Some upset over college's lighted palm trees

Welcome to the Community College Casino, says professor Ruth Dudley about the image she sees reflected by 26 bejeweled palms on the community college's Cheyenne Avenue campus.

"If I had not taught out there for so many years, I may have passed it by thinking it were a casino," said Ms. Dudley, who has taught developmental English at the college since 1989. "It doesn't even look like an educational facility anymore."

According to college records, the school spent $28,251 to buy lights and run electricity to the palms, several of which appear near death.

Ms. Dudley calls such spending frivolous and unconscionable, especially at a time when her two summer classes were canceled because college administrators decided they couldn't afford running classes with 14 or fewer students.

College President Richard Moore defended the spending this week, predicting the lighted palms will draw more people to the North Las Vegas campus and help ease safety concerns.

"We want people to feel good and comfortable on our campus, day and night," Moore said.

Howard Rosenberg, one of 11 regents elected to govern Nevada's higher education system, questioned the horticultural taste and financial wisdom of illuminating palm trees.

"God didn't put lights on them in the first place," Rosenberg said. "Why should we? It's not even Christmas."

He added, "A thousand dollars to light up a palm tree doesn't seem to be the best way to spend money. Palm tree lighting is not a top priority with me."

Another reason for decorating the palm trees was to guide campus visitors to the Horn Theatre, Moore said.

"We have a theater here, which in my opinion is underutilized, and we wanted people to know about the theater," he said.

The college spent another $17,691 to string white lights along the exterior of the Horn Theatre. Some $19,000 went toward a new information booth ringed with white lights. And more than $22,000 was spent on a marquee and neon trumpet sign that covered up the plain metal lettering of the theater's namesake, the late Nicholas Horn, a former state lawmaker.

"It's marketing gone haywire," English professor John Esperian said about the light displays. "Marketing is fine. Marketing to the 10th power is overkill."

If the college has enough money in capital-improvement accounts to decorate palm trees and paint light poles, Esperian said it may be time for Moore to lobby the Board of Regents for changes in the college's spending formulas.

Moore said he has no problems with the current spending formulas because they cover educational expenses while allowing him the flexibility to dress up campus buildings he once considered lackluster.

And the college president doesn't mind anyone comparing his campuses to casinos.

"I think some of the Strip casinos are very good looking," Moore said.

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