CCSN chief runner-up expresses doubt

Jennifer Knight

Tuesday, May 22, 2001 | 10:29 a.m.

Only days after a search committee's pick to become the new president of the Community College of Southern Nevada withdrew his name, the runner-up for the job has expressed doubts about his candidacy.

Jack E. Daniels III, the search committee's choice to become the new CCSN president, Friday withdrew his name from consideration.

Ron Remington, the committee's second choice, said Monday he was concerned about the Board of Regent's apparent lack of unity.

"I am thinking about some options," said Remington, who currently leads Great Basin College in Elko. "I think that if I could be assured that I had good board support, I would love the challenge. It seems questionable right now."

Daniels, who could not be reached for comment, had similar concerns, according to regents who were part of the search process.

"He felt that in order to come, he would have to have good support, and he wasn't certain he would get that," said Regent Doug Seastrand, chairman of CCSN's ad hoc Presidential Search Committee.

Candidate Mary Spangler, first choice of faculty members on the search committee, said her candidacy still remains strong.

"I don't find that this is something that is scaring me off," she said. "I can only go on overt actions. I know that the support of faculty is crucial, and I feel I have that."

The Board of Regents' search committee -- six regents and 11 faculty members who serve as advisers -- will reconvene June 8 to decide on its next move. The committee on Wednesday had narrowed the field of candidates to three.

The first two picks by the faculty advisers were Spangler, who is president of Los Angeles City College, and Remington. Daniels, who heads Central College in Houston, got the fewest faculty votes.

But after more than two hours of closed-door deliberations by the regents on the search committee, Daniels, by a 4-2 vote, became the finalist.

The process of choosing a president has been a turbulent one. Several spats inside the board room ended in a disagreement between Regent Jill Derby and system Chancellor Jane Nichols, according to those in the closed-door session.

Much of the infighting prompted Regent Mark Alden to issue a memo calling for several board members to step down or at least refrain from any voting until an investigation of the closed-session meeting is concluded.

"I don't know where this is going, but I'm saying let's do a complete investigation," Alden said.

Alden said that the system's general counsel has agreed to review the tapes to check for any violations of the Open Meeting Law. Alden is also contending that the six-member board should have been legally reduced to five members.

Derby agreed the tumultuous proceedings have called the board into question but defended the process as one that still works.

"I have been a part of a lot of searches, and I have not yet been a part of one yet where everybody agrees," Derby said. "I can absolutely see, though, why there is that perception (of not being taken seriously)."

CCSN has been without a president since Richard Moore stepped down in January 2000 to head up the Nevada State College at Henderson. Since then the Board of Regents has endured several delays in the search process, including a court case that put the process on hold. After the court upheld the regents' right to do the interviews in private, the board chose to begin the process again in an open forum.

The board's next meeting will decide whether to proceed with the remaining candidates, restart the search or abandon it altogether.

Seastrand said that he hopes to see Remington's name in the pool and said that it will be difficult to see how the candidacy will shape up until the decision goes to the full board for a vote.

"That's critical for every president to feel that they have support from their board of directors," Seastrand said. "It's a very rare thing for a board to be unanimous in their selection. but once it gets to the full board you do see the board get behind the candidate."