Editorial: Board needs to get to bottom of dispute

Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2001 | 9:20 a.m.

It is critical that the Board of Regents sorts out the facts in the rift between some of Nevada's wealthiest philanthropists and UNLV President Carol Harter. Serious allegations have been raised by some prominent donors, including gaming executive Stanley Fulton, that Harter has hurt fund-raising efforts because some benefactors don't like her. Harter supporters dismiss these claims, noting that she has raised more than $140 million in her six-year tenure and boosted the quality of the institution.

It's only fair that the Board of Regents, which will take up the matter this week during its meeting in Reno, reviews this matter thoroughly and expeditiously. The last thing the university needs is to be torn apart again as it was during the lingering dispute between UNLV President Bob Maxson and coach Jerry Tarkanian in the mid-1990s, a fissure that not only split donors but also left wounds within the university itself that only have recently started to heal.