UNLV to build more dorms

Monday, Oct. 25, 1999 | 11:18 a.m.

UNLV students will have more beds but fewer parking spaces, at least in the short run, with the approval of a request by the university to borrow money to build more dormitory space.

On Friday the university Board of Regents approved President Carol Harter's proposal to sell bonds of up to $16 million for the construction of a 433-bed addition to Tonopah Hall.

"Every new project takes away parking places," Harter said.

In this case 280 spaces will be lost.

The addition to the existing dormitory will be built on the site of a parking lot adjacent to the facility.

Harter said the university is in dire need of more living space on campus. There is a waiting list of more than 300 students for the existing space, and the number grows every semester.

She noted that the university will open more parking spaces in the near future and will begin construction of a parking garage in December.

Such parking measures may not be needed anyway, said Robert Ackerman, UNLV vice president of student services. The university is considering closing the campus to parking and using a shuttle system to bring in students from satellite parking lots.

In other business at its monthly meeting last week, regents also gave tentative approval of a policy to follow when naming buildings and approved a UNLV request to create a research foundation.

The naming of buildings and the apparent need for a policy became an issue about a year ago when the Community College of Southern Nevada named a computer center after Sen. Bill Raggio, R-Reno.

The selection of Raggio angered a number of people, but after much public debate his name remained on the building.

It was during the debate that regents realized there was no formal policy on naming of buildings.

Whether the policy should prohibit politicians who are presently holding office from having buildings named after them was discussed, but in the end it was decided not to include that in the policy.

Regents said they may look at that issue later, but for now the primary basis for having a person's name attached to a building is the person shall have "made exceptional contributions to the welfare of the institution or the University and Community College System."

One such contribution would be if the person has donated a lot of money toward the construction of the building.

For future buildings the president of the college or university will propose a name to the chancellor, who will review it and forward the recommendation to the chairperson of the regents for consideration by the full board.

University of Nevada, Reno, President Joe Crowley warned the regents they would be making a mistake if they chose to exclude sitting politicians from those who might have buildings named in their honor.

"I would exercise grave caution on excluding any category," he said.

Regents gave quick approval to Harter's request to establish the UNLV Research Foundation, which would operate under the UNLV Foundation.

"This will allow us to be more flexible relating to our research ventures," Harter said.

The research foundation would accept gifts earmarked for research as well as administer patents and creative copyrights coming from research activity at the university.

Harter said it may be necessary to create a number of separate foundations in the future as the university grows.