Regents to present $1.14 billion budget to 2001 Legislature

Wednesday, May 10, 2000 | 11:30 a.m.

The Nevada Board of Regents is expected to present a two-year budget of $1.14 billion to the 2001 Legislature, representing a 28 percent increase over current state funding levels.

The figure would represent a $195.4 million increase over the system's current two-year budget of $895 million.

Also on Tuesday, the board approved a four-year extension of the contract of UNLV President Carol Harter.

And it appointed a second interim chancellor, Jane Nichols, as the search continues for a permanent chancellor for the state system.

Interim Chancellor Tom Anderes said the regents will be asked to approve the system's final budget request at a June meeting in Elko.

The operating budget requests exclude amounts that will be requested for capital projects. That list alone tops $190.5 million.

The regents also voted to increase student fees beginning in the fall of 2002. Fees charged to Nevada residents cover less than 20 percent of the overall costs of higher education, with state tax revenues covering most of the remaining costs.

Student fees beginning in the fall of 2002 will be $76.50 per credit hour at UNLV and UNR, $44 at the state's four community colleges.

Anderes said the fee increase has the support of campus presidents and student leaders. He said Nevada has low students fees, although they are not the lowest among the western states.

The Regents extended Harter's contract through June 2004.

The 9-2 vote came following a closed-door evaluation of her performance.

Regent Dave Phillips backed Harter, saying he would support any extension, even if it were for 10 or 20 years.

Regent Mark Alden objected to the new contract, saying Harter had "failed miserably."

Alden criticized Harter on everything from legislative relations to her support of a UNLV dental school that he has dubbed a "catastrophe" in the making.

Regent Tom Kirkpatrick also voted against Harter.

Nichols, who has overseen academic affairs for the state's public higher education system since 1997, will replace Anderes as interim chancellor on July 1. Anderes served as the interim chancellor for less than a year before deciding to leave Nevada's system to become a vice chancellor overseeing finances for the Oregon State University system.

Anderes took over temporarily after former Chancellor Richard Jarvis lost suppor of the regents and left in the summer of 1999 to become the founding chancellor of the U.S. Open University.