STATE: Chancellor: 36 percent cut would shut down system

Chancellor Jim Rogers said Thursday that a 36 percent reduction in General Fund appropriations would "shut the system down" and turn Nevada's universities into community colleges.

The proposal, contained in Gov. Jim Gibbons' proposed budget for the coming two years: A $472.5 million reduction from the $1.3 billion in state funding appropriated by the 2007 Legislature.

Rogers added that the governor's suggestion that students could pick up much of the difference is "an absurdity."

"In order for us to raise $50 million, we have to raise tuition by 25 percent," he said.

To cover $450 million, he said, would take a 225 percent increase in tuition.

"That means it would be cheaper to apply as an out-of-state student to nearly any public university in the United States."

Rogers said a 36 percent cut would start a downward spiral that would end up destroying the university system.

Gibbons' Chief of Staff Josh Hicks said during a briefing that one reason the university system was singled out for deep cuts is that it is one of the few areas of state government with other sources of revenue and a Board of Regents that can make decisions on how to operate the campuses.

Rogers said he doesn't believe the Legislature will follow the proposed budget.

"If I didn't think the Legislature was going to straighten this mess out, I'd have left long ago," he said.

As for Gibbons, Rogers said, "I believe the governor is irrelevant. I'm not angry at him. I'm not in a name calling mood. He's just irrelevant. I figure the Legislature is going to

rescue it."

Rogers was joined by Jim Richardson of the Nevada Faculty Alliance, who said the higher education cuts left him "astounded and very disappointed that such a heavy burden for the cuts is being placed on Nevada's higher education system."

He said 36 percent would dismantle the system and "limit severely the educational opportunities for Nevadans to improve themselves."

- Contact reporter Geoff Dornan at gdornan@nevadaappeal.com or 687-8750.