Assault on higher ed

Wednesday, April 22, 2009 | 2:10 a.m.

When UNLV’s strengths come up in conversation, the William S. Boyd School of Law is always cited. It took Boyd only six years from the time it opened in 1998 to be ranked by U.S. News & World Report among the top 100 law schools in the nation.

But trouble is brewing that could blunt the achievements the school has worked hard to create.

As reported Sunday in the Las Vegas Sun by J. Patrick Coolican, three highly regarded Boyd professors are leaving the school and several others are thinking about doing the same. One of their chief concerns is the 36 percent cut in Nevada’s higher education budget proposed by Gov. Jim Gibbons for the next two years.

The professors have a right to question the state’s commitment not only to higher education, but also to kindergarten through 12th grade education, medical care and other quality-of-life issues that can help attract and retain talented people.

As Jim Rogers, chancellor of the Nevada System of Higher Education, told the Sun: “What you’re seeing is a reasonable reaction to the general attitude of Nevadans, which is: Education just isn’t that important.”

The brain drain from UNLV represents yet another in a long list of indictments against the nation’s worst governor, whose wrecking-ball approach to the state budget will continue to produce similar stories for years to come.

When good professors leave UNLV it can have a ripple effect on people who are thinking about attending the university. Students cannot be blamed for enrolling elsewhere if it becomes apparent that UNLV’s funding is being slashed, placing teaching and research in jeopardy.

It is not enough for UNLV to work toward building up a college or school to the point where it gains national recognition. Once it does, as in the case with Boyd, it needs all the resources it can muster to maintain that reputation.

What Boyd doesn’t need is for Gibbons to have his way with the budget.