Rogers calls for end to fighting among campuses

Monday, Aug. 30, 2004 | 9:45 a.m.

Squabbling among campus presidents in the University and Community College System of Nevada prompted Interim Chancellor Jim Rogers to issue a memo ordering a stop to the in-fighting.

In a memo sent out Friday to the Board of Regents and previously to institutional presidents, Rogers and Assistant Chancellor Dr. Trudy Larson ask regents to develop six policies that will help end the "senseless war" between the system's eight institutions and particularly the two universities.

"The head-to-head combat between UNLV and UNR is nothing less than destructive of both and destroys the confidence of the public," Rogers and Larson say in the joint memorandum.

Rogers said later of the memo, "We have not acted as a system enough, and we've got to get to that point. And I think that's just part of the maturing process."

The memo asks regents to consider limiting the state to the one law school, one dental school and one medical school currently in place for the next 10 years to end "murmurs" of talk about developing additional graduate schools in the state, Rogers said.

"We certainly don't need or can we afford a second medical school, and there has been some talk about building a second one, and it is just not economically feasible to do that," Rogers said in an interview.

Rogers and Larson in the memo also encourage regents to develop policies that will make sure every new program they approve and every budget enhancement must be for the good of the entire state system to best use available resources.

The memo demands that each institution stick to its specified mission in developing programs, that any duplication of programs be only for a clear system goal, such as developing more nurses, and that research at each institution be limited to areas of strength, collaboration or to address a state need.

Most of the policies requested in the memo were suggested by the state interim Legislative Committee to Evaluate Higher Education, Larson said. The goal is to develop ways for the state to more effectively and efficiently use the limited resources it has for higher education.

"Truly the intent here is to get people together thinking and planning on how we can respond to the challenges," Larson said.

She agreed with the chancellor that the system could not afford to continue to compete internally for those resources.

"There is healthy competition. We want our institutions to be great and be the best they can be, and that does require a competitive attitude," Larson said. "But there's also the need to step back and look at it from a systemwide and statewide perspective as well and try to do our best in that arena."

Rogers said he hopes regents will consider the suggested policies carefully and possibly discuss them in upcoming meetings.