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Tuesday, March 8, 2011 | 5:19 p.m.
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The email and attachments at right speak for themselves.
Chairman Leavitt, Members of the Board of Regents, Chancellor Klaich and Mr. Wasserman-
President Smatresk will be releasing the following email to the UNLV campus in the next fifteen minutes.... The text follows:
Dear Colleagues,
Today, in response to a Board of Regents request, I submitted a plan for cutting $32.6 million and 315 faculty and staff positions from our budget. With the loss of $49.6 million and 540 positions over the past four years, and the closure of six departments last year, we are now facing a cumulative impact of over $97 million in cuts and the loss of 855 positions in a five-year period. This plan was developed from proposals submitted by each administrative area, and is a first approximation of the cuts we will take if the Governor’s budget is passed. I want to note that we purposefully reduced academic cuts to 60% of the recommended target, in hopes that subsequent reorganizations at the college level, actions by the Board of Regents, or actions by our legislators would reduce the total cuts needed. By now our Vice Presidents and Deans have notified faculty and staff of these proposed cuts, and I know we are all greatly saddened by the impact this will have on so many of our friends and colleagues should these cuts be sustained. We have initiated this process to give those affected by the cuts as much advance notification as possible should the cuts materialize at the close of this legislative session.
Attached you will find our initial detailed proposal to meet these cuts. Needless to say, this was a difficult and painful process in which we sought to minimize the cut impacts on faculty and staff, academic programs, university reputation, and our students. We have done our best to preserve our core strengths. I have included two spreadsheet outlining the cuts to all budgeted areas, and detailing the proposed academic cuts. In addition, I have included a bulleted summary of the proposed cuts in each administrative area. It is important to note that these cuts have been presented to the Faculty Advisory Committee, as required and that following our Board of Regents meeting this week we will more fully consult with the Faculty Senate, students and campus leadership, seeking alternatives that allow us to achieve the cut targets while minimizing impacts on our mission. I would also note that we have not yet reached the full cut target.
In the weeks to come, we will consider reorganizations at the college level that could ameliorate these cuts. We will work with our Faculty Senate, the Board of Regents and Chancellor to determine how we will notice those impacted and how we will support students attempting to complete their degrees in eliminated programs. We anticipate that reductions in force for faculty and staff will occur no later than July 1, 2012. We will do all we can to preserve faculty positions and educational programs, but have no doubt that these cuts will have a lasting impact on our university for years to come.
We need to continue to make our case clear to our Governor and the Legislature and I encourage you to share your commitment to higher education, our children’s future, and your concerns about the proposed cuts with all of our elected officials. I will keep you informed of budget developments as the legislative session progresses, and know that by working together we will find our way forward through this incredibly difficult period.
Our faculty and staff have worked for decades to build UNLV and serve our state. These cuts will significantly reduce our ability to educate our students, maintain our campus and serve the community. I believe this is a tragic loss and a giant step backward for Nevada as we attempt to build a globally competitive and highly educated workforce that can attract new industries and build a more diversified economy. I believe that UNLV has never been more important to our future than it is today, and has never been more ready, willing or able to make a difference. I can only hope that you, our students and their parents, and our community will stand up a support UNLV and the dream of higher education as we work to create a more prosperous and sustainable future for Las Vegas and Nevada.
Cordially,
Neal J. Smatresk
A real tragedy for UNLV and one that will take years to recover from, if ever. And what about Dr. Smatresk's top level administrative staff, many of whom are paid in the high $100K - $200K range? Can we assume there will be no pain there?
One word: lawsuits. They will be forthcoming. Mark my words. This is just the beginning.
They should cut student services to the bone. The constituents would howl, and it would be easier to restore them in 3 or 4 years than to rebuild the academic departments that they are chopping to pieces.
Live within your means, Neil. Stop trying to be a great research institution and try educating your students for a change.
Does $97 million loss out of about $2.5 billion worth of spending sound like a lot to you?
It doesn't to me....
Projected losses: 12 departments, 8 programs, 50 major degree programs, 159 faculty, and even worse, 2118 students who will be cut short before earning their degrees. This is just the academic side. Overall: 315 positions, 20% of Athletics, decimations of the Law School, Dental School, State-wide programs... and on and on.
