Like pretty much every other state, Nevada is facing major budget problems. The Silver State is staring at an $881 million budget hole, and higher education looks like it's going to take a huge hit.
The Nevada Sagebrush reports that the state may cut entire colleges from its system. At the very least, jobs cuts and the elimination of majors at schools are expected to be ordered during a special legislative session that begins February 23. That's why students at the University of Nevada–Las Vegas are planning walkouts today to protest anticipated cuts. Students then plan a rally outside a government office in Las Vegas.
"People would be left out in the cold" by cuts in the education budget, UNLV Student Government President Adam Cronis tells the Sagebrush. "We want to show what that would look like while we still have the power to stop it. ... I think that after this is all said and done, [the walkout] will have been successful."
Critics, including University of Nevada–Reno President Milton Glick, say that the walkout won't help the situation.
"I think that students should go to class," Glick tells the Sagebrush. "They should do whatever it takes to get an education. To show the importance of that education."
Eli Reilly, president of the Associated Students of the University of Nevada, isn't exactly sold on the walkout, either.
"You have to do it constructively," he said. "Even if they get enough people to go, legislators might not take it as good as they hope. It will show them that we can all just afford to miss a day of class when we're trying to argue how valuable higher education is."
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