Regents lack background on finalists for CCSN post

By Timothy Pratt (contact)

Tuesday, May 4, 2004 | 10:06 a.m.

Four days before a public meeting held by a Board of Regents committee formed to choose a new president for the Community College of Southern Nevada, only a list of the 10 candidates was available.

Information about the candidates -- their experience and education, what they do, where they were chosen from -- was not made available to the five members of the committee by the Washington, D.C.-based consultant hired to come up with a short-list of candidates.

Several members of the board said they wished they had the information now, while others said the public and the regents would know about the candidates soon enough on Thursday. The meeting will include the search committee, an advisory committee, and the consultant handling the search.

"I'm not familiar with any of them (the candidates) ... this search committee is being very secretive and doing everything behind closed doors," said Mark Alden, one of 14 board members, though not a member of the search committee.

But Tom Kirkpatrick, chairman of the search committee, said "there was no decision made not to provide the information.

"The decision was made to have the Association of Community College Trustees do the search for us, screen and present (a list of) the top candidates.

"We will find out more about them on Thursday."

Board member Thalia Dondero, who is on the search committee, said having more than a list of names before the meeting would allow her to think about what questions should be asked of each in future interviews.

"I'm sure everybody would like to have information before (the meeting)," she said.

One of the items on the agenda for Thursday's meeting involves ACCT consultant Narcisa Polonio presenting proposed questions to be used during interviews with the candidates for the job of leading the college, which has about 35,000 students, including those enrolled part-time.

Kirkpatrick said former President Ron Remington was paid "about $160,000" before he was removed by the board in two controversial late November meetings. The new president's salary has yet to be determined, he said.

Stavros Anthony, also on the board, said he wouldn't be at this week's meeting and that anyone who wanted to find out more about the candidates "can find out Thursday."

Anthony said he had "complete faith" in the committee's ability to handle the search for a new college president.

But Alden questioned the search itself, or at least its timing, since Remington has a lawsuit pending based on whether or not the decision to remove him from his position was made in violation of the open meeting law.

He said the lawsuit could result in Remington being reinstated, which could see the college with two presidents at the same time.

"The whole thing is a hoax," he said. "They're doing this prematurely."

Kirkpatrick said the lawsuit could take too long to resolve, and the college needed to move ahead in its search for a leader.

"We could wait a year for this thing to be settled," he said. Kirkpatrick hopes that the search committee can have the name of a final candidate for the full board in its June meeting.

"If not," he said, "we'll start a whole new selection process."

Kirkpatrick said he didn't recall how much the selection process -- including hiring the consultant and bringing candidates to Las Vegas for interviews -- is costing the college system, but estimated the final tab at "about $40,000."

He also said this search is being handled much more openly than in the past.

"Normally, we don't even have finalists' names," he said.