Editorial: ‘We can do this’ is right

Thursday, Sept. 22, 2005 | 9:18 a.m.

The "quiet phase" of UNLV's ambitious fund-raising campaign ended last week with more than $250 million either in hand or having been pledged by private donors. The noisy phase began right afterward, literally, with UNLV's marching band performing the school's fight song while President Carol Harter stepped forward to announce that UNLV was on a drive to collect another $250 million from private donors.

During the quiet phase, which began in 2001, Harter worked with many community and business leaders. They wrestled with the question of whether the greater Las Vegas community was supportive enough for the entire goal to be realized. A consultant's report said it wasn't. But the group went ahead and put together a fund-raising staff anyway, saying, "We can do this."

With state funding not keeping pace with the school's growth, the plan is to use the privately donated money to vastly improve UNLV's ability to provide its students with an outstanding education.

We agree with Harter and her supporting cast of fund-raisers. UNLV will be 50 years old in 2008, the year this funding campaign will end. We believe it will also be $500 million richer, and on its way toward the future it sees for itself.