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A flier advertises a student walkout at UNLV to protest proposed budget cuts. Organizers are asking students to gather at 10 a.m.
Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2010 | 2 a.m.
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State of the State
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Gov. Jim Gibbons gave an emergency State of the State address at 6 p.m. Monday, Feb. 8. Video is courtesy KVBC Channel 3.
Sun Archives
- Governor plans emergency address on Nevada budget (2-7-10)
- Governor’s speech will lay out state’s budget problems (2-7-10)
- State budget comes up $800 million short (1-22-10)
- Forecast: Economy will begin to rebound in mid-2011 (1-22-10)
- Gibbons’ no-talk order further divides branches (1-22-10)
- Special session may require help of state Supreme Court (1-10-10)
Sun Coverage
Taking a page from earlier generations of Southern Nevada campus activists, UNLV students plan a walkout today to oppose Gov. Jim Gibbons’ proposed budget cuts.
They may have to dust off their protest manual.
The Rebels showed a rebellious streak in the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s, when they helped change the course of local elections, forced the university to abandon unpopular policies and complained about lack of parity with the University of Nevada in Reno.
The historic events also helped shape students who later became Nevada’s political and community leaders, including former congressman James Bilbray, Rep. Shelley Berkley, state Sen. Bob Coffin and District Judge Lee Gates.
They took on broader issues, too, such as civil rights and opposition to the Vietnam War.
And about 40 years ago they complained about budget cuts.
It was 1969, and students at Nevada Southern University — later to become UNLV — built an on-campus shantytown out of lumber scraps and oil drums, taking up residence to protest a lack of state funding for higher education. Sympathetic professors taught their classes at the makeshift “Education City.”
But in the 1980s, with money plentiful, “The students went to sleep,” said UNLV professor Gene Moehring, who has written a book on UNLV’s first 50 years. “The ’90s weren’t much better.”
The students “woke up two years ago” when the state’s plummeting economic outlook forced steep cuts to higher education, Moehring said.
Still, Moehring hasn’t seen the same level of outrage among students that was prevalent in the university’s early days. The university has done a good job protecting the quality of education despite reduced funding, and many students haven’t been directly affected, he said.
“If there were to be cuts that would obviously hurt them, that would draw more people out to protest,” Moehring said.
Key to that, he said, is for students to realize that major pay cuts for faculty will likely push top professors into leaving, which will hurt the value of a UNLV degree. And if the Nevada System of Higher Education becomes the first such entity in the nation to declare a financial emergency, that’s “going to give us all a black eye. It will be hard to hire good professors to come here.”
Organizers of today’s protest are calling on students to gather at the Student Union at 10 a.m. and car-pool to the Legislature’s Interim Finance Committee meeting at the Sawyer State Office Building on Washington Avenue.
Nearly a thousand people have indicated via Facebook that they plan to participate, said Kyle George, vice president of UNLV’s Graduate and Professional Student Association, which voted to support the protest. Student groups at College of Southern Nevada and Nevada State College also support the effort and are expected to take part, George said.
Other organizers of the protest include Adam Cronis, the university’s student body president, and Jessica Lucero, president of the Graduate and Professional Students Association.
Not surprisingly, they’re finding support from faculty.
“UNLV students are some of the most significant stakeholders in this disaster,” said professor John Filler, Faculty Senate chairman. “As future leaders of the state, I am very proud of the fact that they are willing to take a public stand for UNLV. I only hope that the members of the Nevada Legislature also realize how precious this university is to the future of our state and take the affirmative action necessary save higher education.”
A prior commitment will keep him off campus today, Filler said, or else he would take part in the walkout and protest.
He said he hoped his colleagues would participate. “It’s their choice. Obviously, they have to behave responsibly. There are some classes you can’t walk out on, but I think the students understand that.”
In a memo to faculty, UNLV Provost Michael Bowers said he was proud of the campus for expressing its support for higher education, but cautioned them “to be appropriately accountable” for their actions as students decide whether to miss classes and instructors decide whether to excuse them.
