Trouble may be brewing for new college

Friday, Sept. 10, 1999 | 10:37 a.m.

RENO -- University regents and state legislators could be headed for a showdown in the future over creation of a four-year state college in Henderson.

Right now both sides are working together on a study on the feasibility of starting a new kind of college in the University and Community College System of Nevada.

A committee, consisting of legislators and regents, has held its first meeting. Regent chairwoman Jill Derby said the two sides are talking compromise "instead of a court battle and a constitutional battle."

The issue was raised at a regents meeting Thursday on a legal opinion written by university general counsel Tom Ray. He said the law creating the study committee consisting of regents and lawmakers was unconstitutional because "it encroaches upon the exclusive authority of the Board of Regents to make decisions regarding the establishment of college level programs. ..."

Regents and lawmakers may come to the same conclusion after a study that the four-year college should be established in Henderson. But if regents disagree and the lawmakers want to go forward, a court battle could erupt.

After discussion of the issue, Regent Dorothy Gallagher of Elko told Ray, "You better start to do your research."

Assembly Majority Leader Richard Perkins, D-Henderson, pushed through the legislation for the study of the college in his hometown. Originally the bill had the university regents conducting the study. But when regents criticized the Legislature during the session for not putting more money into higher education, Perkins changed the makeup of the committee to include legislators. The committee will report its findings back to the 2001 Legislature.

Perkins said a four-year college could concentrate on such things as turning out teachers to meet the needs of the public schools. Some regents and university officials were not enthusiastic about the need for another type of school. And there were concerns that a Henderson campus might duplicate courses at UNLV and siphon off students.

The study committee agreed initially that the staff of the university would help in the study, rather than hiring an outside consulting firm. There is $500,000 appropriated for the work.

Derby said the committee has agreed the completed study will come back to the regents. "We're finding a way to work together."

Meanwhile, Richard Moore, president of the Community College of Southern Nevada, told the regents he will be making a recommendation by next June to start some four-year bachelor programs at his campuses in Clark County.

Moore said a study is being made to offer degrees in elementary education, dental hygiene, secondary education and computers and business. He said it would be up to the regents to give him the go-ahead, to start phasing in these programs.

For instance, he said the Clark County School District needs 1,800 teachers a year. UNLV is turning out 600 teachers and the district can't continue to recruit from across the nation.

In 10 years Clark County will need 3,500 teachers a year. If the Henderson college is approved, it could graduate an estimated 600 teachers a year, but among all of the campuses in Nevada, there would still be a shortage.

He said he would be ready in September 2000 to start a junior class for elementary education. The community college, he said, is already offering 16 units in elementary education in cooperation with UNLV.