Letter: UNLV was never intended to be research-oriented

Friday, Sept. 19, 2003 | 9:23 a.m.

So UNLV President Carol Harter wants to convert UNLV into a "top-level research facility ... on course to becoming the next UCLA." Surely what the citizens of Nevada had in mind when UNLV was founded was to provide our young people with the skills and information needed to cope in this evermore complex world.

Do we really need more "research" or is this just Ms. Harter's way of building her own empire and enhancing her own prestige? Where will the money come from? Surely Ms. Harter is aware that the Legislature just passed the largest tax increase in the state's history. Does she now expect it to provide even more money? As far as the comparison with UCLA, has Ms. Harter forgotten that California is a much larger state than Nevada and has she not read in the Sun that even so, it is on the verge of bankruptcy?

If more tax money is to be forthcoming, some of it will have to come from this state's growing population of senior citizens, many of whom are already having trouble paying their power bills, their medical insurance premiums, prescription drug costs and their already-to-high property taxes.

No thank-you, Ms. Harter. My suggestion is that you come down out of your ivory tower and learn about the concerns of folks out here in the real world. And it might be a good idea to bring the governor along with you.

CHARLES RECKER