Town hall airs UNLV’s concerns

The cuts UNLV already has faced have been devastating, but the worst is yet to come, the university's president told a crowd Thursday at a town hall meeting.

More than 400 people showed up to hear President Neal Smatresk and other higher education officials talk about what predicted budget cuts might mean to the university.

Smatresk, who took over as president last year, said if you add up the cuts that already have been made with the cuts that are predicted to come, it would amount to a 27 percent cut in UNLV's operating budget.

"Those are staggering numbers to have endured in a very short period of time," Smatresk said.

More than 100 faculty positions remain vacant, as do more than 300 staff positions, he said. The university has offered buyouts and may do so again.

Soon, he said, entire programs may be eliminated. He did not mention specifics, but said programs that cost a lot without generating revenue or serving large numbers of students could be in danger.

Gov. Jim Gibbons, reacting to worsening economic news, has asked all state agencies to submit plans for cuts. The higher education system has asked each of its colleges and universities to plan for cuts of 8 percent.

The system took a 12.5 percent cut in the current biennium, which followed smaller cuts in the previous biennium.

System Chancellor Dan Klaich said he remembered when University of Nevada, Las Vegas was a small campus, and he marveled at how it had grown. The university enrolls about 28,000 students, and has steadily grown.

"It breaks my heart that we're sitting here talking about budget cuts that could tear it down," Klaich said. "It kills me."

He and system Regent Kevin Page, a UNLV graduate, encouraged those in the crowd to contact their elected representatives if they want to lessen the impact cuts could have.

Page noted that this is an election year.

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