CARSON CITY -- A regent of the University and Community College System of Nevada who has been a critic of the proposed state college in Henderson is recommending the project be put on hold because it is draining money from other schools.
Regent Tom Kirkpatrick of Las Vegas sent letters to Gov. Kenny Guinn and members of the budget committees of the Legislature Tuesday, suggesting a better solution might be to create a limited number of four-year baccalaureate degree programs at the community colleges in such fields as education and nursing.
Creating the Henderson college, Kirkpatrick said, is "not to help realize the needs of higher education in Nevada but rather the establishment of a college in Henderson and to hell with the rest of the state," he said.
Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins, D-Henderson, who has been a leading supporter of the four-year college, took issue with Kirkpatrick, saying this project is well thought out and would train more teachers and nurses, who are in short supply in Nevada.
The concept of a state college has been studied for more than a decade by the university administration, and Nevada is only one of a half dozen states without such an educational center.
Perkins said Kirkpatrick is in the minority of the 11-member Board of Regents, saying eight or nine members support the college.
Kirkpatrick said the state faces a shortage in its budget this session and it is "imperative and prudent that we re-examine" the state college project. Kirkpatrick acknowledged he was in the minority, adding he opposed the way the college project "is being orchestrated" without the necessary planning.
The establishment of the Henderson college "is to the exclusion of any other location, and or whether a college is or is not warranted," he said.
He suggested the motives of Perkins, Sen. Jon Porter, R-Henderson, and Mayor Jim Gibson, were not in the best interests of Nevadans but only for those citizens who live in Henderson.
But Perkins said Kirkpatrick has carried a two-year grudge against him and the proposed college. "He doesn't like the state college, and he doesn't care much for me," Perkins said.
The disagreement between Kirkpatrick and Perkins stems from the 1999 Legislature, when there was a discussion over inequities in funding between the University of Nevada, Reno, and UNLV.
"He's (Kirkpatrick) a big UNLV guy," Perkins said.
The budget committees, and Perkins, agreed to make up half of the inequity and authorized a study to see what the differences were. The funding study made recommendations, and they are included in this budget to resolve the inequities.
Perkins said that after the 1999 budget committees approved the budget, "he (Kirkpatrick) mumbled to a few folks in the hearing room that because I approved the budget, that the state college would not see the light of day."
The bill to study the feasibility of a state college carried a $500,000 appropriation that was to go to the Board of Regents. But Perkins said he changed that to have the study done by two legislators, two regents and an appointee by the governor in order "to get a fair shake."
Perkins also says there are an estimated 1,000 students expected to enroll in the Henderson college when it opens. "If the state college doesn't become a reality, and we have to redirect those students to a university, we have to find more money," because costs are higher at UNLV.
But Kirkpatrick challenges the theory that the costs will be cheaper at Henderson than at UNLV. He said supporters of Henderson suggested they could educate the students for half the costs, but "now we will not even admit that we can do it for one-fifth less."
Even before the school starts, Kirkpatrick said officials are talking about offering selected master degree programs, which are very expensive. He questioned if the school would then offer doctorate degrees. "It is imperative that we absolutely prohibit any graduate degree programs at any state college we establish," he said.
Kirkpatrick suggested that community colleges could offer some four-year degrees.
For instance, he said the community college in Henderson could offer degrees in business management and computer technology.
The Charleston campus could have degrees in health science and science. And the community college on Cheyenne Avenue would offer degrees in elementary and secondary teacher education and social work.
They would be renamed as state colleges.
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