The Nevada Sagebrush

An interview on the newest budget proposals with President Glick

The College of Education and the College of Agriculture, Biotechnology and Natural Resources could be dissolved into departments within other schools if the state Legislature passes the proposed $59 million in cuts to the university.

The University of Nevada, Reno announced yesterday the consolidation as part of its full plan to meet the governor’s proposed budget cuts. Faculty salary reductions and increasing tuition and fees account for about $20 million, while programs will be cut to meet the rest of the proposal. If enacted, the reductions would happen during the next year and a half.

For students, the cuts mean fewer and larger classes, longer processing times for admissions and financial and potential loss of degree programs, UNR President Milton Glick said.

University of Nevada, Reno administrators released a plan to meet all of Gov. Brian Sandoval's proposal to cut $59 million from the university. The plan includes college consolidations, tuition increases and degree eliminations. File photo/Nevada Sagebrush

An estimated 1,600 students will be affected by the closure of majors and minors in: educational leadership; educational psychology, counseling and human development; educational specialties; nutrition; philosophy; French; theater and dance. Those program cuts would save about $6 million, according to a university budget draft. More than 300 positions would be eliminated as well.

“The difference between these cuts and the previous cuts, is that most of the previous cuts we’ve announced — not all — will likely happen,” Glick said. “Whereas we really hope — we think there is a substantial chance that this last set of cuts will not happen.”

The governor’s proposal to cut 29.1 percent from higher education’s state funding comes after UNR has already reduced $44 million from its budget throughout the last three years.

For this biennium, UNR first announced about $25 million in cuts last month, with the intention of withholding the rest of its proposal until the Legislature passes the state budget in June. But after requests from legislators to see the full impact of potential cuts, UNR evaluated other programs for possible closure, Glick said.

The first set of cuts, announced March 7, are already underway in the curricular review process in which programs submit a defense against possible closure. Those reductions include the elimination of French, dance, theater and significant cuts to student services, library services and facilities services. The programs announced today for potential closure will not undergo curricular review unless the final budget passed in June indicates it is necessary, Glick said.

Many of the programs announced for potential closure today come in the wake of the university’s attempt to protect the School of Medicine, Glick said. Sandoval proposed a 30 percent cut, or $10 million, to the medical school, but the university decided it would cut other programs to lessen that reduction to $3 million.

“The university as a whole is giving up dollars because we think the health care of the people of Nevada is such a high priority,” Glick said. “But even then, $3 million is still a lot of money to cut your budget by.”

If all the cuts are passed, one of the biggest changes could be the elimination of administrative overhead in COE and CABNR as they would be consolidated into the College of Liberal Arts and College of Science, respectively. The move would save about $1 million from the COE and about $830,000 from CABNR.

“We aren’t talking about people who sit in their offices and order people around, we’re talking about people who really make the academic programs work,” Glick said. “I think if students can’t get their financial aid, their admissions documents processed, I think that has a substantial impact on them.”

With most of the cuts to the College of Education coming from graduate programs, Glick said the intention is for the school to focus on undergraduate students and educating primary and secondary teachers as well as counselors and principals.

For education pre-major Stephanie Nowicki, the consolidation proposal is better than a complete elimination of the college. She said she understands the state is in a budget deficit but doesn’t think its priorities are in order.

“I think it’s a bad idea to cut from the College of Education because it produces the state’s teachers,” the 20-year-old sophomore said. “I think teachers will always be needed. Having less teachers means class sizes will be increased and achievement levels will drop. The state will go even further down the academic scale.”

Jessica Kim, an 18-year-old biotechnology student, said a consolidation of CABNR would also detract from the quality of education.

“I’ve grown really attached to the college,” she said. “They provide individual attention to their students. Moving to the College of Science, I feel like students will just get lost.”

Aside from the possible mergers, other departments will see all of their state funding pulled if the governor’s budget is passed. For those programs, including Basque Studies, the Center for Justice Studies and the Child and Family Research Center, Glick said he hopes they will find other ways of raising revenue or cutting back, so they will not have to close completely.

In addition to academics, the athletics department will also see a significant reduction. Because men’s sports can’t be cut due to NCAA policies of Division I A schools and women’s sports can’t be reduced in order to stay compliant with Title IX, the department will have to raise revenue through donations and ticket prices, Glick said.

He said the goal is to remain in Division I because revenues drop rapidly with lower status.

Glick emphasized that the cuts are more about people and less about programs.

“I think these are very serious cuts that have real serious, negative impact on the students, on the university community and on the state’s future,” he said.

Nowicki said she came to UNR from California because of the state and university’s promising outlook, but now feels like she left her home “for no reason.”

Kim also chose UNR over other options, such as University of California, Berkeley and the University of California, Los Angeles. She said while she plans to finish her degree in Nevada, she will likely leave upon graduation.

“These cuts tell me that the state doesn’t value education and I wouldn’t want to raise my kids in a state like this,” she said.

Glick said the university worries how the cuts and rising cost of tuition effect enrollment because it could damage the state’s ability to produce graduates who contribute to Nevada’s economic growth.

“We are really cutting right into bone, and I don’t believe it’s in the best of interest of the state, the states economic future,” Glick said. “I think we are doing things that have high potential of damaging the economic prosperity of the state.”

Jessica Fryman can be reached at jfryman@nevadasagebrush.com.

If the Legislature passes Gov. Brian Sandoval’s budget as-is, UNR’s plan to cut $58.8 million includes the following:

- Permanent elimination of 318 positions
– 1,600 students directly impacted by reductions in degree areas

Consolidation of four colleges into two:
– College of Agriculture, Biotechnology and Natural Resources into College of Science
– College of Education into College of Liberal Arts

Elimination of majors/minors:
– Educational Leadership
– Educational Psychology, Counseling and Human Development
– Educational Specialties
– Nutrition
– Philosophy
– French
– Theater
– Dance

Elimination of:
– Center for Research Design and Analysis
– University Assessment Office
– Special Collections library staff

Elimination of all state funding for:
– Basque Studies
– International Students and Scholars
– Center for Justice Studies
– Child and Family Research Center
– Lombardi Wellness Center
– Center for Substance Abuse Technology
– New Student Initiatives Program
– Latino Research Center
– Black Rock Press

Significant downsizing of:
– Cooperative Extension
– Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology
– Nevada Small Business Development Center
– Business Center North
– Intercollegiate Athletics
– Hydrology Graduate Program
– Atmospheric Science Graduate Program
– University School of Medicine
– University Assessment Office
– Faculty Senate
– Temporary Instructor Funding
– Office of the Provost / Core Curriculum staffing
– Office of the President
– Institutional Analysis
– Statistics
– Graduate mathematics
– Library Materials budget
– Custodial Services
– Student Services including reductions in:
– Disability Resource Center
– Center for Student Cultural Diversity
– Student Success Services
– Student Conduct, Recruitment and Admissions and Records
– Additional services will moved to fee-based support.

Related Posts:

• Glick to release full plan for governor’s cuts
• NSHE may hear merger plans
• UNR announces tentative plans to cut School of Social Work, degree programs, faculty
• UNR explores cuts of social work, services
• Sandoval plan to produce flat budget