. Furloughs require staff to take a number of unpaid days off as a way to cut down on administrative costs.

While furloughs have worked in other industries, they present complex issues at the university level because of contracts and tenure, Klaich explained.

“The net result is… we were not able in an absolute fair way… to impose furloughs on everyone,” Klaich said.

Horsford ended the meeting by asking what universities are doing in regard to students who are enrolled in programs that may be disbanded as a result of budget cuts.

“We will work with every student in [his or her] major to see how we can get most people graduated in that major or something close for what they desire for a career,” Johnson said.

“I would just emphasize the commitment to the least drastic impacts,” Klaich said, “but there’s no way for a soft landing here.”