UNLV professor Greg Brown, president of the university’s Faculty Alliance, said he think his colleagues “understand and sympathize with the students’ willingness to take risks with their grades now to try to preserve their chances for an education in the future. I’m impressed that the students understand what is at stake for all of us.”
The student walkout should serve as a watershed moment, Brown said.
“Everyone in the state will have to examine their consciences, and decide whether they really believe that the rhetoric of the past is sufficient for our future,” Brown said. “These students seem to have a clear sense already. I wonder not about whether faculty agree but about the rest of the community. Will business leaders, legislators, alumni and others be there, in person or in spirit? It’s their future, too.”
George, who helped organize rallies and protests to prior budget cuts, said the message needs to get to the public that cutting higher ed will only shift the burden to other public agencies.
Higher unemployment rates are reflected as indirect costs to health and human services, public safety and the state’s corrections system, George said. At the same time, economists say states typically see a 4-to-1 return on dollars invested in education.
The cuts to education funding in Nevada are “beyond unfortunate — it’s just unacceptable,” Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev., said.
Titus, who taught political science at UNLV for 30 years, said she commended the university students for getting involved, even though “usually walkouts are to influence the administration, not the Legislature. The administration is already on board.”
But the level of student participation will give UNLV President Neal Smatresk “an idea of how much support he does have going forward,” Titus said. “Symbolically, that’s a good thing.”
If she were in front of a class at UNLV during today’s protest, Titus said she wouldn’t want her students to leave and miss out on instructional time.
“Maybe we could walk out together,” Titus said. “We could learn a political lesson by participating.”
"Nevada System of Higher Education becomes the first such entity in the nation to declare a financial emergency..."
A state of emergency is the best for UNLV. The damages evidenced in the cases against UNLV Law School alumnae working in Clark County are bleeding the State of Nevada. Although the State of Nevada is the debtor, UNLV is the subrogee.
The practice of UNLV is to not put subrogatible liability on their books until subrogated. These "hidden" liabilities are not being disclosed to the public.
If the staff will walk out also we can save enen more money for the state.
I want more people to pay more taxes so I can get a subsidized education. If I don't get my way I will skip the education you are already paying for.
Tomorrow leaders inspired by the teachers trying to save their own skins and not caring one iota about the future of their students.
Good for the students!
Everyone who works there should join the students.
My family has lived here for more than 20 years. We are leaving! If those of you who are left think education is too expensive for these hard times then, as the bumper sticker says, try ignorance and see what that costs you! By the way, would the last one of you uneducated spend thrifts to leave please turn out the lights?
How do you expect these students to survive in the working world if they are unable to get their degrees in art history, womens studies or english literature?
Oh the unfairness of asking them to pick up a little more of their own education cost.
In the 60's tuition at a state college or University was not that much, and no one walk out over it.
Water cannon and police dogs should be used to put down this riot and the National Guard should be called out by Gov. Jim Gibblets to arrest all the students and put them in a barbwire enclosure where they should be forced to watch Glen Beck.
Many states have been cutting and continue to cut higher education budgets.
They have cut salaries and laid-off staff.
Nevada has not done that yet to any major degree.
We are just catching up to the rest of nation.
I wonder what cutting $900,000,000 out of the economy of the state will do to business?
One of the cornerstones of a well-balanced community is a quality University. The teachers, doctors, and other professionals trained at UNLV are, for the most part, residents of Nevada. If our children are forced to leave in order to receive a quality education, THEY WON'T COME BACK!
I propose a new motto for the state. We should change "Battle Born" to "Nevada: Providing a Third-World Education to First-World Children."
Vote nonpartisan for governor and every other office that has non partisan candidates Nevadans.. Finally heed my warning or we will have 4 more years of Reid (Daddy's boy responsible for 180 million a year in firefighter salaries), Sandoval (Mr. I have been appointed to everything my whole life) and better yet four more years of Gibbons (I am adulterer). Seeing as that Northern Nevada put Gibbons in office because Southern Nevada did not hardly vote, SN needs to step up.