Consider: it takes at least 5 years to build a program, and at least 10 years to build a department. In building years alone, Governor Sandoval's cut will waste 200 years -- years of earnest planning, hard work, complex thinking on behalf of Nevada, all in service to its students, to the public and to our state's future.
The least of this are the 315 lives permanently changed. Smart people are resilient, and they will manage and survive. Most of these honorable careers will be but briefly disrupted, as the finest minds in our community leave Nevada for other positions and jobs in other states or nations, and leave Nevada forever: our state will not see their like or anyone even comparable to their level of excellence again for at least a generation, and perhaps never again.
And in the wake of this massacre, ask yourselves: what smart teacher or scientist or professional anywhere would ever be fool enough to consider moving Nevada?
And the servant of the billionaire anti-tax lobby doesn't think this sounds like "a lot." Wow...
Rest assured: this is more than a lot, far, far more... and less also, in that such a wrecking of higher education diminishes, makes far smaller, and renders less significant every single person in our state.
Cuts to UNLV sound like a good idea--it's like dismantling one of Jigsaw's death traps in "Saw 4".
College is a death trap for students who get themselves into huge student loan debt that they can never escape. Some student loan debtors have actually killed themselves or fled the country because of their debts--a fact that nobody on the faculty or administration of UNLV could care less about. They are only sorry because cuts threaten their salaries and pensions. Well now it's your turn to feel the effects of the recession. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bryce-cove...
The gloom and doom is way overstated. This process is not wrecking higher education, it is putting it on a path that reflects where we are going as a state. Less is going to have to be more. The all things to all people days are over.
Higher education is going to have to focus in specific areas and excel in these areas so that students want to attend UNLV and parents want to send them there.
Costs must be controlled so that higher education remains affordable to the student and the tax payer. It is called targeting resources.
The tax and spend crowd has to keep in mind that as a state we are substantially poorer than we were in 2006.
For those who wish to tax the mines, stop whining and get those petitions started to change the constitution. If it can be done within the existing laws, call your lawmaker. The Dems are in charge over at the legislature.
Meantime, there's a Sun story about the UNR football coach going before the Regents for a nice raise in salary. Are priorities screwed up here?
@JDhenderson:
That is about all the Regents are capable of.
Time to toss these guys too.
I have not seen anything about UNR and UNLV working together on cuts that make sense. Are they? If they shift duplicate programs from one to the other, they may be able to keep degree programs whole. I think a student would rather transfer than see it decimated at both ends of the state.
Ok, UNLV spent $625 million in FY 2010 (excluding capital projects and debt repayment). So for the biennium the spending would be around $1.25 billion dollars. Thus, the $47.5 million cut proposed by Sandoval is really about 3.8% of current spending for UNLV.
NSHE officials only want to look at state appropriations and you can do that so long as you're clear and do not engage in hyperbole. That said, the state general fund plus ARRA appropriations made up $358 million of the $1.25 estimated spending - or just about 29 percent of UNLV spending.
In other words, we are talking about a cut from 29 percent of UNLV spending.
Why are we look at such a small portion of the budget and claiming such big devastating numbers? Is the general fund spending the ONLY spending that matters? Is everything else just a waste? If so, lets cut the other 72 percent of the budget out and solve the entire state budget shortfall right then and there...
It's NOT a step backward. It's a step into reality from the cloudy morass you've been hiding in. The average guy / gal in the area makes $35K a year, after moving up from entry level. Hardly enough to make it through the recessions, buy a home, maybe a car once every 5-10 years, support a child or two, try to save a few bucks for an emergency fund, save for a retirement plan so we can keep paying HIGH PROPERTY TAXES TO SEND THE NEIGHBOR KIDS TO COLLEGE????
UNLV needs a president. The position is obviously vacant although we are PAYING FOR LEADERSHIP THAT WE'RE NOT GETTING.
Patrick_R_Gibbons: You have lost your credibility on this issue long ago. The President has stated what cuts are necessary, so the % is irrelevant unless you are saying that his cuts go beyond what is needed. And you have not said that.
Whether the cuts proposed are major or minor depends, I guess, if you think there is value to having an actual University in southern Nevada.
roseanrose: how about lowering the sales tax and vehicle registration fees on older cars and instituting tax on mining and an income tax on income above 30K? There is no reason that we need to choose between education and working people.
