Lacking Commitment To Higher Education
Posted July 23, 2008
While plans to close the College of Southern Nevada (CSN) Logandale center next year are deeply regrettable, the fact remains that this is not merely a CSN management problem. The college is admittedly in a bind. It must cut its budget by 14% each year for the next two years. That is a lot of fat to trim from, what was claimed to be, an already lean budget. In the end, what gets cut and what stays is just a matter of bean counting. Administrators are merely looking for the easiest way to make the required cuts without putting their own jobs or salaries on the chopping block.
CSN is certainly not alone in this dire predicament. The budget crunch is, after all, a statewide problem. All of Nevada’s public centers of higher education are in the same boat. College administrators throughout the state have been told that they must cut their programs and cut them deeply. Rest assured, these cuts are going to be felt and they will hurt everyone. The ill effects that they will bring will ripple on through the state’s higher education system for decades to come. Higher education throughout the state will suffer a blow and may never fully recover. The problem is much bigger than just the loss of the Moapa Valley CSN center. It has far deeper roots than the current state budget crisis. It encompasses decades of a habitual neglect of higher education and a lack of vision and leadership in the state.
The real problem stems from the persistent failure of this state and its leaders to set higher education as a major priority. The State of Nevada seems to have determined long ago that, as long as there are enough people to deal cards, wait tables and park cars on the Strip, we’ll all be just fine. Oh, our leaders give plenty of lip service about the importance of improving education and investing in the future. But when it comes time to write the checks, the money doesn’t stay where the mouth is. Higher education falls short, not just this time, but every time.
It’s a simple fact that, in the realm of higher education, the most certain predictor of academic success is financial investment. This is true of all great universities; whether they be public (U.C. Berkley, University of Virginia or University of Massachusetts, Amherst) or private (Princeton, Harvard, Yale). Without exception, the outstanding institutions of higher learning are dependent on private sector funding for success. But in all of the great public institutions, acquisition of private funding is always preceded by a significant public investment that shows a strong commitment to excellence in the institutions. Without at least adequate public funding, the private sector will not ever truly buy in. We can see the evidence of that right here in this state. Nevada has never adequately funded its higher education system. As a result, Nevada’s institutions are not only underfunded by the state, but have never drawn the private funding necessary. Thus, they have historically suffered, struggled and underperformed.
This problem of priorities has been allowed to fester untreated for over 50 years. For decades, Nevada’s college-bound students have faced the sad realization that there are no respectable in-state options for obtaining a higher education. The best of these youngsters find themselves with little choice but to attend out-of-state institutions. When they go, it is rather unlikely that they will ever return. And, really, why should they? What do we offer in our economy to bring back the best and the brightest?
Thus, for years we have sent our best and brightest away to study; and then away to live and to work and to contribute to the success of other economies around the country. All the while, back in Nevada, we find ourselves compelled to settle for whatever is left over. This is hardly a way to diversify our state’s gaming-centered economy. It is not hard to conclude that eventually this sad trend is bound to catch up with us. The hopelessness of this situation cannot be summed up any better than a recent statement made by the Chancellor of Nevada System of Higher Education, James E. Rogers. In a July 7 memo which responds to the proposed budget cuts, Rogers wrote, “The frustration I feel and the disappointment I have in the state’s failure not only to recognize the inadequate funding problem, but in the state’s REFUSAL to do anything to solve it, makes me question the economic and cultural future of Nevada.”
Until Nevada gets serious about funding higher education, our economic and cultural future will remain pretty bleak.
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