Letter: Cost of UNLV's debate program not put in proper perspective

I was saddened to read about the elimination of the UNLV Debate Program. The college contends that the per-student cost of maintaining the debate program was not a prudent budgetary expense.

The squad's current budget of $18,000 may sound like a lot of money to those unfamiliar with the costs associated with running a nationally competitive debate program, but other universities, including Arizona State, USC and Southern Utah State University, fund their programs at significantly higher levels.

According to the articles in the Sun and discussions I have had with several colleagues, the UNLV program was on track to become a national power in debate. It is tragic that the college chose to pull the plug just as the squad was enjoying its best season in years.

More importantly, the value of a forensics program lies in the positive academic image it projects on a local, regional and national level.

Over the past two decades UNLV has enjoyed tremendous regional and national success in debate and individual events competition when students from UNLV demonstrate their skills as advocates, performers and critical thinkers while locked in heated competition against some of the best speakers in the nation.

I hope the university administration and the Greenspun College of Communication faculty will reverse the decision to eliminate the UNLV debate program and embrace the time-honored notion that "quality is better than quantity" when it comes to assessing the true value of academic debate.

I congratulate the 1997-98 UNLV debaters on a wonderful season. No matter how this issue is resolved they are all winners and have helped greatly enhance the academic image of the university while enjoying consistent success against some of the best programs in America.

Robert Glenn,

Director of Forensics &

Associate Professor of Communication

Owensboro Community College

Owensboro, Kentucky

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