Indeed, wouldn't it be better if we had an educated workforce that was making more than that average of 35K you mentioned?
(You complain about property taxes. But do they even go the State? If not then it has nothing to do with higher ed.)
Again the voice of the billionaire's anti-tax lobby conflates the numbers in order to minimize and obfuscate: about three-quarters of the gross spending he cites consists of fixed costs or tied-up funding that cannot be cut, and so is totally irrelevant to the budget discussion. He does this also in his posts on K-12 funding in service of his "no new taxes" ideology".
But please let's turn this discussion to tuition dollars and the so-called "formula": one of the root causes of this drastic budget cut threatening to decimate UNLV. Nevada folds student tuition dollars into the "general fund" of the state. UNLV students get back only about 85% of each dollar they pay in classroom teaching and educational services. The other 15% goes wherever the legislature and governor decide it goes: mostly to support services and schools in northern Nevada, such as those 400-500 mining certifications needed by the mining industry; or the up to 5K per student cost of some of the community college branch campuses in rural communities; or the much higher fixed costs of older, heritage buildings and infrastructure of the UNR campus.
This state "skim" from UNLV students is especially grotesque with out-of-state students -- they pay about 4 times what in-state students pay, and the state "gives back" to the university the same amount per head as for an in-state student: which amounts to an outrageous 75% "tax" the state levies on out-of-state students. UNLV has been very successful in attracting out-of-state students (at least up until this latest devastation). Even so: many of these drastic budget cuts laying off hundreds of professionals and making degree orphans of thousands of students at UNLV could be vastly reduced if this absurd and unjust "formula" can be changed.
Who here believes it is right to "tax" UNLV students 15% and out-of-state students 75% of their tuition dollars to support welfare cowboys and freeloading mining companies up North?
The anti-tax lobbyists don't say anything about this kind of outrageous tax. Why?
So all the brilliant people that reply on here could not be dumber. If you fire 300 people that is less money in the economy. 2100 students not attending school raises tuition for all. All the local businesses in the area do less business and are hurt. Your all trying to make arguments of Addition through subtraction. Last I checked that breaks simple math rules.
By firing or laying off these people you have also just added more people that will collect unemployment, put their houses up for sale and introduce even more houses to a very weak housing market. Not to include laying off of the sales clerks at the local supermarkets, clothing stores, and banks because there will be no more supply to demand these jobs.
This state has only two major universities. Most states have at least double that. New jersey has over 20 colleges and universities. So it's not as dramatic when closing the doors on programs.
The saddest part is most of the people on here throw around a number but where are your solutions?
How many of you are supporting the engineering student that just received full rides to MIT for his studies at UNLV. How many of you are supporting the athletes that entertain 100,000s of people per year.
Chances are many of you are just here to rant because you have nothing better to do than point out weaknesses and contribute nothing to society. Look in the mirror before you point your fingers.
dave202 (Dave Griffith:
You obviously have no vested interest in the state or city. Just in case you didn't know, research brings much prestige and money to a university...look at Michigan, Ohio State, MIT, Harvard, Yale and the list goes on and on. All those schools have excellent research on their campus. Heck, some of them even bring in federal research money. I would also bet those schools probably don't have to worry too much about budget cuts either since they could lean on research for some extra money. Yes, we should live within our means but you can't cut education even further. You don't think cutting programs or faculty is going to make an impact? Some of those professors probably have research going on. Once you cut those professors they'll just take their research to another university. Right now UNLV could capitlaize on research for the green industry, such as solar and wind. UNLV could also be one of the leading research intitions for nuclear waste. Once, again it's UNLV's loss. All you who don't think this is going to impact UNLV are dillusional! How is this state and city supposed to diversify the economy when we don't even have an educated workforce.
manfromuncle1;
You probably aren't educated and don't belive in education when you say college is a death trap.
Douglas:
I need some help with your math. What you are saying is that tuition flows into the general fund, but the state only returns 85 cents on the dollar to the university. So the state is turning a profit?
If we eliminate this the universities will be self-sufficient?
Please explain.
Let all attend class online. Pay educators to oversee these online classes and save a bundle of money by shutting down/selling off all the free-standing college buildings.
By azsk8fan...
"Let all attend class online."
Same thing being advocated for k-12 by some folks.
