Editorial: Hard truths at college need support

Thursday, Aug. 19, 2004 | 9:01 a.m.

We admire the fact that Richard Carpenter, so soon into his role as president of the Community College of Southern Nevada, has pointedly identified what he sees as barriers to providing students with a first-rate community college. He has cited an administrative structure bogged down in a "lawsuit-happy culture" and rife with nepotism, cronyism, useless layers of management, nonsensical and archaic policies and lax accountability. He has not spared those above him either, saying the college is underfunded and that the regents have a history of micromanagement.

Drawing on his more than 30 years of experience in higher education, Carpenter spelled out all of those observations and put them into a memo addressed to the Board of Regents and Jim Rogers, interim chancellor of the University and Community College System of Nevada. Carpenter warned Rogers and the regents of the severity of the problems at CCSN, calling them "pervasive, deep and systemic." He was realistic in saying, "While (the problems) are certainly solvable, the solutions will not all be popular."

In saying this, Carpenter was anticipating the criticism he will receive from entrenched administrators and faculty members at CCSN once he begins making the changes he believes are vital. One of the stronger points he made in the memo was about how, over the years, the administration "was built and perpetually expanded more around personalities and friendships than around integrated administrative functions." He was frank in saying that this existing, woefully inefficient administrative system will likely result in some people losing their jobs.

Nowhere in the memo does Carpenter allege that any state or campus policies were violated as administrators were hired. What he is stating, however, is that the policies are flawed and that administrators were often hired more because they had connections than because they had qualifications. This criticism of the community college was around long before Carpenter arrived, although little was ever done about it. Now that Carpenter has put the chancellor and regents on notice that he intends to halt this practice immediately, his critics will be numerous even though he's only in his third week as president.

And his critics will feel that they've been handed a ready-made rebuttal. Before arriving at CCSN, Carpenter was president of the Wisconsin Technical College System and before that he was president of Calhoun Community College in Alabama. Both in Wisconsin and Alabama, Carpenter worked closely with Rand Key and has brought him here to serve as his special assistant and director of internal communication at a salary of $109,000. "I just needed someone in there the day I got here who I knew and who I could trust," Carpenter told the Sun.

Critics will say the hiring of Key blunts Carpenter's criticisms of the cronyism that has been going on at CCSN. Their criticisms will sound logical and Carpenter may lose some time in implementing changes as he answers them. While the hiring of Key does raise an eyebrow, upon reflection it is not an issue that should cloud Carpenter's worthy objectives. It's standard for chief executives to bring in their own staff members when administrations change. Carpenter says Key is the only one he's bringing in and that other top positions will be filled through normal applications and national searches.

The Wisconsin Technical College System has 16 campuses and offers more than 300 programs for training skilled workers. With three campuses, a Web campus, four technical centers and 2,400 employees, CCSN has an equivalent mission -- preparing people for the workplace and for a university education. In our view, Carpenter is getting off to a promising start and we hope his hard truths about the college are greeted with support from the regents and chancellor. The college needs, and appears to have, an able, experienced administrator who will confront the issues that have long plagued the college and who will move swiftly to resolve them.