For Steve Wynn to contribute funds to UNLV he must
have as much pride in UNLV as he has in his own world-class university,
the University of Pennsylvania. The Fertittas must be as proud of UNLV
as they are of their alma
maters, NYU and USC; the Herbsts must become as proud of UNLV as they
are of their alma mater, USC; and the Adlson’s must become as proud of
UNLV as Dr. Miriam Adelson is of the medical school from which she
graduated. PRIDE will only come when they believe
that an investment in UNLV will provide the pride commensurate with
their own alma maters.
Perhaps if we could be informed of the academic accomplishments of UNLV we all could be proud of it. How do we find out what they are?
ReplyDeleteAs a professor at UNLV, my assessment is that the overall level of pride is not just an issue for donors. It's an issue for everyone. I think that one important way of creating a real basis for pride would be to raise the admissions standards at UNLV. There are good students at UNLV, but there are many that just want to slide on by. While we, as professors can weed out the worst, when performance evaluations are tied to student evaluations, it is very difficult to give a lot of failing grades. Low admission standards devalues the value of a UNLV degree. If it were harder to get in, it would MEAN a lot more to be a UNLV grad, morale would improve, and students would work harder, and we would have more to be proud about. I've expressed these views to UNLV Leadership, and I hope to see changes, even though I recognize that fewer students right now means temporarily decreased revenue.
ReplyDeleteI hear you. I spent five years as Chancellor trying to raise admission standards. We did on several occasions. However, K-12 responded with unbelievable grade inflation. We couldn't run fast enough to stay head.
Delete