Works for some. Won't work for the MAJORITY.
People need social interaction, extracurriculars, sports, arts, etc. for a WELL ROUNDED education.
"Education" is not just the 3 r's, especially in the 21st century... otherwise, let's just program some robots.
I would just like to highlight one detail. In order to meet their required cuts the college of Liberal Arts is proposing the elimination of the Philosophy department. I don't want to understate the importance of any program or department, but I simply cannot imagine an institution calling itself a university without a Philosophy department.
This is simply too sad for words.
CUT GOVERNMENT SPENDING: "normal" was 20% of GDP for ALL government. Nowadays, the feds spend 35% of GDP all by themselves. Pull Hillary's passport and cell phones--whenever she goes any where she GIVES AWAY MILLIONS OF $ WE DON'T HAVE. Add local spending and the government is SPENDING 50% of everything made, produced, sold in this country. UNACCEPTABLE SPENDING. NO TAX INCREASES--although it would make some sense to put SUT onto services--by eliminating all the exemptions in the NAC, mining exemptions and occasional sales exemptions--CUT RED TAPE and raise a few bucks to RESTORE THE RAINY DAY FUND and reserves.
"What you are saying is that tuition flows into the general fund, but the state only returns 85 cents on the dollar to the university."
--That's what he said.
"So the state is turning a profit?"
--A profit? The state takes tuition and redistributes it, as he describes.
"If we eliminate this the universities will be self-sufficient?"
--The universities? Which ones? He is talking about the state formula and its relationship to UNLV's financial situation.
I suggest you read Doug's comment again, carefully this time, imagining that you will then take a reading comprehension quiz.
(You failed first time around.)
;-)
If UNLV is such a research-oriented university then let research grants from PRIVATE corporations finance the school. Since teaching is a secondary matter why pay professors so much? We have been overtaxed for so long the money-eating whale on Maryland Parkway has been able to bloat itself into the beast it has become. Stop feeding the beast with taxpayer money!
Gmag:
Education in the 21st Century is even the 3 r's.
Gmag:
Education in the 21st Century isn't even the 3 r's.
drollo dude: the State "gives" the university system a lot more money than 85% of tuition. Nevada usually pays the entire cost of construction. It's similar to K-12 where state funded per pupil support is $4-5K a student but when you add in Class Size Reduction funding, teacher training funding, additional LSST funding, LSST, and on and on, the school districts spend $12,000-$16,000 PER STUDENT with most of it state funded--via SUT. Some more comes from property taxes and those ENDLESS BOND ISSUES--can we STOP VOTING FOR ROLLOVER BOND ISSUES?
Let Wynn, Murren and Adelsons companies pony up their fair share to the state tax coffers and the problem will be solved...but alas our elected hacks will not antagonize their corporate masters.
@drollo
Thanks for explaining all this to me.
Who pays for the buildings and facilities? Is that part of Douglas's 85 cents or the state's 15 cents.
One learns much on this site.
IMO, there is a problem that most faculty think that nothing can happen to them and hence gave up on shared faculty governance long ago and mainly let Smastresk and upper administrators do whatever he wants. Now they sit and wait to see who will lose their jobs. It is dumb to sit around and wait to lose your jobs over the next few years, instead, put forth your own suggestions for budget cuts.
The short-sighted, ignorant and mean-spirited comments related to higher education funding cuts that will most definitely impact the ability of UNLV to deliver a top-notch education show how much we need to invest in education in this state. These cuts are in addition to 27% cuts over the past few years. We've had the lowest business taxes in the nation for more than 20 years.
BUSINESSES DON'T MOVE HERE BECAUSE WE HAVE AN UNEDUCATED POPULACE AND A LACK OF SUPPORT FOR EDUCATION. As long as that continues, we'll continue to be stuck on low-paying service jobs.
The truth is that the university system has endured cuts after cuts, year after year. Until now, the great majority of those cuts have been taken by the non-academic side of the system. Why? Because you don't want to cut what draws students to pay to take classes - the academics and degrees. You don't cut what brings in money if you can.
Yesterday, the presidents of both major universities stated that they could no longer just cut on the non-academic side. They now have to cut the academics and degrees that draw students to spend tuition dollars.
