Faculty group has dilemma with endorsing regents

Jennifer Knight

Monday, Aug. 12, 2002 | 8:52 a.m.

Two candidates for the state Board of Regents will enter primary elections without key endorsements from the Nevada Faculty Alliance because the group just couldn't reach a consensus, officials said Friday.

The statewide faculty group endorsed Bob Forbuss, Aldo Aguirre and Stavros Anthony, in districts 2, 5 and 12, respectively. But the group voted to postpone endorsing either Regent Thalia Dondero or her opponent, Paul Aizley, in the District 3 race until after the primary.

Jim Richardson, chairman of the NFA Northern political action committee, described the indecision as a tug between loyalties.

"It's a true dilemma," Richardson said. "We tend to be loyal to those we have endorsed before and yet we have someone who is a colleague among us. It's engendered a lot of conversation, to put it mildly."

Dondero, whose uncontested 1996 race was endorsed by the NFA, has enjoyed strong faculty support during her tenure. But Aizley's candidacy introduces a different dynamic. Aizley is past president of NFA, a university professor and dean and knows a lot of the players.

After hours of intense debate, Southern political action subcommittee members recommended Aizley over Dondero, but the full board could not come to an agreement.

"I think what I've heard from people on the (subcommittee) is that Aizley has the educational background, where (Dondero) does not," said Joan McGee, a member of NFA's Southern political action subcommittee. "It was a long process, but I think it was objectively done."

Dondero said she was disappointed that she will have to wait until after the primary election to hear the NFA's final decision.

"Of course, it means a lot to me," Dondero said. "I certainly don't know what happened."

Aizley said the alliance's failure to endorse him has left fellow faculty members furious.

"The NFA has never failed to endorse a Southern PAC until this meeting," Aizley said. "I want education endorsements, clearly. That's something I've been doing for 40 years."

Support by the statewide faculty advocacy group is an important one because academicians pay attention to the endorsements.

"It will have influence I think on the members of the University and Community College System faculty, their families, relatives and friends," said Leonard Wienberg, president of the University of Nevada, Reno NFA chapter.

Richardson said that although some of the alliance members groused about the the board's decision to postpone the endorsement, this wrinkle will straighten out in mid-September when the board makes its final decision.

"It hasn't always been easy," Richardson said. "My prediction is the alliance will work its way through this."