Guinn: CCSN chief deserves day in court

Cy Ryan and Mary Manning

Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2004 | 11:05 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Gov. Kenny Guinn said Tuesday that demoted community college President Ron Remington should have been allowed to appear before the university regents who took disciplinary action against him.

"He should have his day in court," Guinn said. "It may not change the minds of the persons (regents)."

But, he said, people "have the right to answer their accusers."

The University and College System Board of 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 system, told the regents that the discussion was too sensitive to occur in a public forum.

Meanwhile, Attorney General Brian Sandoval has received five complaints that the regents violated the open-meeting law with their 19 hours of meetings that led to the demotions. A spokesman said the staff has done the first review of the transcript and the documents and is now undertaking a follow-up review.

There is no timetable for Sandoval to issue his opinion regarding whether the law was violated, the spokesman said.

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

Guinn said he does not know what was in the 1,026-page investigative report that was discussed behind closed doors by the regents. Remington was not in the room to defend himself during that discussion.

The regents subsequently voted to demote Remington from president to a faculty position. The board also voted to demote John Cummings, the lobbyist for CCSN, back to faculty status. In a statement released last week, three of the regents -- Bret Whipple, Tom Kirkpatrick and Jack Schofield -- said they voted to demote Remington because he tried to get the Legislature to create four-year programs at the Community College of Southern Nevada without authorization of the regents.

The regents also said Cummings had received preferential treatment from Remington. Since being hired as an instructor in August 2000 for $37,641, Cummings received pay raises and his salary to take effect this January would have been $115,313 if not for his demotion. Regents contacted Tuesday night differed in their opinions of whether Remington and Cummings had had their concerns considered. "Generally, he's right," Schofield said of the governor's remarks, "except in this case." Schofield said that Remington served as president on an "at-will" contract. "They can be removed for no reason," Schofield said. "What the governor said was absolutely correct, (except) when you sign a contract as president in the university." Schofield, Whipple and Kirkpatrick issued a joint statement last Friday saying they voted in favor of the demotions because Remington and Cummings circumvented the Board of Regents' authority, requested unauthorized funding and gave friends preferred treatment.! Whipple said he had spoken to Remington during a break on Nov. 20. "The bottom line was it had been 17 hours," Whipple said of the meeting. "I wasn't thinking about him. I was thinking about the future of our college. There was enough of a concern for bringing in new leadership."

Paul C. Gianini Jr., a retired community college president from Daytona Beach, Fla., began a term as interim president of CCSN on Monday. The regents hired him on a 7-5 vote.

Regent Mark Alden, who voted against the demotions, said he agreed with Guinn. He termed the investigator's report a "sham" because there was no sworn testimony. "I am so proud of the governor of Nevada that he stepped forward," Alden said. "The governor is right on." Regent Linda Howard also said she agreed with the governor. "I'm ashamed of the way our board has handled this whole matter," Howard said.

Howard said she never had a chance to read anything before or after the meeting that ended in the demotions.

"That is the most frustrating thing in my entire life," she said. "The investigation was flawed from the beginning." Alden and Howard voted against the demotion. Regent Jill Derby, who voted for the demotion, said the board asked Remington to discuss the issues in a personnel session behind closed doors.

"President Remington turned that down," Derby said. "I was disappointed that was not granted."

Reminton's attorney, Kathleen England, said Remington was offered a meeting with the regents after they voted to oust him.

"We realized the only way this would be done fairly and correctly and the public would be served would be to have it in an open meeting," she said. "They wanted to put this in the spot and go forward in another closed, secret session and make us defend against allegations we didn't even know about yet.

"They are trying to make it seem like they were offering him an opportunity, but the opportunity was a sham."

Both Remington and Cummings have denied the allegations presented in the report. They both spoke to the university system's investigator hired to look into the allegations, but did not address the regents directly before the vote. Asked if Derby would question Remington in an open meeting, she said, "There are many questions I would not ask in an open session. I very much did want to give him his day in court and was very disappointed when he didn't agree to that." Guinn, a former president of UNLV, said he has known Remington "for so many years" and called him "a man of quality." Remington was president of the Great Basin College in Elko before accepting the appointment to CCSN.

"They should allow a person to present his case and to argue in front of his accusers," said Guinn. "He deserves to be heard."

The governor said he has followed that procedure in public life -- even when an employee was on probationary status. He has allowed a worker to have his say when there are accusations made.

"I have never failed to do that," he said. Regent Howard Rosenberg, an art professor at the University of Nevada, Reno, said he has requested for the January board agenda a motion to rescind the vote against Remington and Cummings after an evaluation of Remington in either an open or closed session. In addition, he has asked for a review of legal actions taken against the university and how many have been settled. "I think that we owe Dr. Remington a chance to give us his view," said Rosenberg, who voted against the demotion. "I believe he deserves more." Board Chairman Stavros Anthony, who voted to demote Remington, said that he had heard from Remington by reading a transcript of the investigator's interview with Remington.

"Actually, Dr. Remington went through a lengthy interview process where he denied everything," Anthony said. The transcript is available to the public, he said. "The board was presented with a set of facts," Anthony said. "The majority of the board made their decision on the facts that were presented to them."

The governor was asked Tuesday about making the Board of Regents appointive, rather than elective. He reminded the questioner that during the last Legislature he said that he would sign such a bill.

But, he said, the turmoil over the Remington demotion should not play into the decision about whether all the regents should be appointed.

During the last Legislature, Assemblywoman Chris Giunchigliani, who is also a CCSN employee, had supported a bill that would reduce the size of the Board of Regents.

According to the minutes of the closed session, Whipple raised the issue of Giunchigliani preparing the bill and said she faxed information from a university fax machine and faxed information "that truly undermined the Board of Regents."

A motion to not renew her contract with the college was made by Regent Dough Hill and seconded by Whipple. The motion failed.