Some Republicans love to claim that this must be some kind of ploy, a "scare" tactic to convince the legislature to not follow Sandogibbons budget with regards to education. Essentually, they are saying that the universiy system is lying about their financial state.
But there is a flaw in that claim-a major one. Universities are not unlike private businesses. They compete against one another for tuition-paying students like businesses compete for customers. So, just like private businesses, they know that prospective students/customers will take a university's financial situation into account when deciding whether or not to attend college there. So it is NOT in a university's interest to falsely declare fiscal exigency/bankruptcy like UNLV is considering because that scares away potential students/customers. Its also NOT in a university's interest to falsely plan to cut academics or degrees because that also deters possible students/customers. Think about it-if a business talked about bankruptcy in public, who would choose to do long-term business with them?
This is not a dare, not a game or anything other than the truth. Higher education, including job retraining by CSN, is being cut as a result of Sandogibbon's budget. We are heading backwards only two months after business leaders from across Nevada, the nation, and the world told our state during the Nevada 2.0 conference that the way to get Nevada out of this fiscal ditch was to invest in higher education, not cut it.
Its up to the Democrats and Republicans in the legislature to see the truth. Will they choose to side with business leaders and the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce who states that education should not be cut further or will they just take the mining, gaming, and banking campaign dollars and let UNR and UNLV and the rest of Higher Education as well as Primary Education wither on the vine?
Nevada State Motto:
(authored by nevadaappleslices)
"We will, by God, bite off our noses to spite our faces! And we do so willingly and without aforthought, because we are the ignorant, and it is BLISSFUL!"
Amen.
Administration: We won't cut anything
Faculty: Whew, that's good
Administration: Oops, we do have to make cuts
Faculty: I hope that they don't cut me. [sit on behind and give no input on cuts and pretend like they don't exist]
Administration: We regret to inform you that you are fired. We are devastated for you.
Faculty: What? I should have done something sooner.
iamdjrebel: And you are probably a shill for Sallie Mae or Nelnet. College is a deathtrap for many--you CANNOT declare bankruptcy on a student loan. If you can't make your student loan payments, you will be hounded for the rest of your life. Some student loan debtors have actually committed suicide or fled the country but I'm sure no one at UNLV could care less as long as they get paid. Every week there are more stories on the Huffington post or you-tube about the nightmare of student loan debt. Check out this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYFJnCmj-...
BTW I never said don't go to college--what I do say is DON'T borrow money to go to college. If you can't afford it, then don't go or just take one class at a time if that's all you can afford.
manfromuncle1:
My debt or whatever I have is none of your concern. I guess you don't see education as an investment in the future. Sure one may have debt but the earning power of a degree is worth so much more. In reality one can pay off a $10,000 student loan within 5 years. $10,000 is less than a price of a new truck. If every one had your attitude about education then we wouldn't have many doctors. When they graduate their debt load is at least $100,000. I guess that means most 18-22 years olds can't go to college since most individuals in that age bracket earn less than $20,000. Can't you say anything else by besides re-typing your previous comments?
nevadaappleslices: The proposal for cuts was 100% a top-down decision. The faculty had no opportunity for input other than "suggestions." The faculty senate collected over 400 suggestions from faculty regarding cuts. The Deans also solicited input from faculty. Whether these suggestions will be or have been ignored by the administration is still an unknown at this point.
To Turrialba: my understanding is that the actual cost over tuition for a student at our state universities currently averages about $1.47 for every tuition dollar the student pays. (I am not certain of this figure, it may be outdated, or off -- but you get the idea: as at almost every major university in the nation -- including the most expensive -- educating a student costs more than tuition).
In a system very unusual anywhere (unique, I believe), Nevada then pulls that tuition dollar into the "general fund"... one problem with this system that only about 85 cents on the dollar returns to UNLV, the rest coming from the biennial budget in state expenditures (and reallocations). If UNLV could recover more of its students' tuition dollars, then it would need to suffer fewer budget cuts in this tragic biennial budget not only for higher education, but for so many other vital and necessary state services.
Still: there are arguments on both sides. What would happen to the rural community colleges and UNR without UNLV tuition dollars?
slick greasy slimy big toothed phony smiling huckster radical right wing tea bagger brian sandoval...
he does not care whom he hurts or how badly...
he cares only about is tea bagging resume...
he is an ideological fanatic...
he is a bad bad man...
this must end...
now...
we must end brian sandoval's political career...
manny, that's my point. IMO, Faculty need to be more vocal about their suggestions instead of just saying, oh well, the administration did it that way ------ The faculty are supposed to have shared governance ---- If they have better ideas for cuts, they shouldn't go into a black hole!
