Remington urges reducing number of regents to nine

Tuesday, May 17, 2005 | 10 a.m.

Former Community College of Southern Nevada President Ron Remington testified Monday before a Senate committee in favor of removing his former bosses.

Remington supported Assembly Joint Resolution 11, the constitutional amendment that would reduce the size of the Board of Regents to nine and make it a primarily appointed board.

Allowing the governor to appoint six of the nine regents would ensure greater accountability from the board, who then would be answerable to the governor, Remington told the Senate Government Affairs Committee.

Right now, with the current six-year terms and the lack of public understanding of what a regent does, regents are "accountable to no one," Remington said.

Regents narrowly voted to remove Remington as president of the community college after a 17-hour closed personnel session in November 2004. District Judge Jackie Glass voided the decision after she ruled regents violated the open meeting law.

Remington settled his case against the regents out of court and is currently teaching educational leadership at UNLV.

The amendment is being pushed by Assemblywoman Chris Giunchigliani, D-Las Vegas, who was also a subject of the same closed personnel hearings as a former spokeswoman for CCSN. The amendment first passed the Legislature in 2003 and, if passed by the Senate, will go to voters in 2006.

The amendment is opposed by the University and Community College System of Nevada, the Eagle Forum and Nevada Concerned Citizens, who all argued against the assumption that an appointed board would be a better board.

"The people of the state of Nevada are doing a good job picking the regents, and the regents are doing a good job governing higher education in Nevada," Dan Klaich, vice chancellor for legal affairs, told the committee.