Friday, Dec. 20, 2002 | 3:34 a.m.
AS PREDICTED in this space last Sunday, university regents have returned to their bickering just days after issuing a collective apology that was supposed to put an end to the dissension ripping them apart.
It was an easy prediction to make given the nature of the personalities making up the Board of Regents. No psychic hotline had to be called for consultation.
Regent Linda Howard, accused of snooping on students, last week opted to sling more mud at her colleagues instead of apologizing for her own indiscretions.
Her latest barbs, some of which were cruelly aimed at the late Regent Tom Wiesner, who wasn't around to defend himself, sent the board into another tizzy and provided additional evidence that drastic measures are needed to cleanse the board.
Once more the regents lost precious time to focus on higher education.
The renewed infighting has given Assemblywoman Chris Giunchigliani, D-Las Vegas, an idea for a quick fix that might put an end to this public embarrassment.
It sounds like a good idea.
Giunchigliani says she plans to have a bill drafted for the 2003 Legislature that would pare down the Board of Regents to seven members.
This comes as the 11-member board ironically is set to expand to 13 members next month.
Giunchigliani, who chairs the Assembly's Elections, Ethics and Procedures Committee, also expects to introduce a bill calling for the eventual appointment of regents.
Though there is growing support for that measure, it will take about five years to become reality. It requires a constitutional amendment and has to pass two sessions of the Legislature and then be approved by the voters in a general election.
The bill to reduce the board to seven members doesn't require a constitutional amendment and can be enacted after it passes one session. It would force all 13 regents to give up their seats and allow them, and anyone else, to run for the seven open seats in 2004.
"This is a good university system," says Giunchigliani, who handles community relations for the Community College of Southern Nevada. "But you need the policymakers to be able to work together."
The biggest upside to the bill is that it will take immediate steps to get the regents back on track during the lengthy process of amending the constitution.
"Waiting five years is an awful long time," Giunchigliani says. "If we can at least deal with the size of the board, that would give us an opportunity to see if it's going to work."
Let's face it. If the board is scaled back, each regent will have more work to do and probably less time to bicker with each other. Who knows? We might even discover that the system of electing board members can be effective.
One regent, Steve Sisolak, likes the idea of slashing the number of board members.
"I think a smaller board would be much more effective," says Sisolak, who's up for re-election in 2004. "It would be easier to handle, and we'd accomplish much more."
At least there would be fewer regents kicking each other around.
In the meantime, as Christmas approaches, the regents should listen to the words of Kurt Wiesner, the son of the respected Tom Wiesner, who must be rolling over in his grave watching the sideshow at the board.
The younger Wiesner distributed a moving letter last week defending his father, who was a steadying force on the board, against the undeserved attacks.
And he talked about how "disappointed" his father would be with the conduct of his colleagues.
Then Wiesner concluded:
"I simply hope, as would my father, that the regents can go home and enjoy their holiday season and come back to work with a refreshed focus on what is really important -- being positive, forgiving and striving to achieve some real goals (like) furthering higher education."
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