Editorial: Regents should act as a whole
Friday, Nov. 15, 2002 | 10:08 a.m.
The time has come for the Board of Regents to set policy for itself as well as the state's University and Community College System. The perfect time would be at its meeting next month, when the actions of Regent Linda Howard will be reviewed. A year ago Howard asked the system's staff to provide her with the name of every student of every freshman class at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and the University of Nevada, Reno, since 1997. She also asked that their race, course of study, high school grades and other private information be provided to her. The staff complied, giving her more than 1,000 pages of information. Last month it was revealed that she had also requested information about a student who had written unflatteringly about her in the UNLV newspaper, as well as information about Clark County Commissioner Yvonne Atkinson Gates, a part-time UNLV employee.
Howard has given general explanations, saying she needed information about the freshmen to strengthen her argument against a proposal to raise admission standards at the state's universities. As for the student writer, she said the tone of the article frightened her and she wanted to verify that the writer was a student, and not perhaps some member of a hate group writing under an assumed name. Regarding Gates, she said some of her constituents had suggested the commissioner was the beneficiary of preferential treatment.
Because Howard is a public official, the Board of Regents' review of her actions should be open for all to hear and decide. In our view Howard abused her authority and violated the privacy of students and Gates. Regents should be required to obtain the permission of any employee or student before looking at their records. At the December meeting, Howard should account fully and publicly for her actions.
Meanwhile, a central question for the board in setting its own governing policy should be: What are the limits of authority for individual board members? Should they, unbeknownst to their colleagues, be off plowing through reams of records as they conduct studies of their own choosing? The board should adopt bylaws restricting such activity. During a regular board meeting, Howard should have requested that staff conduct the studies she attempted on her own. Had she done this, we suspect the agenda for the December meeting could have been dominated by urgent public issues, rather than this time-consuming, polarizing internal problem.
archive
- Most Read
- Discussed
- Most E-mailed
- Ensign moves out of home on C Street
- Cada and Moon emerge as Main Event’s final two
- Fight snapshot: Reviewing “24/7 Pacquiao/Cotto,” episode 3
- Life in the Limelight: Wayne Newton
- Cities, county find buying valley homes isn’t easy
- Motorcyclist dies in Summerlin crash
- Six people share their stories of what led them to jobs at CityCenter
- Two injured in shooting in central valley
- Buchanan was one of the city’s truly flamboyant characters
- Fight snapshot: Pacquiao is a hit with Jimmy Kimmel, and vice versa
Blogs
Robin Leach's Las Vegas Celebrity Watch
Final Five have two routines each on Dancing With the Stars
The Coin Bucket
Blue Man Group at half price for locals
Elsewhere
Findlay Prep's Bradley fitting in at Texas (2 Comments)
Now and Then
I went to a hockey game and a New Mexico women's soccer match broke out (1 Comment)
Politics: The Early Line
Attention in D.C. focuses on health care proposals
Elsewhere
Fedor v. Rogers delivers solid ratings on CBS (5 Comments)
Bloggity, Bloggity, Bloggity
If you can rebuild the whole car, then why not allow an engine change? (1 Comment)
Calendar »
- 9 Mon
- 10 Tue
- 11 Wed
- 12 Thu
- 13 Fri
-
Jo Dee Messina at the House of Blues
House of Blues | 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.
-
The Revival Tour at Beauty Bar
Beauty Bar | 9 p.m. to 11:59 p.m.
-
DJ Tina T at Prive
Prive | 10 p.m. to 11:59 p.m.
-
The Automatic Tour at The Square Apple
The Square Apple
The Sun
Locally owned and independent for more than 50 years.
Technorati








