Diversity panel revived

Friday, June 24, 2005 | 8:46 a.m.

University regents unanimously approved resurrecting a former committee on diversity issues during an all-day meeting Thursday but but appeared hesitant about the chancellor's plan to hire a system diversity officer.

Several regents said they thought the Board of Regents committee alone, which will oversee cultural diversity and security issues on the Nevada System of Higher Education's eight campuses, was enough to make sure the state's institutions were meeting the board's diversity goals.

But both Chancellor Jim Rogers and Regent Linda Howard, who pushed to resurrect the diversity committee, said they thought the system still needed one individual to serve as a community liaison.

The committee alone is not enough, said Howard, who will chair the committee.

Rogers has been meeting with members of the minority community in Las Vegas, including the Asian, Latin and Urban chambers, about some of the problems they say they have run into in getting their concerns met. Several have said they feel like they just get shuffled around.

"I think they want one central person to deal with," Rogers said.

Rogers said would like to see the chambers "buy in" to that idea by literally paying for part of that person's salary.

John Lilley, UNR's president, said the system's presidents were concerned with adding more bureaucracy to the system office when each institution already has its own programs to diversify the campus.

Francisco Aguilar, the system's special counsel for community relations who is paid by Rogers, said he only started looking into the issue for Rogers after the chancellor's office began hearing concerns from minority groups.