The Downside Of The Plan To Make A Vertical Cut To Get Rid Of Agriculture
By: Doug Busselman, Executive Vice President
Without any public disclosure of the evidence that an across the board approach to budget cuts would be more detrimental, the determination has been made to go forward with a proposal for doing away with the College of Agriculture and a couple of Departments contained in the dismantled college. We’re told that prior to the start of the Special Legislative Session each College submitted plans for an eight (8) percent cut – far more than the required $11 Million target. It has also been noted that significant savings would be available by University personnel following the same approach of salary savings through work furloughs.
Instead of other options, the idea being forwarded through the decision system also includes merging other agricultural programs into parts of the UNR campus where their future will be increasingly diminished and neutralized to meaningless nothingness (with the outcome of the anti-agricultural agendas being enhanced in the process). The people in charge of making the decision have decided to select the things that matter, keep those things going and get rid of the College of Agriculture.
There will be every effort made by University officials to give the impression that although the proposed plan does away with the College of Agriculture, there is enough of a façade left to give an impression that the actions are not about completely turning their back on agriculture. A handout from the Provost offers insight into this thinking, stating that “UNR is working on creation of a unit name which appropriately identifies agriculture.” (This was offered in the area that was attempting to justify the action in light of the state’s constitutional requirements for having a College of Agriculture…) The justification also tweaks the language of Constitution to further advance the idea that today’s University of Nevada, Land Grant University doesn’t have to actually comply with was written once upon a time ago.
One of the problems in making the determined selection of abandoning a segment of the population, as UNR is doing with agricultural interests, is that the abandonment will work both ways. Where and why should rural Nevada care about the “let’s pretend” Land Grant University that once was celebrated for its mission and purpose. There simply will be no reason to care about whether UNR has a future or not – taking the same approach that the University is taking toward agriculture through its actions.
It will be difficult to find the resources for building a working relationship with institutions outside of the state who do care about agriculture in an educational and applied research sense. This is one of the reasons for acquiring a trust system which would be financed by the sale of the University of Nevada’s agricultural research assets. Preventing the plunder of these assets for non-agricultural benefit by University officials will also provide the mechanics for obtaining financial resources that can be used in courting non-University of Nevada support to advance the cause of Nevada farmers and ranchers. Agricultural supporters need to remember that their gifts and other support for UNR should be redirected to institutions which do support agricultural education and research.
The UNR budget include a line item for the agricultural experiment station system, these funds should also be considered as being open for use by other institutions (not necessarily Nevada based) for furtherance of agricultural research. Given UNR’s desire to not be bothered with agricultural needs, those who might be interested in filling this vacuum should be considered as viable solutions. There may not be a working model that foresees this approach, but the Morrill Act didn’t envision that a Land Grant University would reject having a College of Agriculture for the expediency of being able to cash in agricultural research property for the good of its liberal arts pursuits.
Without any public disclosure of the evidence that an across the board approach to budget cuts would be more detrimental, the determination has been made to go forward with a proposal for doing away with the College of Agriculture and a couple of Departments contained in the dismantled college. We’re told that prior to the start of the Special Legislative Session each College submitted plans for an eight (8) percent cut – far more than the required $11 Million target. It has also been noted that significant savings would be available by University personnel following the same approach of salary savings through work furloughs.
Instead of other options, the idea being forwarded through the decision system also includes merging other agricultural programs into parts of the UNR campus where their future will be increasingly diminished and neutralized to meaningless nothingness (with the outcome of the anti-agricultural agendas being enhanced in the process). The people in charge of making the decision have decided to select the things that matter, keep those things going and get rid of the College of Agriculture.
There will be every effort made by University officials to give the impression that although the proposed plan does away with the College of Agriculture, there is enough of a façade left to give an impression that the actions are not about completely turning their back on agriculture. A handout from the Provost offers insight into this thinking, stating that “UNR is working on creation of a unit name which appropriately identifies agriculture.” (This was offered in the area that was attempting to justify the action in light of the state’s constitutional requirements for having a College of Agriculture…) The justification also tweaks the language of Constitution to further advance the idea that today’s University of Nevada, Land Grant University doesn’t have to actually comply with was written once upon a time ago.
One of the problems in making the determined selection of abandoning a segment of the population, as UNR is doing with agricultural interests, is that the abandonment will work both ways. Where and why should rural Nevada care about the “let’s pretend” Land Grant University that once was celebrated for its mission and purpose. There simply will be no reason to care about whether UNR has a future or not – taking the same approach that the University is taking toward agriculture through its actions.
It will be difficult to find the resources for building a working relationship with institutions outside of the state who do care about agriculture in an educational and applied research sense. This is one of the reasons for acquiring a trust system which would be financed by the sale of the University of Nevada’s agricultural research assets. Preventing the plunder of these assets for non-agricultural benefit by University officials will also provide the mechanics for obtaining financial resources that can be used in courting non-University of Nevada support to advance the cause of Nevada farmers and ranchers. Agricultural supporters need to remember that their gifts and other support for UNR should be redirected to institutions which do support agricultural education and research.
The UNR budget include a line item for the agricultural experiment station system, these funds should also be considered as being open for use by other institutions (not necessarily Nevada based) for furtherance of agricultural research. Given UNR’s desire to not be bothered with agricultural needs, those who might be interested in filling this vacuum should be considered as viable solutions. There may not be a working model that foresees this approach, but the Morrill Act didn’t envision that a Land Grant University would reject having a College of Agriculture for the expediency of being able to cash in agricultural research property for the good of its liberal arts pursuits.
Posted by Doug Busselman at 3/13/2010 5:10 PM 
Categories: Agriculture
Tags: University of Nevada Nevada College of Agriculture closing Agriculture
Categories: Agriculture
Tags: University of Nevada Nevada College of Agriculture closing Agriculture
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