Officials eye plans for four-year college

Benjamin Grove

Wednesday, Nov. 11, 1998 | 11:10 a.m.

A small group of Southern Nevada leaders led by Henderson Mayor Jim Gibson are hatching a plan to bring a four-year state college to the area.

Gibson says the new school would fill an empty niche in the state, which operates two public universities and four two-year community colleges.

"This has been a quiet discussion between me and a few interested people about what do we need to make the college and university system a little more whole," Gibson said. "We were trying to have a quiet conversation, and it just got out. And that's fine. It's the kind of thing our community could get excited about."

So far, the project is just a concept, not a concrete initiative.

Officials do not know yet how many students the school might support, how much it would cost to build or where it would be constructed. However, Gibson has Henderson staffers researching possible sites in his city.

Gibson envisions that the school might offer degrees in education, business and a variety of technology studies, easing some of the pressure on UNLV.

The college also would help the state funnel more high school graduates into higher education, Gibson said. Nevada ranks at the bottom on the list of states in its percentage of high school graduates who attend college.

"A state college would be a wonderful place to focus ourselves against that challenge," Gibson said.

Ultimately, state lawmakers would have to decide whether to pay for the new college.

Lawmakers in the upcoming session will grapple with funding both higher education and the state's booming population of K-12 students, at a time when state tax revenues are below predictions.

Among the education issues likely to surface: Should the state pay for deferred maintenance and construction of public schools?

Gibson hopes to convince lawmakers in the upcoming session at least to study the creation of a new college. He has enlisted the help of Sen. Jon Porter, R-Henderson, and Assemblyman Richard Perkins, D-Henderson.

"We hope to receive support from the Legislature to fund the appropriate studies," Porter said.

He declined to guess whether lawmakers might eventually vote to pay for a new four-year college.

"The merits of the idea will stand on their own," Porter said. "It's a superb idea."

College and university officials are not yet judging the proposal.

But UNLV president Carol Harter worries that a new four-year college would siphon funds from the universities.

"The more units you have in the university system, the more competition there is for dollars," Harter said. "Of course, if the state is in (financial) trouble, it just makes sense that there will be that much more competition."

Harter, a Henderson resident, said she hopes Gibson and others will reconsider a year-old proposal to build a UNLV satellite campus in Henderson.

"That has not been at the top of the list, but it could get there in the next biennium," Harter said.

The state's 11-member Board of Regents would have to consider how a four-year college would fit into the university and college system.

Board of Regents President Jill Derby and University and College System of Nevada Chancellor Richard Jarvis were not immediately available for comment. But Gibson said he had piqued their interest.

Regent Howard Rosenberg, an instructor at the University of Nevada, Reno, said he had initial reservations.

"It seems to me that if you are within an anvil's throw of a university, wouldn't it make more sense to spend the money in the public-school system so that when the kids come to us, we're getting a well-prepared student?" Rosenberg said.

"We're faced with finite resources and you've got a wonderful university. Strengthen the programs you already have."

Among the supporters of the idea is Selma Bartlett, who has been active in banking and the university and college system for years.

"There is no way (UNLV) has the facilities and the campus to be capable of meeting the spread of academic needs of these young people," Bartlett said.

"My interest is to make sure that we act now and not react later."