Sharing rooms for Henderson college discussed

Cy Ryan covers state government for the Sun. He can be reached at (775) 687-5032.

RENO -- The proposed state college in Henderson could share its campus with other colleges -- both private and public -- in an effort to trim costs.

The other schools could offer competing or complementary courses and share such items with the state college as a common library, security force and maintenance staff.

The idea was discussed Friday at a meeting of the legislative advisory committee examining putting a four-year state college in Henderson.

The committee also recommended the school be named the Nevada State College at Henderson. The regents of the University and Community College System of Nevada will make the final decision on the name.

Richard Moore, founding president of the state college, said there are other joint operations in the nation, but he said none started the way suggested on Friday.

But Assembly Majority Leader Richard Perkins, D-Henderson, a committee member and key supporter of the college, said a private college could help with resources.

"We shouldn't be spending state dollars where private colleges can come in and help do the job," he said.

"We can have a partnership where on one campus we might have a private -- Claremont may have a building there -- right next to a UCCSN building," Perkins said. "We would share the library, security force and maintenance costs."

The colleges could be offering difference courses and different scholarship programs, said Perkins, who added, "It would be like having a Harvard out here."

They would be separate, but students could enroll in both, Perkins said. "There could be an articulation of courses," meaning one would accept the credits offered by the other.

"I don't know of any other model that is like that," Perkins said. "It will be necessary to think things through and work it out."

Sen. Jon Porter, R-Boulder City, endorsed the sharing of costs. He said the Legislature is not going to have the money initially to build all of the college's classrooms.

Committee members estimated $5 million would be needed to get the school off the ground, plus another $100 million in construction costs. But they were quick to say this would come from private donations, not the state, at least initially.

Moore said there are several potential sites for the new school, all of them 300 acres or more. Regent Mark Alden suggested there could be four or five different state colleges in the next 25 years.

While some feel that starting the new college in Henderson will shift money away from other schools in the university system, Joseph Crowley, president of the University of Nevada, Reno, endorsed the need for the Henderson college.

"I've been a supporter of the idea since the day it was born," said Crowley, who made the first cash donation toward the new school. The amount was not disclosed.

There's always a question of money to start a new institution, he said. "Where do you find the money? And that's a fair question."

Another fair question, he said, is whether the state can afford it. That was asked when the medical school was established, when a new engineering school at UNLV was proposed and when the first community college in Elko was created, he said.

"If the need is there, the money will follow," Crowley said.

The advisory committee was told that the $500,000 the Legislature gave it is fast disappearing. Legislative fiscal analyst Mark Stevens said if the present spending continues at the current pace, the committee will end up $50,000 in the red at the end of the next fiscal year.

Most of the money has been spent for hiring a new president and staff. Perkins said that means the advisory committee will have to work twice as hard at getting private donations to make sure it has enough money to get through the fiscal year 2001.

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