UNLV Drops CSI Program

The only public university in Las Vegas won't be producing any more crime scene investigators.

With the success of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) opened a forensic science program to take advantage of the interest spawned by the series. However, students at the university will no longer be able to study to be a CSI. After less than five years, the program is being shut down.

The program generated publicity for the university, but money is a problem. UNLV doesn't have the funds to hire the director and faculty members needed to work toward accreditation. "The decision needed to be made," Michael Bowers, vice provost for academic affairs, told the Las Vegas Sun, "whether we were going to allow it to continue to limp along in its present state or whether we were going to phase it out or sink the resources into it to make it the robust program that it needed to be."

The loss of the program is a shame, says Randy McLaughlin, the acting director of crime scene investigation for the Metro Police. "It's unfortunate," he explained. "We want to train our own and recruit our own from our area ... People that grew up here, people that were raised here, are more likely to stay around and contribute to the community." Even though UNLV will phase out the program, "Every student currently in the forensic science concentration will have the opportunity to graduate," Bowers said in an e-mail.

The original article is from the Las Vegas Sun.

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