Editorial: Halt CCSN search until court rules

Monday, May 10, 2004 | 8:52 a.m.

The national search for a new president of the Community College of Southern Nevada has been narrowed to four. That is, if you don't count Ron Remington. We're referring, of course, to the former president, who was demoted by the Board of Regents during a meeting on Nov. 20. Or was he? The legality of the meeting is up in the air.

In January Nevada Attorney General Brian Sandoval issued a formal opinion that the regents convened the meeting and secretly deliberated in violation of the state's open-meeting law. Not content to just issue a sternly written opinion, Sandoval filed a lawsuit against the regents that is still pending in Clark County District Court. If the court agrees with Sandoval that the meeting was conducted illegally, the board's actions against Remington would be void. This would mean that Remington would resume his presidency, at least until the board could schedule another meeting and take a legal vote on whether to demote him.

The four final candidates for Remington's job are all from out of state. It would be very inconveniencing for any of them to be named and then, after leaving their current jobs and moving here, encounter the awkward dilemma of Remington's uncertain status. Remington was demoted to a faculty position after the narrow board majority objected to the way in which the college had lobbied the 2003 Legislature. Since then, the university system's chancellor, Jane Nichols, has resigned and the board has voted to replace her with TV station owner Jim Rogers. This new dynamic could have a bearing on a new vote, if one needs to be taken. Additionally, if the court finds that the board did violate the open-meeting law, some of its members could possibly be removed, another dynamic that could change the vote on Remington.

The community college is headed now by an experienced interim president, which means there is no need to rush in filling the presumed vacancy. Because the case against the board has the weight of the attorney general behind it, because the evidence of an illegal meeting is so strong (Sandoval found five major violations) and because the original vote against Remington was so narrow (7-6), we believe the search committee should suspend its work until after the court has made a ruling. There's no sense in complicating matters any more than they already are.