Once again, vote nonpartisan for governor and every other office that has non partisan candidates Nevadans..
P.S. Titus you are unacceptable.. Have you been bringing in money for your district or state? Trafficant brought 1.3 billion dollars worth of income to his constituents. What have you done for yours?
Socialism Rules! But it does have its consequences.
Too bad the students aren't educated enough to read the flyer.
This is immature. Students skipping my class = an F on an exam with no make-up.
ya, man...let's ditch our classes and go get a frapucino and get on facebook...THAT will show them!
wake up to the madness that is our government. we should never buy into this left vs right fight the politicians have us believing. they are all one in the same. open your eyes and help to open the eyes of your friends and families before it is to late. In South Carolina they just passed a law to make it illegal to question the government and to have discontent for the government which is now punishable by 10 years in prison. This is America not the USSR or Nazi Germany. Please evreyone do yourselves and your fellow Americans a favor and start to wake up the masses to this fascist takeover of this great country of ours. Remember it is not about right vs left, that is their game, divide and conquer and its working, but we can stop it. go to the website below for some very informative information, many of you may not believe this stuff at first until you see they get most info from mainstream news media and put it together very well.
www.freepressinternational.com
Call me crazy, but I fail to see the logic in this? I mean they're walking out on classes they've already PAID to be at for the day? Enlighten me anyone??
The students are being used as pawns.
Less than half of all expenditures at UNR are used for student related expenses and alittle more than half is used for student related expenditures at UNLV. SPending growth for NSHE has been at a fast clip of 7.9 percent per year from 2001-2008 and that was simply an unsustainable growth rate.
http://www.collegeresults.org/
MsSchaffer,
Don't worry, cutting $900 million in government spending would be the same as raising $900 million in taxes (at the very best). Worst case scenario is that the private sector spending is more efficient (ie more productive) and that raising $900 million in taxes leaves us even worse off.
You have to remember, that every dollar the government takes MUST come from someone else first.
Hey, let's skip going to our jobs in protest for the last biggest tax increase in the history of the state and a couple of sessions before that the then biggest tax increase in the history of the state.
Oh...we can't do that.
We live in the real world.
I forgot.
Why aren't CSN and NSC also participating in this little protest? That would have been a better show of solidarity for higher education in So. Nevada. I'm assuming their students are also aware of the impending budget cuts.
From what I understand CSN has the largest enrollment of the NSHE schools - it should therefore be more involved, or at least more visible, in the battle for higher education. As they say, numbers talk...
Any student who does not attend classes should be charged with an absence, just like on any other day. Any instructor who misses work should be dealt with according to their contracts.
Good lesson for all...
SgtRock, Nevada's higher ed employees have already taken pay cuts, early retirements, and layoffs. Even tenure-track faculty are going to have furloughed cuts beginning July 1st. I'm not sure why you think Nevada's higher ed has been free from these cuts so far.
If students truly want to engage in a rational and appropriate dialogue coupled with a protest at the Interim Finance Committee meeting today, I don't see why we'd be vilifying them. This is a democracy, and they're exercising their right to protest. If they understand that missing classes involves consequences (e.g., missed lecture material, quizzes, homework, etc), then that's their decision. If it's worth it to them, good for them.
A degree from UNLV or any other university carries weight and opens doors to employment and earnings potential. If NSHE continues to take more and more paycuts, the weight of that degree lessens, affecting each student associated with UNLV in the past, present, and future.
I'm not promoting a walkout, but I understand why the students would do it.
Every state worker, faculty, students, administrators, etc should join. Show the legislators the numbers. The people need to wake up, students included and open their eyes to what is happening in the state government. Sadly, I see shut eyes and deaf ears. Time to wake up, and the walkout will help. Students are voters too, and I assume there will be a rally come time to vote. Educate yourselves on the bigger picture.
