Regents react to Rogers’ weekly memos

Monday, Sept. 13, 2004 | 10:55 a.m.

When Interim Chancellor Jim Rogers leaves his post as the higher education system's chief, the one legacy he says he wants to leave behind is the ability of his successor to "run this ship" effectively.

Which is why Rogers continues to send out memos to regents asking for more centralized power in the chancellor position, better leadership from the board and more aggressive solutions to the system's biggest dilemma: funding its institutions.

The now weekly memos are generally greeted by the 13 regents with angry snorts, anxious laughter, ample applause or total confusion -- depending on the regent, the memo and the mood the elected official is in when called by a reporter.

Rogers' latest memo, sent Friday, garnered more reaction from regents on the list of topics he plans to address in the future than on the Friday memo's reiterations about ways to make the board more efficient.

Most regents declined to comment until they actually read Rogers' thoughts on the topics, but some said they were bracing themselves for the upcoming memos he promises on the critical need to build a state college system throughout Nevada, the need to raise tuition to close the funding gap at struggling institutions such as the Community College of Southern Nevada and a possible private-public partnership that would greatly expand the University of Nevada School of Medicine.

The possibility of raising tuition, one of six future topics Rogers' Friday memo suggests, raised eyebrows among even the chancellor's biggest supporters on the Board of Regents, as increasing access to higher education is one of the board's listed priorities.

Regents Mark Alden, Doug Seastrand and Steve Sisolak said they were worried about the students who were struggling to pay tuition now -- those who make a little too much to qualify for financial aid but not enough to pay for their education.

Rogers said he understood those concerns, but that raising tuition may be the only way Nevada's institutions could continue to accept students at the current rate of growth.

"It's a hell of a chunk to swallow," Rogers said. "But if your choice is to pay a lot or not have an education, then you are going to have to pay a lot."

Rogers said his plan would work to help students access more loans to afford their tuition now and then pay the money back when they are out of school.

Rogers said that the memos are his way of communicating with a 13-member board that he says is too large and doesn't meet often enough to effectively deal with the day-to-day business of the system.

In Friday's memo to regents, he apologized for the severe tone of a previous memo that blamed the board's divisiveness for the system's inefficiencies, but also laid out several more suggestions he said might cause them some "heartburn."

Among his suggestions:

"I am now convinced that if your previous chancellors had been given authority, they could have and would have solved all the problems you have had for the last several years, which would have saved everyone a lot of grief," Rogers tells regents in the memo. The statement is emphasized with capital letters and a partial underline.

Regents, however, have been hesistant to give the position more power, and some, such as Sisolak, have said it's because they fear what could happen if they get a chancellor who runs away with that authority. Although his suggestion did win a few supporters, seven of the 11 board members reached last week said they oppose Rogers' last memo that suggested regents give the chancellor power to remove presidents.