Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

UNLV’s social work program could be spared from chopping block

Budget

AP Photo/Cathleen Allison

University Chancellor Dan Klaich listens to a hearing on proposed budget cuts to higher education at the Legislature in Carson City on Tuesday, March 22, 2011.

CARSON CITY – The social work program at UNLV, which is due for elimination because of budget cuts, might be saved, university President Neal Smatresk told a legislative budget subcommittee today.

Smatresk said discussions are under way to possibly combine the programs at UNR and UNLV, and keeping the program only at UNLV.

Smatresk and other university and college presidents on Tuesday outlined the effects of Gov. Brian Sandoval's proposed budget, which cuts scores of classes and limits enrollment, for an Assembly-Senate joint budget committee.

Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford, D-North Las Vegas, said he was concerned about eliminating the social work program at UNLV.

Horsford told Chancellor Dan Klaich he wanted a detailed plan by April 5 on the effect on Sandoval's budget if the program were kept. “We need to evaluate the pros and cons,” Horsford said.

The majority leader complained that the courses offered by the schools are not aligned to promote economic development and the workforce in Nevada. There is a “disconnect” between the higher education system and the business community, he said.

But Klaich said presidents of the various schools “are out in front in talking about an alliance with business and the state.”

James Dean Leavitt, chairman of the Board of Regents, urged the Legislature to talk about a “revenue solution” rather than reductions to the university and college systems.

“Let’s have a conversation what we value the most,” he said.

Mark Nichols, a graduate of the social work program at UNLV, said the program should not be saved at the expense of UNR's program. He said the budget of the governor contained “misguided priorities” because there is a shortage of social workers to help the most vulnerable families in Nevada.

The Legislature, Nichols said, should consider raising taxes on gaming, mining and big business.

Eric Herzik, chairman of the political science department at UNR, told the subcommittee that faculty members already are leaving for jobs at universities in other states.

He said faculty members are departing “for any available opportunity,” and “this is just the first wave and it will get worse if the governor’s budget is adopted,” Herzik said. Headhunter firms are talking with university professors trying to entice them to leave Nevada, he said.

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