Editorial: Board must admit its mistakes

Friday, Jan. 16, 2004 | 5:19 a.m.

WEEKEND EDITION

January 17 - 18, 2004

A lawsuit filed by Nevada Attorney General Brian Sandoval reinforces our belief that the Board of Regents committed grave violations during its Nov. 20 meeting. From the start we have criticized the way the board handled its case against two top officials of the Community College of Southern Nevada. We have previously called upon the board to rescind its Nov. 20 vote and place the issue on a future agenda -- this time respecting all laws and procedures.

The board clearly mishandled the way in which it demoted CCSN President Ron Remington and his top adviser, John Cummings, to faculty positions. Acting solely on a report by a private investigator, the board retreated behind closed doors and decided their fates -- without ever giving the two a chance to respond to the allegations of mismanagement. It's outrageous that a majority of the board members would condone a flagrant disregard for the officials' rights to due process.

As attorney general, Sandoval is often called upon to render legal interpretations of state law. In an opinion that he issued when he filed the lawsuit, Sandoval states emphatically that Remington and Cummings had the legal right to be heard during the Nov. 20 meeting.

In his lawsuit, Sandoval says the board violated the state's open-meeting law in multiple ways. The law prohibits boards from taking any votes behind closed doors, but, with doors still closed, the Board of Regents voted to remove Remington as president. It voted on its discipline for Cummings, which included taking steps to fire him. And it voted to allow Chancellor Jane Nichols to participate in the closed-door session, even though she herself was a subject of the investigation. Regarding the vote about Nichols, Sandoval noted, too, that the law would never permit one subject of an investigation to be present while others were excluded. Also, Sandoval said the board violated the open-meeting law by "deliberating and forming recommendations and a consensus on matters outside the scope of the closed session." He also said the board failed to provide the tw o officials with advance notice, in writing, of its impending action against them, as is required by the open-meeting law.

The Board of Regents should immediately acknowledge its errors and correct them. Otherwise the business of the University and Community College System of Nevada will be overwhelmed by this issue. The board has the option of fighting Sandoval's lawsuit in District Court. But that would prolong the divisiveness this issue has engendered and it would take time and money away from the university system's mission of educating students.