Regents speak out on CCSN demotions

By Emily Richmond

Monday, Jan. 5, 2004 | 11:16 a.m.

Breaking a six-week silence, three university system regents released a statement Friday detailing their reasons for voting to demote Community College of Southern Nevada President Ron Remington and college lobbyist John Cummings.

In a joint statement Regents Bret Whipple, Tom Kirkpatrick and Jack Schofield said they voted in favor of the demotions because Remington and Cummings circumvented Board of Regents authority, requested unauthorized funding and gave friends preferential treatment.

Remington violated the "chain of command" by pushing -- without authorization from the regents -- legislation that would have created a four-year degree program at the community college, according to the prepared statement. The legislation ultimately failed.

"The information that we had seen and heard violated the high level of confidence that we demand in a college president," the statement reads. "Our trust in President Remington had been undermined and could never be fully restored."

An investigation, which led to the regents' vote, was commissioned after CCSN employee Topazia "Briget" Jones, who called herself Assemblyman Wendell Williams' special assistant, filed a complaint against the college administration.

She told the university system that the college administrators lobbied on bills that the regents had not approved, including a plan to add a four-year degree program and a bill to give the college $500,000. The allegation was that the $500,000 would essentially be a slush fund for Cummings and would pay for a promotion for Jones.

CCSN administrators said Jones was hired at the behest of Williams, the Assembly Education Committee chairman.

Jones was hired and quickly promoted. She worked with Cummings during the legislative session.

"People have questioned how could we believe Briget Jones' allegations? The answer is that we did not use her testimony to make our decisions. In fact, we used direct evidence such as copies of faxes, e-mails and bill requests," the three regents say in the statement. "We are deeply disturbed, however, with the content of Ms. Jones' testimony."

Cummings and Remington have denied the allegations. They both spoke to the investigator hired by the university system to look into the allegations but did not address the regents directly before the vote.

The statement is the first formal response from any of the regents since the Nov. 20 demotion of Remington, which had until now had gone unexplained by the board as a whole.

In their statement, Whipple, Kirkpatrick and Schofield said they were also troubled that Cummings appeared to receive preferential treatment from Remington.

Hired as an instructor for $37,641 in August 2000, Cummings received five pay raises over the next three years, the statement said. Four of those raises were approved by Remington, with the final one taking effect Jan. 1, 2004, and bumping Cummings' salary to $115,313.

The investigation, which was launched by system Chancellor Jane Nichols, also looked into Cummings' lobbying efforts, his expenses, hirings he made and an advertising contract awarded by the college to his former employer.

The Regents voted 7-6 to demote Remington Nov. 20 after a series of closed sessions that stretched over two days. The minutes of the closed sessions show various regents repeatedly expressed concern that they were violating Nevada's open meeting law by discussing the investigation. Tom Ray, general counsel for the university and community college system, told the regents that the discussion was too sensitive to occur in a public forum.

At the Nov. 17 closed door meeting, Regents Mark Alden and Steve Sisolak vehemently opposed demoting Remington and Cummings without giving the two men an opportunity to tell their sides of the story.

Alden stated "this was not an investigation, it was an inquisition, it was a hanging and preordained," according to the minutes.

While the regents reviewed portions of the investigator's 1,026-page report during the closed sessions key players -- including Remington and Cummings -- were not permitted to testify.

Also excluded was Assemblywoman Chris Giunchigliani, a CCSN spokeswoman who works in Cummings' office. At their Nov. 20 session, the regents discussed Giunchigliani at length in connection with the hiring of Jones. The Regents also questioned why Giunchigliani had worked on the initial version of a bill seeking funding for a four-year degree program at the community college.

Rather than a verbatim transcript, the minutes are a condensed version of the exchanges prepared by Suzanne Ernst, the board's chief administrative officer, who listened to a recording of the proceedings.

The minutes show the Regents bickered and argued over whether Nichols should be allowed to stay for the closed-door proceedings, why others were being excluded and if they were violating the state's open meeting laws.

Stavros Anthony, chairman of the Board of Regents, steered much of the discussions over the two days, and repeatedly stated he believed Remington, Cummings and Giunchigliani "needed to be removed."

The actions of all three had usurped the board's authority, Anthony concluded.

"(Anthony) said people at the community college were doing things that are corrupt. If the board failed to address that, there was no reason to have a board," the minutes state. "He said that he was irritated with the people who were hired and promoted surreptitiously that prevented others from being hired and promoted. He felt that was not fair, noting that the Board had hiring practices in place."

As for Jones, Anthony said he felt it was "inconceivable to believe that Ms. Jones could have constructed this entire issue."

During the closed session, Schofield seconded Anthony's call for strong action as a way of sending a message.

"(Schofield) felt there should be zero tolerance for what the Board had heard," according to the minutes. "Otherwise the public would view the board as weak."

But Regent Howard Rosenberg, an art professor at the University of Nevada, Reno, said he was not convinced that Jones "was a poor unfortunate who simply got caught up in a web," the minutes state. Rosenberg also questioned whether the board was "getting even with Ms. Giunchigliani because of her actions at the Legislature."

Giunchigliani supported a bill that would limit the size of the Board of Regents.

The investigator did not interview Giunchigliani and Giunchigliani was not permitted to either address the Regents or sit in on the closed session. She has since filed a complaint alleging an open meeting law violation.

Kirkpatrick said for him the issue surrounding Giunchigliani was whether a college employee could also serve as a lawmaker.

"She can't be an employee of the college and do legislative work at the same time," Kirkpatrick said. "That's a no-no and we've had too much of that going on."

A motion by Regent Douglas Hill -- seconded by Whipple -- not to renew Giunchigliani's contract when it expires failed by a 4-9 vote.

Whipple and Kirkpatrick both said Friday having Remington address the Board of Regents would not have had an impact on their decision to demote him. Schofield declined to comment.

"We had the investigator's report and he interviewed (Remington and Cummings) at length," Whipple said.

Attorney General Brian Sandoval is reviewing five open-meeting law complaints filed against the Board of Regents and a decision is expected this week.

Kirkpatrick said he did not believe the board had broken any meeting laws.

"At the time there were questions as to whether we were in violation and (Ray) indicated that we were not," Kirkpatrick said. "He's the attorney, he's formerly with the attorney general's office, I have to value his judgment. That's what we're paying him for."

Sandoval isn't the only one looking into the Regents' actions. Sen. Randolph Townsend, R-Reno, said he will call for a special committee investigation at a January meeting of the Legislative Commission, of which he is chairman.

"So many questions have come up because of the recent actions by the Regents and the Legislature has an obligation to the students and staff over there as well as the taxpayers to get some answers," Townsend said.

He said those questions include whether any open meeting laws were violated, what the current hiring and firing policies are, whether those policies were followed and does the elected Board of Regents have the authority to fire individuals.

Given that the state's University and Community College System received a significant increase in funding during the last legislative session, having to call for an inquiry is "disheartening," Townsend said.

"After all the work they did on the budget and the taxes, and how hard they fought on behalf of higher education, most of my colleagues are in shock," he said. "There are people who laid down their political lives for this."

Hired by the Board of Regents last month in a 7-5 vote, Paul C. Gianini Jr., a retired community college president from Daytona Beach, Fla., begins today as interim president of CCSN.