LOOKING IN ON: HIGHER EDUCATION

Tuesday, Oct. 23, 2007 | 7:02 a.m.

Richard Carpenter, the former College of Southern Nevada president who left Las Vegas months ago to head a Texas community college district, is still a hot topic here.

Talk about Carpenter continued this month as a Montgomery County, Texas, resident sued the North Harris Montgomery Community College District for blocking campus access to a blog in which members of the CSN community and others anonymously criticize and insult Carpenter and CSN administrators.

CSN had shut off access earlier this month to the same Web site after determining it encouraged violence against one or more campus administrators, CSN spokeswoman Helen Clougherty said.

According to a petition filed by Richard McDuffee of Montgomery County, north of Houston, he discovered the blog was blocked when he tried to access it Oct. 11 from college computers.

The district's decision to block access to the site "has irreparably harmed McDuffee's right to free speech under the United States Constitution and under the Texas Constitution," the petition claims, and it asks the court to compel the Texas college to unblock the site. A judge ordered the district to appear in court Nov. 13 to address the case.

North Harris Montgomery officials could not be reached for comment. Clougherty said CSN officials had not been in contact with the Texas district regarding the blog.

Southern Nevada institutions of higher education are going "green" by going beige, pink and brown.

By reducing the amount of grass on campuses in recent years, CSN and UNLV are saving water - and money.

CSN has converted more than 400,000 square feet of grass to desert landscaping at its three campuses. In the past five years, UNLV has eliminated about 300,000 square feet of sod.

"We are in a desert, and you can't miss all the advertising: 'Reduce your water,' " said Gerry Bomotti, who oversees finance and business at UNLV. "We're a part of the community."

The Southern Nevada Water Authority offers rebates of $1 to $2 per square foot to property owners who replace grass with water-smart trees, rocks and other desert-friendly plants and materials. The authority estimates that every converted square foot saves 55 gallons of water a year.

The savings at CSN and UNLV have piled up.

At CSN, staff estimate that turf replacement projects have saved about 24 million gallons of water annually. Since 1988, UNLV has gotten rid of more than 650,000 square feet of grass. The annual water savings: more than 37 million gallons. The estimated annual saving at each institution exceeds $100,000.

UNLV's next project will be taking out more than 100,000 square feet of green landscaping near the Thomas & Mack Center.

Both institutions plan to preserve some grassy areas for student use.

Some young Nevadans this year are experiencing life away from home for the first time. Although the desire to get away isn't always the main reason students attend out-of-state colleges, it's a definite motive for some.

A few Nevadans living in other states this fall took time recently to share how things are going.

Cathlene Foley of Las Vegas is living in New York City while taking classes at New York University. She likes the fast pace of life in Manhattan, which she said is a destination - a place people want to be and stay.

"Las Vegas is a growing city, it's a happening city," Foley said. "But I feel like the people there, who live there, are kind of biding their time and waiting for something bigger and better, and honestly want to be somewhere else."

Robson Hauser, another Las Vegan, is at the University of Southern California.

Los Angeles, with its freeways and traffic, is a confusing place to drive, he said.

Roads aside, Los Angeles is an exciting, diverse town, a bigger city than Las Vegas and one with more history, he said.

Comparing the two, Hauser said, "Las Vegas has the Strip. Here, they have Disneyland. They don't have the casinos, but they have the culture, the museums, the amusement parks, the beach."

Leah Houston of Reno, a freshman at Brown University in Providence, R.I., said she likes the fact that several major cities are within a few hours' drive of her new East Coast home.