Plan to add North Las Vegas to CSN campus name gets approval

North Las Vegas Mayor John Lee, who has long sought to attach his city’s name to the College of Southern Nevada, was dealt a victory on Thursday when a committee of the state’s higher education board revived a plan to rename one of the school’s campuses.

The decision — backed unanimously by the six-member community college committee of Nevada’s Board of Regents — approves a plan to switch the name of the school’s campus at Cheyenne Avenue and Pecos Road to the “North Las Vegas Campus.”

“You will see wonderful things happen,” Lee told the group. “I know from talking to our existing businesses that having a CSN North Las Vegas campus will better brand the college and help our community promote it as the premier workforce training engine we want and need.”

The vote is a big win for Lee, who launched an aggressive campaign three years ago to bolster his city’s influence over the school. Attaching North Las Vegas’ name to CSN is key in his plans.

CSN President Mike Richards, who has partnered with Lee to push the change, said the decision “puts CSN and the city on a constructive pathway to support” electric vehicle startup Faraday Future and other new technology businesses in the city. Supporters say the rebranding will help CSN lure more investment from lawmakers and companies as state leaders aim to develop a skilled workforce.

Under the deal, Lee will seek between $15,000 and $17,000 in private funding to pay for new signs. The full 13-member Board of Regents will consider approving the proposal when the panel convenes June 9.

Regents stalled an earlier version of the plan in November. Some noted that CSN had bigger tasks at hand — the college, for instance, was about to start assembling a road map that would lay out its top objectives for the next seven years. Under that proposal, the community college would have allotted as much as $119,000 from its maintenance and operations budget to modify seven signs at each of the school’s three campuses to include location information, such as city and street.

Many students and employees at CSN criticized the plan — a survey carried out by the school in May 2015 found that 58 percent of its 7,200 participants opposed the switch, primarily because of the cost. At the time, the school was grappling with a 15 percent budget cut that affected everything from maintenance services to library resources.

“Why spend the money on a vanity,” one staff member wrote in the survey. “Put the money where it should go — first and foremost the students and the staff.”

Despite those concerns, the proposal was approved in September by CSN’s Institutional Advisory Council — a 16-member panel of community members tasked with examining administrative decisions at the community college.

CSN Professor Alok Pandey, speaking on behalf of the school’s faculty senate, told regents on Thursday that while senate members don’t approve spending money on a name change, they would back the effort if North Las Vegas pays.

“Since the college is not (incurring) any cost…I feel comfortable supporting this,” Pandey said.

Contact Ana Ley at aley@reviewjournal.com or 702-224-5512. Find @la__ley on Twitter.