UNLV to cut classes to meet Guinn request

Jennifer Knight

Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2002 | 11:16 a.m.

Faced with cutting millions of dollars from the university's budget, UNLV President Carol Harter has decided not to fill more than 150 positions and cut class sections next year, officials said Tuesday.

"We believe that the measures we are choosing to pursue, while unfortunate, are necessary and will have the least negative impact on the college community in the long run," Harter said in a memo to faculty and staff.

Gov. Kenny Guinn has asked state agencies to cut their budgets by 3 percent this year in order to ease the state's projected two-year shortfall of $275 million.

At $158 million a year, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, has the largest operating budget of any higher education institution in the state. The budget cuts are estimated at $4.74 million -- a figure that officials say they will be hard pressed to cover.

"It's huge," said Margaret Rees, associate provost of academic budgets. "For every position frozen, there has to be an adjustment, which means cutting classes, finding someone to teach those classes or rolling them over to the next semester and offering them (only) once a year."

The hiring freeze is expected to last until the end of the fiscal year, June 30, 2003. Positions that are not state-funded and part-time faculty will not be affected.

Officials at University of Nevada, Reno, also planned to freeze hiring and cut classes to trim their budget.

At this point, Rees said, UNLV is in the unenviable position of "hoping for no growth."

That's not likely, though, since enrollment is up 10 percent from last year and continues to increase.

The most likely scenario is students will find themselves in packed classes next year.

"It just means that if we normally offer eight sections of a class and we can only afford five, those remaining sections will have more students in them," said Tony Flores, UNLV's vice president of finance and administration.

UNLV's neighboring institution, the Community College of Southern Nevada, is also dealing with the grim reality of having to cut about $4.5 million from its $80 million annual budget.

CCSN officials have not yet announced any major cutbacks but with such a large hole in the budget, change is likely, said Ron Remington, CCSN's president.

"This slows us down in all kinds of ways," Remington said. "The bad thing about the budget cuts is we have to put some things that we want to do on hold for a while."

The budget cuts come at a time that both institutions have planned systemic improvements. CCSN is in the throes of an administrative reorganization, and UNLV has set its sights on becoming a premier metropolitan research institution.

Remington said CCSN's reorganization plans will proceed. Rees said UNLV will still shoot for the stars despite the setback.

"We still plan on becoming a No. 1 research institution," Rees said. "We don't change our goals just because there's a bump in the road."