Battle brewing over CCSN’s interim president

Jennifer Knight

Thursday, March 1, 2001 | 11:01 a.m.

The state Board of Regents is divided over the pick for Community College of Southern Nevada's next interim president.

The decision was to be made during today's meeting, but this morning the vote appeared to be too close to call.

While some of the regents are expected to favor Chairwoman Thalia Dondero's choice of David Hoggard Jr. as interim, others favor CCSN's athletic director, Mike Meyer.

Hoggard holds a master's of science degree in counseling and was the community college's interim president in 1994. He also has a long history as a school administrator.

Meyer holds a bachelor's degree in recreational administration and is liked for his fund-raising background with Las Vegas Boys and Girls Clubs.

"You've got to remember, this board is stupid when it comes to appointing people," said Regent Tom Kirkpatrick, who supports Hoggard.

"We appointed a person at the state college for VP of administration (Orlando Sandoval), and he doesn't even have a college degree. He has a GED."

The pick for interim president is a chance for the board to redeem its reputation after facing strong criticism over the state college appointments of Sandoval and past CCSN President Richard Moore, whose practices at the college were questioned during a routine audit and now are being examined by the state attorney general's office.

The community college's Faculty Senate held an emergency meeting Tuesday after rumors surfaced that Meyer was the top choice.

"Rumors have been rampant all weekend that Meyer was the one who was going to be named," Faculty Senate Chairman Fred Jackson said.

"So the senate passed a resolution that if they do name him, we want to go on record that we do not want anyone with inappropriate credentials to lead the institution."

Meyer has been lobbying several board members for the job in recent weeks, Kirkpatrick said.

Regent Mark Alden has already publicly stated his support for Meyer, and Regent Tom Wiesner is listed as one of Meyer's references.

But Dondero's recommendation has Kirkpatrick's approval, as well as Linda Howard's, the board's newest regent.

"I, myself feel we should send the right message out to the higher education community, and I do believe that someone with an advanced degree will do that," Howard said.

Howard pointed out that while support for Meyer stems from the desire to have a well-connected interim who will represent the institution in the Legislature, the system is paying Joe Crowley almost $200,000 a year to be their lobbyist in Carson City.

Regents Jill Derby and Doug Hill are expected to be the wild cards in the vote. Neither has committed to a candidate and both say they will listen to the arguments of both sides before making a decision.

The vote was expected to take place this afternoon -- one that Jackson said "could get ugly."