Friday, Oct. 25, 2002 | 4:46 a.m.
WEEKEND EDITION: Oct. 27, 2002
Chancellor Jane Nichols has acted correctly in announcing a new university system policy that restricts the access Board of Regents members have to student and employee records. Over the past two weeks, as more became known about the actions of Regent Linda Howard, the issue turned critical and needed immediate attention, as opposed to waiting for December's meeting of the regents. Nichols' firm policy now is that any regent requesting student or personnel information must do so through her. Previously, the policy had been fuzzy and Howard took advantage of it, gaining records from university staff about two students and an employee.
The employee was County Commissioner Yvonne Atkinson Gates, who had been hired for a part-time position at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Howard had also applied for the position. One of the students whose files Howard reviewed was a columnist for UNLV's student newspaper. In one column he wrote about Howard's opposition to raising the university's enrollment standards, and described the regent as an "idiot." To date, Howard's explanations for her review of the files have been wholly unsatisfactory. Maybe she will have better answers at the December regents meeting, where the issue is scheduled for a full airing, but so far her actions have been a clear abuse of power. It appears that Howard skipped the first and most important thing public officials must do, which is to learn all the powers they do not have.
As the issue escalated, with Gates and the student writer concerned about the invasion of their privacy and Regent Mark Alden calling for Howard's resignation, Nichols lessened the immediate tension with her policy ruling. But this isn't the end of the issue by any means.
On Thursday, Alden called Howard an "orangutan." Howard said Alden's remark was racist, which, intentionally or not, it was. On the other hand, Alden said that Howard has referred to him as a "Jewboy" and made other bigoted remarks about him. Howard denies Alden's allegations and one regent who Alden claims heard one such remark says she can't remember it. In any event this type of name-calling from regents of a university system is completely unacceptable. It also detracts from the real issue, which is protecting the privacy rights of students and employees. What's really needed here are serious and mature responses. Howard must make a full and honest accounting of her actions. The university system, meanwhile, needs to ask itself how it could have allowed such an abuse of power and also how it can ensure that such abuse will never happen again.
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