In Local News...UNLV is Considering Declaring Itself Broke

Here's an article surrounding some events at UNLV that are drawing my attention away from the national scene.  The state's projected budget shortfall has grown again, so the state government is asking for 37 million dollars in cuts in 2010, plus another 110 million dollars next year, from the higher education system.  Asking for that much in cuts, according to the chancellor, is the equivalent of:

• Closing College of Southern Nevada and Nevada State College,
• Closing Great Basin College, Truckee Meadows Community College, Desert Research Institute, University of Nevada School of Medicine as well as Boyd School of Law and UNLV’s dental school, OR
• Closing Nevada State College, Great Basin College, Truckee Meadows Community College, Western Nevada College, and eliminate UNR and UNLV Athletics and the Agricultural Experiment Station at UNR.

Shutting down those schools or programs completely is not an option that the regents are considering, I think.  The cuts will be spread system-wide, but these are deep cuts -- in the range of 25% -- so the system is thinking of declaring "exigency," which is the equivalent of bankruptcy for a university, so that it can renegotiate contracts to trim costs.  In other words, there are no good options.  This state needs its colleges and universities more than ever, and we are being forced to trim back at the worst possible time.  Something needs to be done to stop the boom and bust cycle that led to this mess.