Four-year college on advanced course to reality

Jeffrey Libby

Saturday, Dec. 2, 2000 | 10:26 a.m.

Buoyed by the backing of one of the most powerful members of the Legislature, the proposed state college in Henderson may slip past a feasibility study and avoid public debate to become a reality.

The college, which has already faced criticism for its fast-track status, seems headed for funding, legislative leaders say.

Growth is fueling the push, which comes despite fears from educators that the new college would siphon funds from other institutions, such as UNLV.

During the last legislative session the college seemed to come out of nowhere to get $500,000 to study its feasibility. Now, although the study is yet to be presented and the school got a low funding priority rating from the Public Works Board, legislators are expecting to sign off on $36 million for initial buildings.

"It's a fait accompli," said Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas.

During a recent lunch she had with university system Chancellor Jane Nichols, Titus said both women agreed that "everyone knows where the players are. And everyone knows the state college is (Assembly Speaker) Richard Perkins' baby. Everything is in place."

As Titus sees it, the only potential political hitch that could force supporters of the school into full-bore lobbying is a break in the ongoing investigation of the Community College of Southern Nevada by the state attorney general.

That investigation, initiated early this summer at Nichol's request, is focusing on allegations that CCSN engaged in illegal construction contracts during Richard Moore's presidency from 1994 to January.

Moore now serves as founding president of the state college at Henderson, a position he has held since December 1999 when the Board of Regents appointed him with little debate and without making a national search.

Ground Zero

Moore puts aside the controversy that still haunts his presidency of the community college and looks to the future from his trailer-office window on Lake Mead Drive.

Moore, who has a doctorate in economics and a gift for charm, does not have a desk.

In a conversation at the wide-open, inclusive conference table in the temporary headquarters for the state college, Moore says that he is just doing the work of others and that the original idea for the new school was not his.

"When (the bill for the Henderson college) was in committee meeting, I was still lobbying for a four-year program at the community college," Moore said.

Moore's plan fell short, and he scrapped that effort in the face of strong opposition from UNLV President Carol Harter and then-Chancellor Richard Jarvis. Harter said at the time that such a move would only duplicate services and produce conflict between institutions.

Two years later, in September 1998, the idea for the state college was hatched when longtime Henderson resident and influential banker Selma Bartlett telephoned Mayor Jim Gibson and local developer Bob Campbell with an exciting proposition.

On a Sunday afternoon in her living room, she laid out an idea for a state college in Henderson.

"I think I offered them water, lemonade or soft drinks, and I don't even think they accepted that. We were so excited," Bartlett said.

Perkins and state Sen. Jon Porter, R-Henderson, soon were involved. And what had been a Sunday afternoon epiphany suddenly became a political destiny.

The opportunity was there for Henderson to leave behind its old image as a small defense industry town and cement a new identity as an up-and-coming college town that also happened to be the second-largest city in Nevada.

That opportunity became a legislative possibility the following May, long after Moore had given up hope of offering four-year degrees at CCSN.

Moore's tenure as founding president at the proposed college has been nagged by lingering fallout from his previous administrations.

Not only does CCSN face questions from the attorney general's probe into construction projects, but there has been other criticism of other management practices.

Following a four-month investigation, Nichols recommended a series of policy changes, which some criticized as inadequate.

In response to the investigations of CCSN, Perkins called in late August for an audit of the university and community college system.

Perkins said at the time that it was naive to assume CCSN was the only institution engaging in less-than-strict management practices. Perkins said recently that he plans to introduce a bill this session to fund the audit.

Moore points to the rapid growth of CCSN as the reason for some of the lax policies. During the Moore years, 1994 to 2000, student enrollment more than doubled from 16,700 students to 34,700. That far outpaced the population boom in Clark County, which increased roughly 60 percent through the 1990s.

The numbers

Although some supporters of the new college may have questions about Moore's ability to lead, they believe that there is a real need for the school in Henderson. It is a need being pushed by growth.

In the next decade the Las Vegas Valley is projected to see growth of another 62 percent, and the number of Nevada high school graduates is expected to grow by 160 percent. In Clark County alone, the number of high school graduates could jump from 7,385 to an estimated 19,200 by 2010.

Together the University of Nevada, Reno, and UNLV grant 3,900 degrees annually. By 2010, the two schools are projected to produce 5,700 graduates.

With just 25 percent of high school students continuing to college, the current Nevada institutions of higher learning would not be able to meet the demand in the next 10 years, according to data compiled by Nichols.

