Search approved for new CCSN president

Wednesday, March 17, 2004 | 8:35 a.m.

A joint committee of university regents and Community College of Southern Nevada faculty Tuesday approved a search firm and set a spending limit of $50,000 for the search for a new president.

The contract and budget will go before the full Board of Regents for a vote Friday.

Approximately $35,000 of the budget would pay for the services of the Association of Community College Trustees, and the remainder would cover the travel of potential candidates, job advertisements and other costs associated with the search, said Jane Nichols, chancellor of the University and Community College System of Nevada. Past searches have cost up to $70,000.

At the open meeting Tuesday, committee members also approved a tentative calendar that fast-tracks the selection process so that the new president may start by July 1.

The ACCT search firm was the only firm to appear on Tuesday's agenda, which miffed some of the CCSN faculty and staff.

"This is all being pushed down our throats," Jesus Barela, CCSN computer operations supervisor, said.

Nichols said the system has utilized this firm in the last few presidential searches because of its track record and said that it is perfect for this search because of its inner knowledge of community colleges across the country. The firm has competed with other companies for the system's business on two prior occasions.

The committee unanimously approved the firm despite the concerns some CCSN faculty members had with the nonexistent selection process.

"This is really a firm that addresses community college needs," Regent Jill Derby said. "This is their specialty -- nobody does it better."

The committee also unanimously approved putting the search on a fast track, although several CCSN faculty members questioned the feasibility of hiring a president within a matter of weeks.

Narcisa Polonio, the search firm's director of board leadership services, said it was essential to interview the final candidates between May 10 and 12 so that those candidates may tour the CCSN campuses before the end of the spring session. If they miss that cutoff date, the search process will not be inclusive of the CCSN students and faculty and will have to be postponed until fall, Polonio said.

Interim President Paul Gianini's contract expires June 30, and there are currently no provisions to extend it. Gianini has served in place of removed president Ron Remington since January.

Per the approved timeline, the committee will receive a list of recommended candidates May 6 and will narrow that to a few finalists that day. After interviews and campus tours the following week, the committee will select the final candidate May 12. The Board of Regents would then be asked to approve the new president at its meeting June 3.

Remington, who continues to fight his reassignment in the courts, was not discussed at the presidential search meeting.

System Attorney Tom Ray did review the open-meeting law with committee members at the opening of the meeting. In the past, many of the interviews with finalists have been open but their qualifications were discussed in closed session, Ray said.

Because of the attorney general's opinion that public bodies can only "listen and think in closed session and not deliberate," Ray told the committee that the entire interview process should be open. The attorney general's opinion found the Board of Regents violated the open-meeting law in the Nov. 17 and Nov. 20 closed sessions that led to Remington's removal. The matter is currently in litigation.

"We must follow this (opinion) even though I don't think it's supported by the open-meeting law," Ray told the committee.

Regent Tom Kirkpatrick, chairman of the search committee, told the committee everything would be kept open unless there was an overwhelming need to close the session because of a candidate's privacy.

Derby and Polonio said not allowing some closed sessions might create a "chilling effect" on candidates.

One of the bonuses of a using a private search firm, Derby said, is that it allows candidates to express interest in the position and to go through initial interview processes without being subjected to public scrutiny. If the system were to conduct the search itself, every potential candidate would have to be made public. With a search firm, only those names forwarded to the board are made public.

Polonio will conduct public forums Monday and Tuesday at all of the community college's.