Instead of dwelling on negatives, focus on what UNLV does well

To the editor:

I appreciate the Review-Journal's willingness to debate higher education, especially when it comes to recognizing the need to fund higher education at a higher level than currently if we are to ever escape from our morass ("The front line of decline: A new low for higher education," Nov. 14).

That said, there are a number of clarifications that need to be made concerning professor William Epstein's missive against UNLV.

To begin with, just about every university across the world -- not just UNLV -- experiences the kinds of problems with internal and external politics, faculty transience and funding scarcity. However, there is a crisis in American education pertaining to the fact that research-intensive institutions are not necessarily the best at educating students. Neither is publication output the best measure of one's contributions to scholarship.

Some of the world's greatest scholars -- such as Gregor Mendel (whose seminal work on genetics was rediscovered only after his death) -- would never have received tenure at many institutions by today's standards. The Nobel Prizes are full of stories of true scholars whose work did not receive the attention it deserved until many years later. Quantity does not always mean quality.

As our nation is in the midst of a devastating economic crisis, I see no reason why industry and other funding sources shouldn't engage professors as entrepreneurs to help them innovate and expand our struggling economy.

UNLV is ranked near the top in the country for its hotel management program as well as for its doctoral program in creative writing. The High Pressure Science and Engineering Center within the Physics Department is one of the only centers for excellence in the nation funded by the Department of Energy for the study of matter under extreme conditions, including 25 percent ownership of the most productive beamline at the nation's brightest X-ray source in Chicago. The National Science Foundation designated UNLV as one of the most improved universities in terms of publication output. I could go on and on.

Instead of focusing on the negatives, why don't we focus on what UNLV does right and use that as a template to continue building a top performing university from there? The key is to balance, recognize, encourage and reward research and teaching excellence. As scholars push back the frontiers of knowledge, so must they ensure that it will be shared by subsequent generations of Americans to move humanity forward.

UNLV has a unique and pivotal role to educate Nevadans and generate knowledge which will aid both our democracy and our economy.

Michael Pravica

Las Vegas

The writer is an associate professor of physics at UNLV.

To the editor:

After reading professor William M. Epstein's commentary in last Sunday's Review-Journal ("The front line of decline") I cannot agree with him that our current educational crisis is the fault of the Board of Regents, Chancellor Dan Klaich, UNLV President Neal Smatresk or any of the other career educators singled out by him. It seems to me that they are all trying to make the best of a horrible situation that was not of their making. Just because things are bad doesn't mean that you stop trying.

Professor Epstein is also naive to believe that the Board of Regents and universities could have changed things just by "aggressively campaigning for education well before the catastrophe of this recession." Apparently, Mr. Epstein wasn't around when former Chancellor Jim Rogers did exactly what professor Epstein recommended, and a lot more.

It was Chancellor Rogers who repeatedly threatened, cajoled and pleaded with Nevada leaders to change the state's tax structure and diversify its economy, and challenged mining, banks, gaming and businesses to "step up to the plate" and voluntarily pay their fair share to begin to create an educational system second to none. Unfortunately, Mr. Rogers' pleas fell on deaf ears and very little changed.

Professor Epstein also failed to point out that everyone in Nevada -- including elected officials, prominent businessmen and women, career education administrators, teachers and parents -- truly wants the state to have an excellent education system. The biggest impediment has been and still is that no one wants to pay for it -- not in the best of economic times, and certainly not in the worst of times like now. As a result, Nevada's educational institutions continue to generate the kinds of results that few Nevadans can take pride in and will continue to do so until there is a collective will of Nevadans to change the status quo.

Thomas Rodriguez

Henderson

To the editor:

I found professor William Epstein's commentary last Sunday very interesting and, presumably, fundamentally true -- and sad. I say "presumably" true because I know nothing about UNLV's president, who professor Epstein sharply condemns.

There are other factors that contribute to the quality of a university, among them being the quality of the student body and that body's interest in educating itself rather than just getting a degree. As a former professor at a third-tier university, I can testify to the increasingly lower quality of student and lowering of standards, beginning with the war in Vietnam and the rise of schools, such as the College of Southern Nevada, that drained money from my university's income.

No less important, the lower the quality of students -- many requiring remedial reading -- lessened the fun of teaching.

I have two suggestions. If the football team does not support itself through the sale of tickets, etc., either ditch it and save money for academics or make it respectable and a source of income and pride.

Second, make use of faculty from elsewhere who have retired here.

I retired early (at age 55) from a Midwestern university because of health concerns, having published several peer-reviewed articles, one seminal, and preparing to write a book (published in 1996). I had also reflected on my methodology when teaching and concluded that I could do better in relating to students. Consequently, I offered my services to UNLV and was prepared to teach a course for $2,000, no health benefits needed. But I could not afford to drive across town without compensation for mileage, and the university would not pay.

I am no longer able to teach, but perhaps there are other retirees who would be prepared to do so if UNLV would bend on the cost of driving. They might get quality for their money.

Stuart Weiss

Las Vegas

To the editor:

If professor William Epstein had hoped to convince me that taxpayers should fund UNLV more generously, he failed miserably. My father was a college professor, and his works are being used on campuses today, 45 years after his death. Having been a "faculty brat" in the 1940s and 1950s, I can assure him that campus politics was a fact of life even then. The most successful college presidents I observed were constantly doing PR for their institutions. Reaching out to the voting public, commerce, and potential donors was a major part of their jobs.

Time will judge Neal Smatresk's efforts, but he is head and shoulders above his predecessor.

UNLV is not a prestigious academic institution nor is it likely to become one. Very few public university undergraduate programs are. Taxpayers fund public institutions to educate the general public, not a few elite students. Drawing much of its student body from Clark County is a further handicap, but that is a topic for another time. I strongly support raising admission standards at UNLV, given our local "industry."

Professor Epstein whines that taxpayers are not coughing up enough to fund UNLV as he deems we should. From a bit of research I have done, it appears that the professor's entire career has been devoted to looking for ways to redistribute wealth from productive members of society to the less productive. While he has every right to advocate that, the voters of Nevada are free to elect representatives who do not share his priorities. If professor Epstein is unhappy with his employment by the people of Nevada, he is free to take a job at a prestigious university elsewhere.

Bob Lafleur

Las Vegas