New UNLV student leader brings conservative outlook

Over the last several years, as the state's higher education system has fought against and endured budget cuts, it has been typical for the elected student leaders at the state's colleges and universities to go along with higher ed leaders and preach against the cuts.

They generally repeated the party line: All budget cuts are bad, the institutions are suffering, and tuition increases are a necessary part of dealing with all of that.

But then Mark Ciavola came along.

"When the state is out of money and when the state has to have a balanced budget, there are going to be cuts," said Ciavola, 37, who last week was elected the new student body president at UNLV in a blowout, 57 percent to 41 percent.

"Well, I think I've changed my mind," Justin McAffee, an education activist and former College of Southern Nevada student wrote on his Facebook page after the win. "If students at UNLV are stupid enough to vote for Mark Ciavola for student body president, maybe they deserve cuts."

McAffee, an outspoken Democrat, later said he wrote that post out of frustration.

"I was sort of being facetious," he said. The post so far has generated nearly 50 comments, many of them a back-and-forth between Ciavola, McAffee and other student activists.

Ciavola made a name for himself in local higher ed circles a couple of years ago when he took over the UNLV College Republicans, which had a lackluster following and a small membership.

Originally from Boston, he moved to Las Vegas in 2005 and worked in sales and restaurant management before going back to college.

He said he's always been interested in politics - he works for the campaign of U.S. Rep. Joe Heck, R-Nev. - so he majored in political science.

But he was never content to stand on the sidelines. Once he took over the College Republicans, the group grew from about 50 members to 800, he said.

This was at a time when budget cuts were in full force. Students were holding protests, they spoke out at government meetings and were quoted all over the media.

But Ciavola and the College Republicans had a different take, for the most part. They focused on what they saw as wasteful spending, including the continued employment of former U.S. Rep. Dina Titus as a UNLV professor, and the spending of thousands in student fees for a student government-sponsored trip to Carson City to protest cuts.

Soon, he moved on, became a student senator, recruited other candidates under the Rebels United banner, and developed a strong backing in the student government.

"I decided we wanted to have a voice," he said. "Those of us who want a little fiscal responsibility need to have a voice."

He said he ended up running for president because he couldn't get anyone else to do it.

"It was important to finish the job," he said. "I don't believe in campaigning without taking action."

Ciavola, who is 37, credited a well-run campaign and lots of hard work for his win.

He said he worked 14-hour days during election week, campaigning on campus. He said he visited 170 classes and student groups. He got endorsements from key student groups, including the Rebel Yell, the campus newspaper.

"We spent so much time talking to students that by the time the general election rolled around, everyone knew who we were," he said.

Even McAffee acknowledged that Ciavola deserves credit for his win.

"He's a really hard worker," McAffee said. "All that rhetoric about being against tuition increases" worked.

The key, though, was probably Ciavola's main campaign promise: He would oppose any future tuition and fee increases.

Student fees have more than doubled at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas over the past decade, with much of the increase in just the last few years in response to budget cuts.

In the past, student groups have generally treated the tuition increases as in­evitable consequences of the budget cuts.

He's also promised to oppose any pay increases for faculty, reasoning that money raised by tuition increases shouldn't go toward faculty salaries.

"I think it's preposterous," he said.

The Faculty Senate recently passed a resolution calling for restoration of the pay cuts faculty received during the budget cuts.

Greg Brown, a history professor and the senate's chairman, said any money for pay restoration would come from a separate legislative appropriation, not from tuition increases.

Indeed, the latest increase, which will go into effect in the fall, was mandated by the Board of Regents to go toward funding student-centered efforts, such as increasing library staff and other student services.

"For Mark to claim (tuition increases) are going to fund salaries, it's just the opposite," Brown said.

In any event, both Brown and McAffee wished Ciavola well.

"I'm willing to give him a chance," McAffee said.

Contact reporter Richard Lake at rlake@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0307.