Friday, Oct. 25, 2002 | 11:27 a.m.
In a public push to call for colleague Linda Howard's resignation, university system Regent Mark Alden on Thursday called the board's only black member an "orangutan."
Alden, who has been pushing for Howard's ouster since it was revealed that Howard had accessed UNLV student and staff records, told listeners of the Alan Stock and Heidi Harris morning show on KXNT 840-AM on Thursday that Howard's behavior sends the wrong message to young people.
"Boy, look at this board. Boy, they're a bunch of orangutans," he said. "I do believe, though, we only got one orangutan."
Howard called Alden's comments "obvious" racism and said they were a product of a system that allows "institutional and systemic racism."
"I just think it's another racist statement coming from Mark Alden -- as usual," Howard told the Sun Thursday night.
The charges come as the pair have battled in recent months over a minority outreach center, which Howard backed and the university system board of regents voted down, and criticism over Howard accessing student and staff records. The records included those of Clark County Commissioner Yvonne Atkinson Gates, who is a part-time staff member at University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
Alden has called for Howard's resignation over looking at student and staff records, for what he alleges were personal reasons.
Alden went on the air Thursday morning with student Hubert Hensen to push for her resignation. Hensen called Howard an "idiot" in a piece last year in the UNLV student newspaper, the Rebel Yell. Howard then accessed his university records. She maintains that she only requested verification that he was a student.
"(Alden) called me an orangutan on a (radio) show with some kid who called me an idiot," Howard told the Sun. "It shows me the climate we have in Nevada, the institutional and systematic racism. One day he calls for my resignation. The next day he calls me an orangutan."
Howard said it was "obvious" that Alden's comments were racist.
"He sat in this studio and called me an orangutan fully knowing this is an age old racial (stereotype) used throughout history and he felt fully comfortable doing that," she said on the radio show this morning, responding to Alden.
Howard said today that Alden was "just a headline-grabbing buffoon" who is "making a circus out of the Board of Regents."
Alden did not backtrack when asked about his comments Thursday night.
"Yes, I called her an orangutan," Alden said. "She has acted like an orangutan. She has."
Alden said he characterized an orangutan as non-human, dysfunctional and unable to construct clear sentences but said he did not know that referring to a black woman as a orangutan would have racist connotations. He said he would apologize if Howard wanted him to.
"How does it have racist overtones?" Alden said. "I never knew that."
Stock said Alden's comments during the 45-minute discussion were likely to draw criticism. One caller to the show told Alden, "you're going to be sorry for this."
"He may have not meant it as a racial slur," Stock said. "My reaction is, I would not have chosen that word at all. My first thought was, I would think that a black person would probably take offense to that."
Alden also accused Howard of making racist comments about him in the past.
"She's called me a Jewboy, (a) Wop and a Dago" in front of former University of Nevada, Reno President Joe Crowley, Alden said.
Crowley was unavailable for comment Thursday.
Alden also said that during a phone conversation with Regent Thalia Dondero, Howard called him a "Jew-Wop."
Dondero said Thursday that she did not recall such a conversation.
"Oh my gosh, I think I would remember something like that," Dondero said. "This is starting to escalate. It's childish really."
Howard vociferously denied calling Alden any of those things.
"Those types of words are not in my vocabulary," she said. "I did not use any of those words Mark Alden accused me of using."
Howard's original charges of "institutional racism" were prompted by what she called Alden's attempts to kill her pet project, the Millennium Bound Outreach Center. Alden led the charge to vote against the minority outreach center recently, saying the $500,000 project was too expensive.
Howard says the problems date back to when Alden and others on the board appointed Mike Meyer as interim president of the Community College of Southern Nevada in March 2001. The board picked Meyer, who holds a bachelor's degree, over David Hoggard, black man who holds a doctoral degree and had the endorsement of faculty members.
Meyer ended up resigning in August 2001 at the urging of Howard after he said made a racial slur about Assemblyman Wendell Williams' wife, Zelda.
Board of Regents Chairman Doug Seastrand said the name-calling between Alden and Howard has gotten out of hand.
"We expect our regents to disagree on issues but to not make it personal," Seastrand said. "There are lots of ways to solve that problem. It sounds to me like it continues to escalate. I don't think it's productive. I don't think it's healthy."
archive
