New chairwoman calls for calmer regents meetings

Monday, June 26, 2000 | 10:49 a.m.

ELKO -- Thalia Dondero handled some hot issues as chairwoman of the Clark County Commission on such subjects as water, gaming and liquor licenses and University Medical Center.

Now as chairwoman of the battling Board of Regents of the University and Community College System she hopes to avoid the highly explosive meetings like those that occurred here last week.

"People should not be bashing each other," said Dondero, who was unanimously elected chairwoman for one year to succeed Jill Derby of Minden. "It was a tough meeting."

Regent Dorothy Gallagher of Elko accused fellow member Steve Sisolak of Las Vegas of "ranting and raving" in his pointed questioning of University of Nevada, Reno, President Joe Crowley and other officials about the debt-ridden fire training center in Carlin, which has lost $5 million.

Gallagher called Sisolak an "agent of destruction, rather than construction."

Sisolak told her she was "welcome to leave" if she didn't like his questioning.

Then John Richardson, president of the Truckee Meadows Community College in Reno, ripped Crowley, saying he had violated agreements in the handling of the fire training center.

A split opened between the proposed state college in Henderson and UNLV. Henderson President Richard Moore chose UNR for the prestigious job of helping with the accreditation of the new school. UNLV President Carol Harter called it a "bit of a surprise and a disappointment." She added it wasn't a "logical move" by Moore since Reno is so far away and the fact that Crowley is retiring, leaving a temporary void at that school.

Regent Tom Kirkpatrick of Las Vegas was highly critical of the Community College of Southern Nevada. He followed up on an internal audit at the school that said one of the eight computers recently purchased had disappeared.

Kirkpatrick said there were 15 computers unaccounted for. Some of these computers, he said, had been given to the Latino Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Colored People and a group of retired public employees.

"The accountability in this system stinks," he said. "People need to be held accountable. There needs to be (criminal) prosecution, and this is not only at CCSN."

Dondero, in an understatement, said Sunday, "Things didn't run smoothly." She said the Richardson-Crowley dispute should not have happened.

"We can use our energy for constructive things," Dondero said. "Anger takes up a lot of energy."

She said the regents need to concentrate on bringing quality education to the system and that there shouldn't be north-south wars and schools fighting one another.

"We're one system and everybody has a place," she said.

Some board members have expressed fear that the advent of the state college in Henderson will take money away from other schools, such as UNLV.

In what was one of the more peaceful moments, the regents gave preliminary approval for a two-year, $1 billion budget, an increase of 12.5 percent over the current spending program.

New Interim Chancellor Jane Nichols called it a "very reasonable" budget that includes enough money to correct the inequities in funding between north and south schools; has enough money for 15 percent growth in enrollment and allows $14 million to help along such projects as the law school.

It also includes nearly $10 million for starting the state college in Henderson; beginning a dental school at UNLV; starting a school of pharmacy at UNR and expanding four-year degrees at Great Basin Community College in Elko.

Nichols warned the regents they will have to find new sources of money outside the state's general fund. The state's share of supporting the system has declined from 77.1 percent in fiscal 1994 to 70.3 percent on 2000.

Student fees and the estate tax have been bearing a bigger burden in supporting the universities and community colleges. Nichols indicated the system will examined tuitions paid by out of state students; students who get breaks because they live close to Nevada and benefits in fees to students whose parents are alumni but are living out of state. There's the potential for raising those fees.

"We need to grow more nonstate funds," Nichols said.

The regents will formally approve the budget at their next meeting tentatively set for Aug. 10 in Reno.