Decision delayed in CCSN international student program case

Denise Cardinal

Friday, Oct. 24, 1997 | 10:45 a.m.

It will be another month before the Board of Regents will hear whether or not the Community College of Southern Nevada should continue with its program for international students.

The program has been under scrutiny lately since it was publicized that William Cassell, vice president for international student programs, had traveled around the globe with his wife, a consultant, to recruit foreign students. The travels cost the school tens of thousands of dollars, even though only 150 foreign students attend CCSN.

The task force assigned into looking into the program told the board at Thursday's meeting it needed more information before giving a report. The delay got mixed reviews from the regents.

"I'm concerned," Regent Mark Alden said. "Not so much because I'm an alarmist, but because they've done some work, and I'd like to see it. I'd like to get some information."

Not everyone shared Alden's complaints.

"I'd rather have them do it right then hurry just to satisfy the regents' curiosity," said Regent Shelley Berkley. Regent Howard Rosenberg agreed.

"It's not a major concern," he said. "The recruiting for the program has more or less stopped until the report is given, which is what we were concerned about."

Rosenberg said he had a lot of questions about the program, including whether or not it should even exist.

"To me, community college means community," he said. "I'm concerned about the geographic spread of finding students to go here. And when we do get you to go here, do we take care of you?"

After previously defending the program, calling it a moneymaker for the school, CCSN President Richard Moore has become ambivalent.

"We don't have to keep on doing it," he said earlier this week. "It makes money for every other school in the nation. But we don't have to keep on with it."