Budget plan could trim 100 full-time UNLV faculty, nearly all part-timers

CARSON CITY -- If Gov. Jim Gibbons follows through on his preliminary request for 14 percent cuts in the 2009-11 budget now in development, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, would lose 100 full-time faculty members, an analysis shows.

Virtually all part-time faculty would also be eliminated.

Neal Smatresk, executive vice president and provost for UNLV, did the analysis and found that the number of class sections offered to students would be reduced by 3,000, eliminating 40 percent of UNLV's total class offerings.

That would lead to the loss of 8,000 to 10,000 students, Smatresk said. UNLV now serves about 28,000 students.

Cuts of 4.5 percent already have been made in the 2008-09 budget.

"The impact of a 14 percent cut on UNLV's programs is fatal," Smatresk said. "A 14 percent cut represents a loss of $30 million annually."

There are approximately 950 full-time instructors and 900 part-time instructors at UNLV.

Gibbons has requested possible 14 percent cuts from all state agencies, the university system and public education as part of a "what if" scenario for use as he develops Nevada's 2009-11 budget. The total cuts would amount to about $500 million less a year.

The cuts sought by Gibbons would establish a baseline budget of about $3.2 billion a year, or $6.4 billion for 2009-11. Additional tax revenues may be realized if the economy improves, bringing the 2009-11 budget to about $7 billion.

Revenues beyond the $3.2 billion annual baseline budgets would be used to cover growth in student populations, Medicaid caseloads and other areas of service.

The 14 percent cuts are separate and apart from the shortfall in the current budget, which has prompted Gibbons to call the Legislature into a special session starting Monday. The current budget ends June 30, 2009.

The UNLV memo has been forwarded to Gibbons and the Legislature.

Chancellor Jim Rogers, in his own memo accompanying the analysis, said it's clear, "the very dire consequences of the decisions that are now being made on our institutions of higher education, their faculty and students, and ultimately on the future of our state."