Can you give 33 minutes today to help save 33 programs at UNLV?

Dear UNLV faculty colleagues, staff, students, and supporters,

UNLV is something we all believe in. And its something we can all help save. Today.

Today, Monday March 21, about 1000 of our students have traveled over night to Carson City to make the case directly to our legislators to invest in their future. On behalf of the UNLV Faculty Alliance, I'm asking you to stand with our students today. Make a personal effort to change minds in Carson City and change this state's direction.

Can you give 33 minutes today to help save the 33 UNLV degree programs? I'm asking for your own time, to call on your own phone, to make 8 phone calls to key legislators who will decide the future of UNLV and everything it stands for.

Please download this list of key legislators' phone numbers and emails:www.tinyurl.com/NVLeg2011. I'm asking each of you to devote thirty-three minutes today to calling at least five of these offices, plus your own representative and senator, and the Governor. Ask to speak directly to the legislator. Be polite and respectful; represent UNLV honorably.

There is a script and key points to make here www.tinyurl.com/Faculty-calls

I'm asking you to call not for any specific program or Department (thats not up to the legislature) but for what UNLV is and can be -- a great center of learning, research, culture and community engagement. An economic engine, a beacon of community service, and the most dynamic factor to improve of the quality of citizens' lives.

As of now, our leaders in Carson do not understand the risk that we, our students, our community and our state are facing. We need to let them know.

Give 33 minutes to tell them about 33 programs. About our university. And about a different path than the one we are on.

We need to let them know that we expect more than just simple slogans. We expect balanced, intelligent solutions that secure our future. We need a balanced solution from the state that invests revenue from a broad base so we can escape the boom and bust cycles of the past.

Can you give 33 minutes of your own phone time on Monday to make 8 calls that can help save UNLV as a university -- and everything we represent.

Targeted legislators phone numbers and emails:www.tinyurl.com/NVLeg2011

Talking points for the calls and the script www.tinyurl.com/Faculty-calls

UNLV has been part of the solution. We have cut administrative costs and faculty salaries and benefits (with more cuts to come); we have cut low-yield programs and with them already 60 faculty lines and over 300 staff jobs campuswide; we have increased class sizes and faculty course loads; students have paid significantly more in tuition (with more fee hikes likely to come).

Now we need to remind our state government that UNLV is how we get out of this economic depression. Its how workers train and retrain for new jobs. Its how we diversify our economy from its current third-world model of resource extraction (ie mining) and tourism. Its how we reverse Nevada's currently hostile business environment which drives away innovative employers and talented workers. Its how we improve our quality of life and inform our citizenry that a better future is possible.

We need to ask all Nevada legislators to come to the table prepared to find a balanced solution to the economic crisis. We have had enough of boom-and-bust cycles every few years that leave us vulnerable as a state to crises such as the one we are in now. We need broad-based, stable and fair revenue policy so that we can plan a secure future that offers real opportunities for ourselves and our children.

They need to hear from us how the state of Nevada must find better bets than what we've been laying our money on in the recent past. UNLV is that better bet.

Can you give 33 minutes of your own phone time on Monday to make 8 calls that can help save UNLV as a university -- and everything we represent.

Targeted legislators phone numbers and emails:www.tinyurl.com/NVLeg2011

Talking points for the calls and the script www.tinyurl.com/Faculty-calls

In solidarity,

Gregory Brown
Professor, Department of History
President, UNLV Faculty Alliance

nevadafacultyalliance.org
unlvfaculty.blogspot.com