The Pending Disaster for Higher Education in Nevada

Nevada, another haven for Tea Party crazies, has no income tax and low business taxes, and thus lives off sales taxes and taxes on gambling, both of which fall during a recession.  The result is a financial crisis and such draconian proposed budget cuts that the state university system may, in effect, go bankrupt, meaning, among other things, that tenured faculty may be fired, and entire programs eliminated.  This memo describes the kinds of cuts the University of Nevada at Las Vegas will be asked to make, and this video from the University of Nevada at Reno echoes the concerns.  Illinois, to its credit, actually raised the income tax from 3 to 5% to deal with the current financial troubles here, but this state is still basically Democratic, i.e., sane.   If you live in Nevada, now is the time to contact your representatives to preserve higher education.