While state lawmakers were generous to higher education this year, 2017 was also a year of turmoil on college campuses over fears of new immigration policies and what constitutes freedom of speech.

Here’s is a look at some of the top headlines involving higher education in Northern Nevada in 2017:

Year of Higher Ed

It was the year of Higher Education at the Nevada legislature. Lawmakers approved a long wish list including half the cost of a new $83 million engineering building at UNR.

Education tops Nevada agenda

TMCC also expects a new scholarship to help boost enrollment.

Lawmakers approved the first scholarship program that can be applied for regardless of ability to pay or high school GPA. Open to current high school seniors thousands applied for the grants that cover costs not paid for by financial aid. It could mean free college for many.

Totally free TMCC tuition possible for Class of 2018

Fighting off the freshman 15

Colleges are getting in to the gym business. In February, UNR opened the E.L Wiegand Fitness Center. The 108,000-square-foot $47.5 million facility in the center of campus has three basketball courts and an indoor running track.

UNR opens $47.5 million fitness center

TMCC announced it wants a fitness facility, too. The Nevada System of Higher Education Board of Regents, the governing body over the state’s public colleges, voted to allow TMCC to move forward with plans for a 20,000-square-foot fitness complex and athletic field.

Collegiate soccer, fitness center headed to Truckee Meadows Community College

Mackay Stadium renovation violates ADA law

When Nevada gave its 50-year-old stadium a $14 million facelift, it violated part of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The 1990 law prohibits discrimination and requires wheelchair seating to be provided in all areas.

According to a RGJ investigation, Nevada failed to follow the law and in some cases disregarded feedback from people in wheelchairs. The stadium fixes weren’t finished by the start of the football season.

Only on RGJ: $690,000 to fix ADA compliance mistake on Mackay Stadium

The highest paid Nevada public employee works at UNR

While Mackay Stadium has had some problems, things inside at Lawlor Events Center were focused on Nevada’s superstar basketball coach Eric Musselman. Musselman became the highest-paid coach in Wolf Pack athletics history and the highest paid public employee in Nevada.

Musselman’s five year deal is worth $1 million per season.

Musselman becomes state's highest-paid public employee in Nevada

But it’s not all just Musselman that has Northern Nevada enthralled. His wife, Danyelle Musselman, has been called a secret weapon. The former TV anchor is a fixture at games and community events.

The advantage Danyelle Musselman brings to the Nevada men’s basketball program

Fears on campus

An easy start to the fall semester turned difficult for UNR President Marc Johnson after student Peter Cvjetanovic was identified as a participant in a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Va., in August.

Cvjetanovic, 20, a history and political science major, was identified by the Twitter account @yesyoureracist after his photo was taken holding a torch with what appears to be an angry expression on his face.

Cvjetanovic was at the "Unite the Right" rally that started Friday. Organized by white nationalist groups, hundreds were protesting the removal of a statue of legendary Confederate general Robert E. Lee.

Johnson defended Cvjetanovic’s right to stay on campus but many have protested that right.

UNR student pictured at Charlottesville rally: Things 'spiraling out of control'

Police investigations

UNR investigated a police officer who made controversial comments to a graduate student during a traffic stop.

The university released the body camera footage, which showed university police officers are talking with a group of students after the car they were riding in was pulled over. One officer comments on how big one of the students is and then says, “I'm just going to shoot him if this goes sideways because f--- that.”

UNR didn't say what administrative actions, if any, were taken against the officer.

UNR student Kevin McReynolds talks about his statement following police comment on shooting him

DACA

Many students in Northern Nevada expressed fear this year about their immigration status in the United States.

The protections the students enjoyed under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program under President Barack Obama's administration were overturned by President Donald Trump this year — pending a potential deal with Congress.

The fate of a five-year-old program that gave protecctions to young immigrants who came to the U.S as children is unknown.



Read our stories about one TMCC students who this has affected:

Deportation fears are real for one Reno college student

Reno Mexican immigrant with DACA status worries about her children

Deaths

In August, UNR Journalism professor Jake Highton died of a heart attack. He was 86.

UNR journalism professor Jake Highton dies

In November, Joe Crowley died. He was UNR’s longest serving president and died after a battle with pneumonia.

He was 84.

Joe Crowley, UNR's longest serving president, dead at 84

Remembering former UNR President Joe Crowley: 'Just call me Joe'