Faculty Flight at Nevada Law School?

According to an article in the Las Vegas Sun, some law professors at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas are jumping ship because of fears about the huge 36-percent higher-education budget cut proposed by Nevada’s governor, James A. Gibbons, the newspaper writes.

Three well-regarded law professors — Raquel Aldana, Michael Higdon, and Tuan Samahon — have already found jobs elsewhere (they’re headed to the University of the Pacific, the University of Tennessee, and Villanova University respectively), the Sun reports. And by Samahon’s count, another six UNLV law professors, out of a total of about 40, may soon follow suit. That adds up to nearly a quarter of the faculty, the newspaper notes.

Nevada’s William S. Boyd School of Law currently has a “top 100 ranking among law schools and has become known for recruiting both up-and-coming and veteran legal scholars,” but the faculty exodus could be the start of big troubles, the Sun writes:

The departures create an immediate challenge for the young law school. Boyd will have to try to attract new talent and keep the remaining top professors here even as the Legislature considers deep budget cuts.

Beyond the immediate, the departures also raise the specter of a troubling trend that transcends the university system. After years of incremental progress in drawing young college graduates to the state, Nevada could be suffering the beginning stages of a “brain drain,” as educated professionals go elsewhere because their jobs are threatened or because they question whether Nevada can provide good schools for their children and health care when they get sick.

John Valery White, dean of the Boyd School of Law, admitted to a Sun reporter that recruiting and retaining faculty is a challenge in the current climate, but added that turnover is to be expected and that Nevada isn’t the only state where education budgets are being cut.

True, but Nevada is facing a bigger budget shortfall — 30 percent — than any other state, the newspaper notes.