I will not be walking out. I actually care about whats going on in my class today and realize that walking out will DO NOTHING.
Walking out will not...
1) Raise any money to ameliorate our budget problems
2) Make anyone any more aware of your unhappiness.
Seriously, what are the legislators going to say, "Oh, now that the students walked out, I understand that they are no longer at a level 4 of pissed, but are actually at a level 5 of pissed, we better plant some money trees so these students don't have to pay a couple of hundred dollars more for their already cheap education"
Please...your ignorance will turn into my bliss when you don't have the degrees I do because you decided to protest against UNLV, forgo a higher education and realize your actions didn't do anything productive.
The 60's are over and student walk outs don't mean crap anymore. It will just make good visuals and sound bytes for the media.
If there is a walkout, taxpayers and voters will realize that students and professors have way too much time on their hands, and the hammer will drop...
I would like to think that by the time young adults attend UNLV they have bee introduced to the concept that things cost money.
First of all, CSN & NSC are planning to join with UNLV for this walk-out. We are just as impacted as UNLV and feel that this is the right move.
Second, doing this walk-out is a demonstration of our frustration and we ARE risking our grades and we understand the consequences of our actions. If we do not do this then we are risking losing more teachers and making it that much harder to enroll in classes for next term. Many students were turned away this term at CSN for the lack of classes available. That's just not right.
Lock the doors after they walkout and we will all save money... "That's just not right."
nevadaappleslices,
I feel like it's time for an intervention. Listen to me closely...You are not a professor at UNLV. You only pretended to be one so that you could post inane comments on a message board attacking higher education. Somehow, you have repeated this lie so often that you now actually believe you are a professor. You must come back to us...you must embrace reality once more. We all love you and miss you and want you back the way you were.
A step in the right direction.
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go ahead walk out....that still not change the fact that the state does not have the money to sustain the huge government the way it is now and that cuts have to be made....
go get a job and make up the difference....oh that's right, there aren't any jobs....just like there isn't enough tax money to go around..
As a token of good faith, the University should fire that racist, quota broad Christine Clark. She teaches one class, sits on her fat a$$ the rest of the time and gets $168,000 a year. That is totally money down a rat hole.
Don't look back.
: {
Let your conscience be your guide.
: {
Patrick--let's get rid of state-supported university and tyranny of taxation. We can just allow the market through commercial univesities (such as Phoenix, Kaplan and the others) to provide this service. Market driven is great and no one is taxed in the process. Goood stuff huh?
Shakit,
Do you think that everyone thinks that the students of UNLV/CSN are happy about higher tuition and cuts? They already understand the frustration. Also, maybe we should have standards about who we let in...if you let everyone into Harvard, it would just as respectable as CSN.
The protest was awesome and turn out was great. Old farts-in mind and spirit- need not worry their addled,shrivled brains too much about this issue. You won't need anyone with any skills of any kind once you've got full on dementia so keep on with the "Hey you kids get off my lawn!" meme and see how that works out for you and your communities down the road.
I can't believe some of the selfish, mean spirited remarks posted here.
One question, where did you get your education? Did you go to a public or private school? (okay, that's two questions)
It is for the good of the community to educate children. Without an educated work force, those companies that our "dear leaders" tell us we need to move into the State to diversify our economy, will not move here.
It sounds like some people here have a great idea! Lets cut the budget for education and have a generation of morons working menial jobs and making sub-standard wages. Then when they fall below the poverty level, they'll be paying less taxes and we can cut the budget even more until we have little if anything left to show for our effort. We can then shut the doors to education altogether along with fire and police services too. People aren't going to visit Las Vegas because it would just be too depressing. And soon after that we wouldn't need a Governor anymore either because the legislature isn't going to have the money to operate.
Less government! Mission Accomplished.
The Digital Economy we are moving into cannot support entire brick and mortar Universities.
