The Las Vegas Business Press reported yesterday on an unusual arrangement between colleges that raises First Amendment questions. Community College of Southern Nevada, part of the state university system, entered a lengthy memorandum of understanding with Denver-based Regis University, a Jesuit college. Under the new arrangements, students can earn a 2-year associate's degree at CCSN and then complete their bachelor's degree through Regis which will teach in both CCSN and Regis classrooms. Students will be required to take at least 6 hours of religious studies to obtain their Regis degree. Some of these classes will be offered in CCSN classrooms.
Critics of the program suggest that this is in reality a sharing of facilities between a public and a religiously-sponsored university which poses establishment clause problems if below-market rent for use of CCSN classrooms effectively subsidizes Regis' program. Regis says it has 46 similar public-private partnerships throughout the country.
