Democrats have never won the seat, but they say 2026 presents their best opportunity.

UNR's sudden and rapid entrance into the dual enrollment ecosystem two years ago has reignited longstanding debates over the power of the state's oldest university in Southern Nevada.

Even as state lawmakers sent state workers their largest pay raise in decades this year, a decision expected Friday from the Board of Regents could force a decision between paying some faculty the raises they've been promised and cutting positions at the state's public colleges and universities. 

In a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court ruled Thursday against the use of affirmative action at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina (UNC), declaring that an applicant's race cannot be considered as an admissions factor. The decision, undoing 45 years' worth of precedent at the high court, will have wide-ranging impacts across higher education.

By the fall of 2023, the old Harrah's tower in Downtown Reno — now Reno City Center — will host 85 graduate students from UNR.

UNR's pilot dual enrollment program at two Las Vegas high schools comes as the university's first major foray into dual credit for Nevada high schoolers.

But as the incentives to stay or enter higher education have diminished, faculty and administrators told The Nevada Independent they've seen a visible rise in faculty and staff leaving their institutions or fleeing higher education altogether — and a pipeline of new talent that bears little resemblance to its pre-pandemic form. 

The new reality presented by the Omicron variant has tested every facet of the university apparatus and strained relationships between some faculty and administrators. 

Dubbed the "Digital Wolf Pack Initiative," UNR announced a formal partnership with Apple in May that would put an iPad in the hands of every incoming freshman this fall in the name of technological equity and digital literacy.