Regents’ invocation draws strong response

Jennifer Knight

Friday, May 9, 2003 | 9:50 a.m.

A roomful of higher education officials bowed their heads in prayer Thursday and pushed the boundaries of the First Amendment.

An invocation was made for the first time in recent memory at the Board of Regents meeting on Thursday. The blessing, made by a Greek Orthodox priest, asked "God Almighty" to be with the board in its decisions.

The invocation prompted concerns by some regents who worried that it blurred line between church and state.

"I have no problem with prayer," Regent Steve Sisolak said after the invocation. "I just know this was a major issue with the (Clark County) School Board and with loss of funds. This is a slippery slope."

While invocations occur at city councils and other government meetings, the board's prayer concerned the university system's lawyer and others regarding the schism it might create between religion and the state university system's primary role as educator.

"Obviously, it does raise a church, state, (First) Amendment issue," said Tom Ray, general counsel for the university system. "Opinions indicate that the court looks differently at educational boards than it does a city council or a legislative body. They take a much stricter approach with school boards."

Ray said that if the board wanted to avoid problems it should at the very least keep the invocation generic so it will not exclude any one group.

Regent Jill Derby said the reference to God could be viewed as exclusion.

"Even the use of the term God is limiting because not everybody believes in that idea," she said.

An official with the American Civil Liberties Union did not mince words about Thursday's public invocation.

"They made this decision regarding an obviously contentious issue behind closed doors, without any public deliberation. Shame on them," said Gary Peck, executive director of the Nevada ACLU chapter.

Peck pointed to an attorney general's opinion that called the practice of invocations at school board meetings illegal.

"Certainly one can argue that opinion applies in equal force to regents meetings," he said.

The Clark County School Board faced similar issues in March. It considered banning graduation benedictions and invocations to avoid jeopardizing $70 million in federal funds. It chose to adopt a policy that allowed individual speakers to exercise their right to speech as long as the comments were not attributed to the school.

Regent Stavros Anthony, who proposed the idea of a benediction, defended his position, saying that prayer in school is not the same as at a university system meeting.

"This is a board of adults," Anthony said. "The whole idea (with school boards) is that the invocation could influence children in their religious choices. We are adults who already have set religious beliefs. A 30-second invocation isn't going to change that.

"Look, it's a public meeting being conducted by public officials. It is supposed to be open to and inviting for every member of the public -- youth and adults alike. Public prayer is exclusionary."

The Board of Regents will continue the practice. Board Chairman Doug Seastrand invited other board members who wanted an invocation to step forward and suggest another clergy member to perform it.