Editorial: More bad judgment

Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2003 | 8:50 a.m.

The Board of Regents continues to alienate the faculty and students of the Community College of Southern Nevada. The latest is the board's 7-5 vote on Friday to hire a Florida man, Paul C. Gianini Jr., to become interim president of the college. Representatives of the student body and the faculty pleaded in vain with the board to postpone the hiring until after they had met Gianini. We believe the seven members of the board who ignored the students and faculty displayed arrogance and bad judgment. The board members themselves have not even met Gianini, nor has anyone in the University and Community College System of Nevada. We have never heard of hiring someone for such an important position without formal, in-person interviews.

We would not want the board's ill-advised action to be a reflection on Gianini, who has extensive experience as a community college president. The action, however, is certainly another reason to question the regents' decision-making. On Nov. 20 they decided to fire the former CCSN president, Ron Remington, for still-undisclosed reasons and without giving him a chance to answer their concerns. This display of impulsive, autocratic rule created a lot of unnecessary ill will among students and teachers. Now this latest decision has added fuel to the fire. There are many qualified local educators the board could have hired for the job of interim president. The recent administrative issues at CCSN have not been well handled by the board. In fact, its record of late adds force to the argument that regents should be appointed, not elected.