Given what appears to be an undeniable need for additional resources, Nichols says that of all the options, a state college is the cheapest alternative.

At research-driven universities such as UNR and UNLV, teachers devote a larger amount of time to research and publishing than teaching.

At UNLV for example, most professors teach five classes a school year. At UNR they teach even less. But at a college such as the one proposed for Henderson, teachers would devote little time on research and focus on running eight classes per year. They also would receive lower pay.

However, there are some critics of the new college plan on the state's Board of Regents, although the number is waning.

Regent Tom Kirkpatrick argues that a satellite campus of UNLV would be as effective and incur less administrative costs. A new college would drain valuable resources from the established universities and the entire system would suffer.

But Regent Howard Rosenberg, an early critic of the state college and an art professor at UNR for 35 years, has come into the fold and no longer buys Kirkpatrick's argument.

Like Nichols, Rosenberg cites the difference in teaching hours and pay.

"Look, I know how tough it is to make ends meet," Rosenberg said. "And now we're talking about adding another college online with so many feeders already at the trough. I'm seeing other parts of the system that will be hurt because money has to go other places, and it can't, but I don't think the state college will do damage in the long run."

Rosenberg, who said the campus is overflowing with students taking advantage of the new Millennium Scholarships, plans to lobby the Legislature this spring for the Henderson school.

"I'm going to present them with valid facts," he said. "I'm going to tell them these are incontrovertible facts and this is what we need."

Some legislators won't need convincing. Porter, who many believe is already gearing for a run at the third congressional seat expected in 2002, is one of them.

As the legislative session approaches, Porter said, "We need to be sure our colleagues share the sense of need that is there."

For Porter, one reason the state college should be in Henderson is that the local community, government and business interests "have stepped up to the plate" to support the project.

But beyond that, Porter argues that UNLV is landlocked and will be unable to expand to meet future needs, which has been stressed further by the success of the Millennium Scholarship program.

Porter also notes that the valley desperately needs teachers and health care professionals, the two areas the state college has promised to focus on first.

The Henderson senator is confident that though there is opposition to the school, the facts will sway critics.

"Any time there has been a major initiative for expansion, historically there has been opposition -- the university medical center at Reno, the community college in Elko, the law school at UNLV. People are always concerned about funding, but we've always been able to find it because there's been a need."

Perkins agrees with Porter's arguments. And like Porter, he believes that "the entity that is going to benefit the most is UNLV."

"Right now they have to be all things to all people because they're the only game in town," Perkins said.

By adding a third tier between the community colleges and universities, UNLV will be able to focus on its mission to become a nationally ranking research institute, Perkins argues.

"Just imagine," Porter said, "if we had one of the best schools of education right here at home that would require students to spend time in Clark County classrooms. What a great way to help education, to have a premier college in the local schools, teaching students."

The money

One of the main complaints from teachers and health care professionals working in the valley, and the cause of high turnover rates and early burnout, is bad pay.

And Assemblyman Barbara Cegavske, R-Las Vegas, sees improving pay for existing workers as the single-most important priority, not a new college to train the workers.

Cegavske, who also serves as the vice chairwoman of the Educational Commission of States, is concerned not only about diluting the funding for UNLV and UNR, but for the Clark County School District as well.

"I completely understand where they're (Henderson state college supporters) coming from. It's a worthy cause. But how do you tell the parents of kids in overcrowded schools that they're not going to get help because we're going to build a college over here?"

But Nichols points out that the college cannot be a reality without strong private support.

"The message from the beginning has been that this college will not happen without strong private support," Nichols said. "We still need a significant private match, and I think the state is looking at that."

Nichols acknowledges, however, that with initial buildings constructed, private donations are likely to increase.

Moore is banking on that.

"There are wonderful things to sell," Moore said. "There are good naming opportunities coming."

A main gate, a central entry, the park, the name for the initial building -- each of these items represents a naming opportunity for "a fast-growing town with its own identity," Moore said. Already the college has worked out land trades with a local developer to procure roughly 270 acres that, if developed, has been estimated at $40 million.

That developer, LandWell Corp., also gave an additional $400,000 for initial architectural drawings. County commissioners have kicked in another $200,000 in the name of the Clark County Medical Center. And Moore says another $150,000 have been donated by private individuals.

Moore, whose $200,000 salary would expire June 30, 2001, if $6 million in operating expenses for the state college is not approved this legislative session, says he is not thinking about that possibility.

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