Regents’ access to some records halted

Jennifer Knight

Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2002 | 10:58 a.m.

Nevada's university system chancellor has put a stop to the Board of Regents' unfettered access to personnel files and student records pending a board review of the policy.

Chancellor Jane Nichols said Tuesday that all regents' requests for private student or university system employee information will now go through her.

"I think it is fair to say that no, we do not have a process in place that will ensure that files are accessed for a legitimate education reason," said Nichols, who heads the University and Community College System of Nevada.

"I think it is clear that the board is going to move in a new direction and in light of that, it is incumbent upon me to help them do that."

The freeze on access to files was prompted by a controversy over Regent Linda Howard's gaining access to the files of one employee and two University of Nevada, Las Vegas students.

One of those students had called Howard an "idiot" in a campus newspaper editorial last year.

Three of Howard's fellow board members questioned the motive behind her requests for the student and employee information and asked for a tightening of the policy. Since then doubt has been cast on whether UNLV followed federal guidelines designed to prevent misuse of private student information.

Another regent called for her resignation.

"The way she operates on vendetta and abuse of power is wrong," Regent Mark Alden said. "She needs to leave. She's not doing her job."

"Who is he to ask for my resignation?" Howard shot back. "He isn't one of my 200,000 constituents that I represent. He's a nobody."

Howard acknowledged that she looked into the employee file of Clark County Commissioner Yvonne Atkinson Gates, who works part-time at UNLV for $33,000 a year.

Howard maintains she did so because of complaints by her constituents, many of whom live in the district that Howard and Atkinson Gates both represent. Howard did not divulge details of those complaints.

Howard also acknowledged requesting information on student Hubert Hensen, who called Howard an "idiot" in the Rebel Yell campus newspaper.

"I just wanted to know who he was," Howard said. "I just thought he was writing under an assumed name that was made up as an attempt to discredit me."

"I think she abused her power," said Hensen, a 20-year-old mechanical engineering student.

Hensen said he was thinking about filing a complaint against Howard, but wasn't sure what avenue he would take.

When he first found out about Howard's request, he said, "I was a little bit angry that she looked through files, because she did it for reasons that are not educational. I think that is wrong."

His mother, Janet Hensen, added, "As a mother, I was a little scared that someone could do that."

Robert "Al" Heck, former Nevada student affairs director, whose file Howard also requested, could not immediately be reached for comment.

Howard did not give a reason for her seeking information on Heck.

Regent Steve Sisolak said he disagrees with Howard's reasoning that her inquiry of Hensen was justified.

"This is not an anonymous, unknown threat," Sisolak said. "This is a student who identified himself and made his opinion known. We encourage that at universities."

Howard maintains that she did not personally access the files. Sources confirmed her claim, saying she made her requests by phone.

But there are conflicting stories about how much information Howard requested.

According to Howard, she only asked for confirmation that Hensen was a a student at UNLV.

UNLV records, however, show she requested more information than just a confirmation of his enrollment. A Dec. 17, 2001, request asked for a list of his classes, instructors, grades and credits received. A similar request was made by Howard on Jan. 7, 2002.

"I did not ask for that information," Howard said. "They just gave it to me. I didn't even look at it."

According to the same record, Tom Ray, general counsel for the university system, approved Howard's request. No reason was listed for her getting the information.

Ray could not be reached for comment, but said in a previous interview that regents are considered school officials and therefore have access to such documents.

An interpretation of U.S. Education Department student privacy regulations show that two Southern Nevada institutions are not in compliance with federal rules designed to inform and protect student information.

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, also referred to as FERPA requires all higher education institutions to notify students annually that school officials can access their files as long as there is a "legitimate educational purpose."

"It's not that you can just give access to records by school officials with a legitimate educational purpose," said LeRoy Rooker, director of the family policy compliance office at the U.S. Education Department. "You have to define those two terms as required under FERPA. Those definitions must also be printed in the annual notification."

The Community College of Southern Nevada's catalog does tell students their files may be seen by school officials, while UNLV's does not.

But neither institution posts a definition of who is considered a school official and what qualifies as a legitimate educational purpose.

Nichols said she expects board members to address federal regulations and also "finish an inquiry" into Howard's situation.

Regent Howard Rosenberg, a professor and adviser at the University of Nevada, Reno, said the chancellor is doing the right thing by having all requests go through her office.

"This is all a question of need and motive and I just think we need to clear it all up," Rosenberg said. "In a way it's sort of blown out of proportion. The way to handle this situation is to put it under the same rubric that we handle all information -- run it through the chancellor."