It is ridiculous to protest over something which cannot be fixed, and shouldn't. Makes no sense to fix an obsolete system. There is plenty of money if the systems upgrade-streamline and get smart.
Fund k-10 and some High School and University programs which have to be conducted in person like most labs. Beyond that we cannot afford to have 100 students sitting in a central theater listening to some boring overpaid fool ramble on about the rings of Saturn. Go to Wikipedia/Saturn and then take a 5 minute quiz, hit enter, end of issue.
There is no need to fight any of this. You guys need to show leadership and blast into the future not ask a dying system for more to keep a dumb system going.
college?
pfft...who needs it.
i'll just buy a computer with pro tools and steal beats and riffs from other people's music, come up with some jibberish lyrics to put on top of it. find some semi-attractive girl to "sing" these lyrics and idiots will come to my "concerts" and i'll be rich!
it worked for the black eyed peas...it can work for you, too.
college is for suckers.
The biggest problem now a days in this society is the fact that we have all been brainwashed into being all for ourselves and have no sense of community. Back in the days commuinities were tight and neighbors helped neighbors and people just cared for others. Now people have become so incredibly greedy and selfish that they could care less about others unless it benefits them. People need to start to understand that the enviroment that has been created in this country produces sad stories such as this. People in low income enviroments feel hopeless. Tons of crime can be attributed to poverty. Lack of education/a horrible education system doesnt properly prepare our societies youth to become productive citizens and therefore leaves them feeling hopeless and thus pushing them towards criminal behavior. Their has been a systematic destruction of the education system in this country by the "elite" in this country casue they know by keeping people uninformed they will hold onto all the power. It's part of modern day slavery. Back in slavery times it was illegal for slaves to read and educate themselves cause once they became educated and "enlightened" then they were much harder to control. The same thing is happening in today's society with our modern day slavery. Some of you may think that sounds ridiculous but really take a step back and think about it. How many people are "enslaved" to their jobs??? How many people do you know that live paycheck to paycheck and if they dont go to that job every single day they wont be able to keep a roof over their heads or food on their tables???
Many people in the past year have lost everything and now have no hope whatsoever even after slaving away for 20 years in a job that they were under payed and over worked in but like most people, they were just happy to have a job. Are system doesnt allow for a comfortable living for many people nowadays. The american dream has been hijacked by the ultra rich who are becoming richer and richer everyday why we the middle class and poor become poorer and poorer by the day. These ultra rich are just sucking every penny out of us weather it by by manipulating gas prices which have a trickle down effect on all goods and raises the prices on everything. Now getting back to poverty... Poverty is directly linked to crime. Lack of education is a major factor that leads to poverty. Mass populations have become uneducated properly in this country and that is exactly what the powerful elite want. Just look at how uneducated people are on the political processes in this country. People care more about american idol then they do about dishonest politicians and meanwhile these politicians have been creating more and more crimes everyday in order to hold down the poverty stricken citizens that have no power to change anything. Just look at our prison system and how large it has become over the last 30 or 40 years. We have more prisoners in this country then every industrialized country in the world combined. That is frikkin scary. Now look at the importance that is placed on education. If the elite really wanted to make education a high priority and the quality of education a priority wouldnt they want to show that by making the teacher position a high paying job to get the best and brightest individuals in the class rooms teaching our people? Of course they dont want that. Now look at the most prestigous schools and you will see highly educated, quality teachers that are making a ton of money. Thats where the "elite", "ultra rich" send their children to be educated. Their is defiantly not a level playing field in this country.
Like i said before, lack of a quality education that would equip the citizens in this country with the proper life skills to succeed in life is pushing our citizens into poverty and when people are in poverty they become volitile and will do whatever is neccessary to live another day which pushes them to commit criminal activities at an alarming rate. It's time that WE THE PEOPLE decide to change that by becoming VERY INVOLVED POLITICALY and changing the culture of our society and bringing a quality education system to everyone in this country, not just the "Elite".
some of what is wrote had to do with another subject but felt that this needed to be posted on this subject as well. Does anyone have any feedback about my book i wrote above???
