Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

EDITORIAL:

No reason to keep UNR on a pedestal over UNLV, Desert Research Institute

First Day of Class at UNLV

Steve Marcus

Students walk southbound in the quad area during the first day of the fall semester at UNLV Monday, August 23, 2010.

Former Gov. Brian Sandoval, now the president of UNR, went into the 2021 session of the Nevada Legislature vowing to work arm-in-arm with UNLV to improve higher education in the state.

What’s a land-grant university, and what are extension services?

These universities were created beginning in the 19th century and named for grants of federally controlled land that were provided to the institutions to form their campuses.

UNR was founded by a land grant in 1874, and was Nevada’s only four-year school for nearly a century.

But that changed in the 1960s when UNLV, which until then had been a southern division of UNR, was placed on equal status to the northern university. At that point, opinions from the Nevada Attorney General’s office and Nevada System of Higher Education stated that Nevada no longer had a land-grant school but rather a multibranched university system that held land-grant status. Hence the names of the schools: University of Nevada, Reno and University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

However, UNR supporters have consistently contended that the northern university is the only land-grant institution in the state — its official website lists it as such to this day. That’s created ambiguity that has inhibited UNLV and the Desert Research Institute from offering extension services and obtaining federal research funding that are offered only to land-grant institutions.

This year, Nevada lawmakers are considering a bill that would identify UNR, DRI and UNLV as the branches of the University of Nevada, which would end any ambiguity by designating all three as land-grant institutions.

But when lawmakers introduced a bill that would help cement UNLV’s status as a peer institution to UNR and open the door to substantial federal funding for the Las Vegas school, Sandoval turned from partner to rival quicker than you can say Wolf Pack.

At issue is a bill that would formally identify UNLV and the Desert Research Institute as land-grant institutions, a designation that UNR claims it holds exclusively.

That claim is false — the Nevada Attorney General’s office and the Nevada System of Higher Education both have issued opinions stating as much. The reality is that UNLV, DRI and UNR are all part of the University of Nevada system, much like the UC system in California comprises Berkeley, Irvine, UCLA, San Francisco, etc.

Should the bill pass, it would allow UNLV and DRI to pursue millions of dollars in federal funding for research and for cooperative extension services that are available only to land-grant universities. Those services, offered to communities through outreach programs, include information for farmers on best agricultural practices, advice for homeowners on how to grow and maintain gardens and landscaping vegetation, education for families on food safety and healthy lifestyles, and guidance for young people through the 4-H program.

UNR operates Nevada’s extension services, including in Clark County. However, the university has been criticized for underinvesting in Southern Nevada while pushing millions of dollars of its extension funding into a surplus fund.

The Legislature’s land-grant bill is a long-overdue measure that would strengthen higher ed across the state. In fact, the Legislature passed a version of it in 2017 and sent it to Sandoval to sign.

And here’s where the plot thickened.

Sandoval and other UNR supporters opposed — and still oppose — UNLV and DRI being placed on equal footing based on claims that it would reduce UNR’s funding for cooperative extension and thereby weaken the extension system.

Sandoval vetoed the bill in 2017, and this year is opposing it under the same claim about it harming extension services. He’s been quoted saying that UNR could lose up to two-thirds of its extension funding, which would have a serious effect on services across the state. He and otheropponents of the bill say their motivation isn’t to deny UNLV and DRI land-grant status, but rather to protect the status quo of the extension system.

These protestations, however, should be taken with a Cadillac-sized grain of salt.

First, the bill requires a two-year study on how land-grant assets are used, and keeps the system at status quo during that time. So for those two years, UNR doesn’t stand to lose a penny in funding.

And after that, there’s nothing that would inhibit the university system at large from obtaining the state’s allotment of federal funding for extension service. UNLV and DRI may or may not start providing services — while it’s necessary to be a land-grant university in order to provide extension, it’s not necessary for a land-grant school to provide it. But if UNLV and DRI do get in the game after the two-year study of assets, we’re confident the services they provide will be equal to or better than those operated by UNR.

So in suggesting that the bill would bring gloom and doom to extension services, Sandoval is being disingenuous.

Meanwhile, the plus side for UNLV and Southern Nevada is enormous. That’s why the leaders of the Vegas Chamber, the Las Vegas Global Economic Alliance and Council for a Better Nevada joined UNLV President Keith Whitfield in signing a letter urging lawmakers to pass the bill.

“Ultimately, the legislation is about achieving equity for UNLV with its peer institution and allowing UNLV to better serve the needs of our Southern Nevada community,” their letter read. “Whether it’s health care, nutrition or climate change impacting our urban environment, land-grant status permits UNLV to work with the local community in addressing our collective challenges.”

Sandoval was a popular and effective governor, but legislators and Gov. Steve Sisolak shouldn’t allow themselves to be swayed by him on this one. He seems to be protecting UNR’s turf, not advancing the University of Nevada system.