UNLV President Plays High School Games with Budget Issues

(Mark Ciavola/The Cranky Hermit) – When I took over as president of the UNLV College Republicans in December, 2010, my new executive board and I set a few aggressive goals, including tackling some controversial issues at UNLV. We have been talking to students since the first day of classes about UNLV’s decision to pay Dina Titus $107,855, yet only teach one class in the spring semester. We highlighted wasteful spending in UNLV’s student government (CSUN), successfully stopping a $70,000 concert in February, and helping vote out the student body president last month.

Now, with Dina Titus earning one third of her spring semester salary (about $18,000) to host a radio show that started 7 weeks into the semester, we felt it was time to go directly to the voters in Southern Nevada. We are making calls to thousands of voters, informing them about this waste of taxpayer dollars, at a time when we’re being told UNLV’s very future is at stake. We are encouraging these voters to call UNLV directly to discuss the issue, and directing them to the office of UNLV President Neal Smatresk.

And what did President Smatresk’s office do, when the phone calls started pouring in? If you think his staff handled the complaints professionally, explaining why Titus receives TWO course waivers in order to re-start her research and host a radio show on UNLV’s radio station, you’d be wrong. Instead, they began transferring callers to my cell phone.

So either President Smatresk believes we’re the experts when it comes to wasteful spending at UNLV, and callers should speak with us to hear no-nonsense answers to their questions, OR… the UNLV President is shirking his responsibility, and playing high school games with members of the taxpaying community here in Southern Nevada.

[On April 12] I issued the following press release on the issue. If, after reading this, you are as outraged as I am, you can also call the UNLV President directly, at 702.895.3201.