Douglas--
The cost is $1.47, and the student pays $1.00.
The general fund then returns $0.85 to UNLV.
So who pays the $0.62 differential between the cost UNLV incurs and what is returned to UNLV from the general fund?
Bigot Birdie has appeared on this page to spread his hateful racist slurs.
What an angry tormented person Birdie Bunker is.
To Turialba:
Basically, the state budget pays the difference (but add in federal grants; and private foundation grants, too; and private donations for scholarship funds -- these help, the research grants especially for graduate students, as research often funds teaching M.A. and Ph.D. students and research is crucial to their educations).
Still, the Nevada "formula" is complicated -- far too complicated, and actually crazy, in my opinion: the state pays a lump sum per student back to the universities. UNLV gets one sum. UNR gets a higher sum. And it costs more for a student to attend UNR than UNLV...
As for out-of-state students: their tuition actually returns a profit, if considered separate from other funding sources. But the state only returns to the university the lump sum per student.
The problem: both UNLV and UNR, in order to increase their budgets, have had to keep growing, as the state "formula" pays per student, or FTE. This works in a frenzied way during boom times, when the difficulty is keeping up with demand for higher education. In times like these, though, this formula can become a death spiral: if enrollments drop (they will, they have), even as tuition is raised, the state contribution to the budget of the universities may be even less in the next biennium.
Theoretically, at some point, the drop in funding becomes unsustainable, and the doors close.
If you folks are a fair representation of the community at large, Vegas may as well close up shop...
I cannot believe the lack of civic pride being displayed in your comments...
Yeah the economy sucks... But guess what closing down education in the state is only going to make it worse... But then again, the casinos need a steady stream of busers, waiters, bartenders, etc... All of which require a GED at best... And in that case no classroom required...
2 statements for the room:
1) Why is raising taxes such a dirty phrase to the people of this state???
b) Of those opposed I would like a show of hands of how many came from somewhere else where the taxes are ridiculous... Lest you all forget the cost of living in this state is peanuts... I just heard in Cali gas is almost 4 bucks a gallon, and my sister just registered a car their and it was the same as it is here... But their property and income taxes are like 4 times what we pay... And I know for a fact Texas and New York are exactly the same...
So if you want a real community you have to pay for it... If you all just want the casinos and your 1 bedroom apartments then keep on ripping the education system in Nevada... Me and my friends are all products of CCSD and UNLV and we are all doing pretty well for ourselves... And I would gladly pay more to keep the community at large in better shape...
@Douglas--Thank you. I will need to study this some more.
women's studies, social studies, and philosophy departments are a WASTE of money and time. glad to see them on the chopping block.
if UNLV concentrated on its HORRIBLE GRADUATION RATES while sucking 65% of state money, this wouldnt be an issue. these professors and faculty need to get their heads out of the clouds and realize their value of self importance is a farce
wiseguy2235: The philosophy departments are where the critical thinking and reasoning classes are...something that is sorely lacking in this country. The last thing we need to do is cut that.
As a UNLV faculty, I am extremely saddened by these events. I moved from New York to UNLV in 2006. I was very excited to work in an up-and-coming university. Since moving to UNLV, I have brought over 2 million dollars in federal research grants. That more than covers what Nevada spends on me. These funds give undergraduate and graduate students the opportunity to participate in state of the art biomedical research (see http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=...). Research experience is essential to be competitive when applying to Medical, Dental, and Graduate schools. Even more, research experience is an absolute requirement for a newly graduated biochemist looking for work in the pharmaceutical industry. I have plenty of friends in the biotech industry, and they all agree: No one is going to bring a technical intensive company to a city/state that lacks trained workers. Since learning biochemistry online is a ridiculous proposition, I also teach biochemistry every semester. Students from my classes and my laboratory are on their way to become our future doctors, dentist, pharmacist, and scientists.
