Get Grissom on the horn! Las Vegas, the hometown of the critically acclaimed, original CSI series is no longer home to a university forensic science program. Administrators at UNLV pulled the plug on the program, citing the need for budget cuts. The administration also points to the financial inability to appoint a program director and the faculty required to attain accreditation for the program.
Background Check
Creating the program was a brilliant move, actually. Build upon the mystique, and the fact that the country already associates forensic science with Las Vegas. Less than five years ago, the university began the program, hoping to build upon this association. Currently, the program, though, has a mere 80 students. Perhaps this is fewer than they would have liked.
The Mystery
Las Vegas Metro Crime Scene Analyst Daniel Holstein, who inspired one of CSI’s characters, spoke to the Las Vegas Sun. According to Holstein, Metro has hired many graduates of the program. This seems contrary to university staff claims that you need an accredited program to get a job. In fact, the Metro has no such requirement. Certainly, you would see accreditation as a positive, but Metro’s acting director of crime scene investigation Randy McLaughlin told the Sun that they would love to have locally trained potentials to select from, when hiring new analysts. “People that grew up here, people that were raised here, are more likely to stay around…”, he adds.
The Proof, The Rub, The Rebuttal
One former student, Lisa Ford, graduated in December 2007. She now has a lucrative job gathering evidence at the scene, interviewing witnesses, and writing crime scene reports. One would believe that a program that allows a graduate to land a $40,000-plus first job would be a good selling point.
That’s great for field specialists, perhaps. Is accreditation, however, necessary for laboratory analysis work? It might help, but Linda Krueger, Las Vegas Metro’s director of laboratory service, told the Sun that she looks for workers with strong science backgrounds. Accredited programs are not a requirement.
In the end, it would appear that UNLV fell into that trap of following pop culture to create buzz, but didn’t do the homework. From the evidence, it seems that the university never looked into the requirements of furthering the program, or even think about where they wanted the program to go. Perhaps, though, it’s just the harsh reality of running a university, and facing reduced enrollment and income. Either way, it seems a horrible shame.
Read the Sun article, Amid budget cuts, UNLV pronounces its CSI program dead, for more details.
What do you think about the UNLV closing of its forensic science program? Did you attend this program? Do you know anyone who has?