College isn't for everyone so why should everyone pay for college?
Ingrateful punks...how about they pay for 100% of their higher education on their own.
Odd that there was a fear of "getting a black eye" mentioned in the article. Education is supposed to benefit and enhance our society. Most academic institutions walk the talk and do great things. Driving past UNLV one has to do an astonished double take at the "Institute of Gamming" little building or whatever it is called. If ever there was an academic "black eye" this little monument promoting what educated people around the world consider a serious public health problem is the most blatent. But there it stands. Indeed it says it all though and UNLV is captive to a state based on "leadership" so far gone that it sees this monument as an actual accomplishment in the realm of education.
I agree bitwise. My property taxes are killing me so I'm glad there are going to be more colossal budget cuts at UCLA and UNLV. College is an expensive debt trap.
What the public doesn't realize is that 50% of the students attending Nevada colleges aren't doing themselves any good by being there. That lesser half of students aren't going to make any difference in the social system or economic system. So, they should be walking out for good, getting a real job, and waking up to the fact that colleges are only for doctors, lawyers, pharmacists, engineers, scientists, and other smarter people.
Ok lets have a walkout and maybe scare the state into giving up useless cuts and getting us some educamation money...And the politicians for the state support that...As long as they are getting paid...By the way you cant learn a dam thing if you are not in class...Also if the state has to cut money for education and what not,, why are the people that are elected to D.C. and Carson City not being laid off for lack of doing anything about this... Its like they did not know it was coming....
Like the teachers complaining about possible pay cuts, the students need to wake up to the real world. THERE'S LESS MONEY!
Of course the administrations at colleges continues to live like kings on the public dime with plenty of staff to do their work for them.
These are the same people complaining loudly about the tea party crowd, and they're doing the same thing themselves.
The education system has become so bloated with layers of administrators, there's plenty of room to cut.
Well Pierre, I'm not even sure that engineering comes with a job guarantee. The Boeing 787 was 80% outsourced.
there's less money in the world for all the non rich folks. why? because the people with the money(power) have systematically stole most of any wealth from the middle class and poor. has anyone seen that 95% of all the money in this country is owned by only 1% of the population while 99% of the population only has 5% of the money to work with. That is the largest gap in wealth ever. this didnt just happen, it was a plan by the elite to devastate the "servants"(you and me) of this country to make sure that we will always be slaves. yes we are all slaves to the corporations and this is called modern day slavery. how many people do you know that are 1 paycheck away from being homeless??? there are a lot. and by keeping people so broke by low pay, the rising cost of oil which raises prices on all goods and shifts that money to the rulers(elite), it keeps the people having to work and do what they are told no matter if they like it or not. if you dont like your job right now, your S.O.L. cause goodluck in finding another one so people are just having to deal with what ever abuses they face at work right now. We as a people need to stand up to these rulers(elite) and demand some of our wealth back. We need to get a robin hood mind set with these people. Their was a politician back in the early 30's that was talked about as a candidate for president in 1936 that had little support till he started traveling and made his "Share Our Wealth" speeches around the country. His name was Huey P. Long. He came out of nowhere to be the favorite to win the presidency even though he never officially put his hat in the race. Before he could officially anounce a ran he was ASSASSINATED by these rich elite. why?? because he proposed that "no person would be allowed to accumulate more than 100 to 300 times the average family fortune". anybody who hoarded this much wealth would have everything in excess be 100% taxed back to the people to help them out and make sure nobody in this country would ever be poor again. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Share_Our_W...
We need to start a movement based on this idea if we ever want to truly become free people and even think about the "American Dream" ever again.
Boeing 787 design work outsourced? Hmm. Remind me not to buy any Boeing shares anytime soon. Or, fly on one. BTW, the only reason I listed engineers on the short list is because they're supposed to be smarter than the liberal arts types.