The Nevada Sagebrush

The Nevada Board of Regents discuss budget cuts on June 4. Don Weinland/ Nevada Sagebrush

The NevadaSystem of Higher Education’s Board of Regents voted Thursday to cut two departments and five programs from the University of Nevada, Reno.

The vote was 11 to two in favor of the cuts, the two opposition votes coming from regents Cedric Crear and Mark Alden, both of Las Vegas.

Crear said the proposed non-academic cuts to offices like that of the president’s and vice president’s were too vague for him to support.

“40 percent of the cuts, I didn’t know where they were being cut from,” Crear said. “They broke down the academic cuts but they didn’t break down the non-academic cuts.  I didn’t want to put my vote behind something I wasn’t fully aware of.”

UNR Provost Marc Johnson said Alden, who voted via phone from Las Vegas, was in favor of cutting salary, not faculty.

“One of those votes came from an individual that preferred all along that there were across-the-board pay cuts,” Johnson said. “Alden has been consistent from the beginning that he didn’t want faculty cuts, just salary reduction.”

The $6 million in cuts made Thursday were a start toward reconciling an $11 million budget deficit. The departments of animal biotechnology and economic resources were cut completely from the university’s curriculum.  Speech communication, German studies, interior design and supply chain management, as well as the Center for Nutrition and Metabolism, were also cut.

Johnson said that although the university is not happy to cut departments and programs, Thursday’s results demonstrate the Board of Regents’ commitment against micromanaging university affairs.

“While we are not satisfied with having to go through with curricular review, we are happy that the board of regents has followed through with the principle that they are counting on the president’s and the administration’s ability to manage their affairs,” Johnson said.

While the cuts have been contested fervently by affected faculty members, the department reductions are not as severe as the original proposal made by the provost’s office in March.  The French program and a focus in statistics have been spared the originally recommended reductions after being challenged by program directors and faculty senate.

While the university administration has been criticized for neglecting the interests of individual departments, Johnson said holding on to French and statistics is indicative of a healthy decision-making process.

“The fact is that the faculty got to say a lot and come up with some creative solutions. I think what that means is that the process worked the way it was supposed to work,” Johnson said.  “It shows the president didn’t just endorse all the provost’s recommendations and did not stay deaf to the faculty’s comments.”

Don Weinland can be reached at news@nevadasagebrush.com.

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