Although, I love UNLV and Las Vegas I do have a problem with the contempt that Nevadans have for education. Compared to similar institutions, UNLV is chronically underfunded. The research infrastructure is worse than in some developing countries. Our teaching assistants are paid pittances. With all these structural problems, further budget reductions will be catastrophic. At this point, I am asking myself whether Nevada is worth sacrificing my career and family. Why work 50-60 hours a week, in a state that disdains what you do? The reality is that I, like many other professors, can find positions in other institutions. Without actively searching, I have been invited to apply for faculty positions in Virginia and Florida. I, like many of the most-active UNLV faculty, are reluctantly starting the application process. It is sad, Nevada has so much potential. What a waste
Higher Education is getting murdered in Nevada. The volume of people on here who are attacking UNLV on top of everything is pathetic. Some of the criticism you're spewing is way off base. Complete ignorance seems to know better than those dealing with the actual situation (only in the newspaper comments section that is).
I do not work at UNLV, but I work close with NSHE, and the cuts imposed for consecutive years now (along with the governor's new budget cuts proposal) are catastrophic.
Universities have contracts, collaborations, and obligations, with other networks and institutions, etc. You cannot just eliminate departments, programs, and complete institutions on a whim. This is drastic business occurring and devastating to UNLV (and UNR, CSN, DRI, etc, etc). This next wave of cuts will be a huge blow to Nevada. My suggestion is, at a minimum, to keep your hate comments to yourself.
UNLV employees need to stop calling budget cuts the contempt that people have towards education. My goodness people, the reality is that there is not enough funding to support the bloated system. They aren't shutting the place down so stop being drama queens. Again, instead of crying boohoo, make a difference by proposing budget cuts that you think make sense and press the administration. I also haven't seen a single fundraiser to help out with budget cuts. Are their alumni that think that they had a good experience at UNLV and want to give back when they need it most?
IMO, cut the academic advisors before shutting down departments, but that doesn't seem to be on the table.
Dear President Smatresk: Sorry but Sandogibbons is just trying to make Nevada Nevada again. The Nevada he's talking about is, I believe, the Nevada Territory, or perhaps the Mexico Territory, or maybe even returning to the days of the Paiutes, not sure what that was called, but I'm sure it was a great land with low taxes that was god-fearing, or maybe gods-fearing, but no doubt GREAT.
One other question for the constant "Stop dipping in my tax dollars crowd"...
WHAT TAX DOLLARS! We pay minimal taxes here, and if you do not own a house you only pay sales tax period... The money you p!$$ away in a slot machine is not called taxes, that's called gambling...
I just really would love to know what third world hole you all came from that apparently did not have a public school system, no state universities, no public parks, no roads, etc... You know all the good stuff we get from taxes... I am guessing every single one of you went to private schools your whole lives and apparently have Star Trek teleporters so you never have to use a road, and your kids or nieces and nephews do not attend public school at all... Oh yeah and I am sure you never used a car, lived in a house, flew in an airplane, etc you know all things build by highly educated people, most of which went to state universities...
Education, K-12 and College level, is a requirement for the civilization we live in... And guess what it is not free... The fact is we need to be paying more... There is no possible way to rationalize anything else...
Oh! Now I remember! It was called the Stone Age. I saw that on the Flintstones.
@douglasunger You hit on some major issues that need to be resolved in the higher education FUNDING FORMULA. I heard that among the issues, UNR tends to give more out of state students "scholarships" so it collects less in the out of state fees...while UNLV collects more out of state fees, but has to give a portion of this money to the state to help cover the cost of UNRs efforts to attract out of state students by reducing their out of state student fees. UNLV got the short end of the funding in a lot of ways!
Appleslices, I agree--cuts are coming because there is NO MONEY!! Eva1rd--go ahead and move--nobody is stopping you. There will always be enough doctors, pharmacists, etc. because there will always be a few rich people who can afford to send their kids to medical school or pharmacy school or pay for a kid's PHD in biochemistry. LV doesn't have to have a world famous research school like Harvard or whatever that school was in "The Social Network".
I might as well make this short because all these comments are about to expire--lol--. Is higher education a vampire, a drain on the economy? People now owe more on their student loans than they do on their credit cards. Try and spin that and say that that's helping to prepare us for the future.
Cut after cut after cut amounted to 3.7 percent reduction in revenue since FY 2008 (excluding capital projects) http://www.thewesternwrangler.com/2011/0...