Judge clears way for regents to privately discuss firings

Jennifer Knight

Thursday, Dec. 11, 2003 | 11:15 a.m.

A District Court hearing that threatened to stop today's Board of Regents' discussion about the removal of two high-ranking CCSN officials failed Wednesday.

In a joint complaint, lawyers for Ron Remington, the former president of Community College of Southern Nevada, and John Cummings, his adviser and lobbyist, were denied a restraining order to stop regents from meeting "again in secret" to talk about allegations made against the two administrators.

"My client has not been notified, yet again, that he will be the subject of a closed personnel session," Kathy England, Remington's attorney, said.

Attorneys for Cummings and Remington argued that the Nov. 17 and Nov. 20 meetings were improperly noticed, and therefore the board's actions should be voided.

University system General Counsel Tom Ray pointed out that employees and especially presidents serve "at will" and added that the two were not harmed financially because they were returned to the faculty with their administrative pay in tact.

Judge Jackie Glass agreed, clearing the way for the Board of Regents to revisit last month's decision to remove Remington and Cummings.

After a great deal of outcry from students and faculty, today's meeting was expected to test the will of the board.

The administrators' removals have become a political hot potato for regents who voted in favor of the removals and four regents have called a closed personnel session with Chancellor Jane Nichols in order to ask her about her legislative activities and her handling of the investigation.

The regents will discuss whether they should rescind their previous votes on Remington and Cummings today.

About 50 people picketed outside the regents meeting this morning, calling for the board to rescind its vote. The picketers, CCSN staff members, carried signs calling for Remington to be returned.

The picketers were at the Tam Alumni Building at UNLV, where the regents were meeting.

"All we want for Christmas is our president," read one picket.

"Make it right, rescind," read another, while a different sign said, "We won't get over it."

"We picketed like we were back in the '60s again," said Dick McGee, a CCSN music professor. "We're just hoping" the regents rescind the vote.

The investigation, which was ordered by Nichols, generated a 1,026-page report. A copy of the report obtained by the Sun showed that the investigation focused on the lobbying activities of Cummings, hirings connected to him and an advertising contract with his former employer, Paladin Advertising, which he helped broker.

The report also looked at charges that the CCSN administrators broke university system policy by lobbying for a bill that the board had not approved. The investigation also tried to link political favors and the lobbying effort.

The university system has not publicly released the report with university officials saying they would do so if all the people who were interviewed consented to its release.

In a statement released Wednesday, Remington said he did not consent to releasing the report because it is not "reliable, credible or believable."

The student government at CCSN has a petition of 1,000 names asking the regents to rescind the vote, said student body president Evelyn Flores.

"I don't know if regents know this, but they can be recalled," she said. "We're basically in a dark spot now because we don't know the key facts."

She says people were told there was a closed session meeting and "the next minute, I don't have a president."

The student government of Great Basin College in Elko wrote a resolution asking that Remington be given due process and the vote be rescinded, according to Steve Houk, the Great Basin student body president.

He said he wasn't at the college when Remington was the college president, but "we know the benefits of Ron (Remington) being there."

Mitzi Ware, the CCSN faculty senate president, said that support has been pouring in for Remington.

"People who don't necessarily support Remington are out here supporting the school effort," she said. "It's about fundamental fairness. Regardless of what you think about either one of them, it's the process that we're concerned."

Parts of the report have been circulating around the campus.

Geoffrey Frasz, a professor of philosophical and religious studies and former faculty senate president, said he saw what he believes is part of the report.

"We would flunk students for turning in a report like this," he said. "This goes back to my critical thinking class. I would gladly allow them (the regents) to sit in on my critical thinking class."

Regents never heard from Cummings and Remington during their 17 hours of reading and deliberating about the report. The report is a collection of documents and segments of interviews of CCSN employees and Nichols.

The report was commissioned after Topazia "Briget" Jones, a CCSN administrative assistant who called herself Assemblyman Wendell Williams' executive assistant, filed a complaint with the chancellor about questionable practices at the college.

Jones was hired after Cummings suggested her. He said she was hired at the behest of Williams. Jones then spent part of the legislative session working with Cummings in Carson City.

Regent Steve Sisolak believes denying the two in court could be what prompts regents to undo their action.

"I think there is a distinct possibility that some regents think we should rescind the vote in order to give these individuals their due process -- to give them the right to speak," Sisolak said. "Whether or not that would change the final vote, that remains to be seen. That depends on the new information these individuals would bring forward."

If any regents do change their vote it will be to give Cummings and Remington the due process they were denied, Sisolak said.

Regents voted 7-6 vote to oust Remington from his position. Board Chairman Stavros Anthony and Regent Marcia Bandera, who voted in favor of removal, said they are willing to reconsider if new evidence is presented today.

Bandera, whose district includes Elko, said she had heard a great deal of outcry from faculty at Great Basin College in Elko, where Remington served as president before taking the CCSN job.

"I'm always willing to look at something someone has to tell me or show me that will change my mind," Bandera said. "I've been thinking about what some of the faculty at Great Basin have said and they are great people. I don't know what I'm going to do."

Anthony said he won't be pressured by public opinion but wants to see information presented that would sway his vote in the other direction.

"I'm not going to base my decision on how many people are for or against it," Anthony said. "I am going to base my decision on new information brought to light. That's how I'm going to make my decision."

Regent Bret Whipple said he did not believe in wavering.

"Legally and morally I have to hear their argument," Whipple said. "But I believe that continual oscillation, back and forth, and arguing about a matter that has already been resolved will only serve to tear the board apart."

If the board's decision is not reversed, there are still other possible outcomes. An open meeting law complaint is still pending with the attorney general's office which could nullify the board's action if a violation is found.

Cummings has a whistleblower case scheduled to be heard in January, where he could get protected status. If all else fails, the case could find its way back in court.

"I was of course disappointed by Judge Glass' decision, but I see it as simply a skirmish and the first skirmish of what most assuredly is a long war," Cummings said.

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