Nevada State College acting president to lobby Legislature

By Anthony Ramirez

Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2010 | 12:15 p.m.

In a vigorous defense of beleaguered Nevada State College, Lesley DiMare, the new acting president, said this morning that she, along with student representatives, would personally lobby the state Legislature next February against crippling budget cuts.

"As my brother always says," DiMare said in her "State of the Campus" address, "Sis, if you give up, you're dead in the water. And that is not going to happen to us, I can assure you."

DiMare said she was also pursuing "alternative financial models" to continue "the build-out of our campus."

She cited the nursing and sciences building and said it must be built "in the near future, despite the state of the economy."

DiMare said she was meeting Friday with former state Sen. Warren B. Hardy, who represents Clark County, and others to discuss construction. She wasn't more specific.

Nevada State College, established in 2002, is probably the most fragile institution in Nevada higher education. Its enrollment has declined, but then stabilized, funding is down, staff has been cut and its president died suddenly earlier this year.

James Dean Leavitt, the chairman of the Board of Regents, went out of his way in August to say Nevada State College would not be shut down.

At that same meeting, DiMare, then provost, was named acting president following the death from cancer in July of Fred Maryanski.