Regents candidates want college more accessible

Benjamin Grove

Wednesday, Sept. 2, 1998 | 10:52 a.m.

Candidates for the Nevada Board of University Regents who advanced in Tuesday's primary said they wanted to make higher education more accessible to Nevadans.

The primary race narrowed a field of 14 candidates to six, two vying for three open seats in the November general election.

In District 2, Subdistrict C, Las Vegas physician John Ellerton, 49, and Tom Kirkpatrick, 70, defeated five other candidates, including the youngest regent candidate, UNLV graduate Jason Harman, 20.

Ellerton is a Las Vegas cancer specialist and volunteer member of the teaching staff at the University of Nevada medical school.

Tom Kirkpatrick, a retired UNLV professor emeritus, said he wanted to use his retirement to fight for more funding for higher education. Kirkpatrick beat Roy Woofter, 65, a judge pro-tem for Las Vegas Justice Court, by 104 votes, winning a shot at the general election by a scant .67 percent of the vote.

"I'm 70 years old, and I want to serve the state," Kirkpatrick said. "I don't think we can go early enough to the Legislature and the governor to get (the money) we need."

Sherry Colquitt, 57, a self-described "career volunteer," and Steve Sisolak, 44, who has served on the board of directors of both the American Red Cross and American Heart Association, will vie for the Subdistrict G seat.

Colquitt said difficult decisions lie ahead on how to finance the university medical school, its fledgling law school, and the college of education. Some have argued the state's two universities do not produce enough teachers for the state's growing school district.

"We have to strengthen these programs," she said.

Colquitt and Sisolak defeated Vietnam veteran Ed Gobel and Arnold Stalk, 44, a a UNLV professor of architecture who also develops affordable housing in the Las Vegas area. Stalk had won a court battle to continue campaigning after the state attorney general's office tried to disqualify him because he changed his political party from Democrat to Republican after he filed for the non-partisan regents race.

In Subdistrict F, engineer Doug Seastrand, 38, and freelance writer and political consultant Christopher Kindred, 31, defeated Kevin Dietz. Kindred said he wanted to address campus safety and parking at UNLV.

Seastrand said, "I hope we can talk about a couple of things in the next two months. I want to make sure we have more access for working folks to the college and university system. We want to produce the best students we can to help diversify our economy."