Harter states her case

Friday, Feb. 3, 2006 | 12:30 p.m.

A fiesty UNLV President Carol Harter, tears in her eyes and tissue in hand, defended her record in front of cheering supporters Thursday as the man who ousted her, university system Chancellor Jim Rogers, sat quietly in the front row.

Harter never mentioned Rogers by name. But she delivered a point-by-point response to his complaints about her performance.

"No amount of rhetoric can change the data - that's what academics are all about," Harter said to loud applause from the crowd of 450 that squeezed into a space built for 220. "Our outcomes prove our commitments."

Under pressure from Rogers, Harter agreed last Friday to step aside and take a job with the UNLV Foundation. Rogers said she had alienated university donors, failed to address minority concerns appropriately and micromanaged.

Harter had refused to comment on her departure for nearly a week, until delivering her remarks at the foundation's Blasco Event Wing.

During her 11 years at the helm, she said, minority student enrollment rose from 22 percent to 35 percent, a higher increase than any other Nevada institution over the same period. The percentage of minority employees and teaching staff rose by similar amounts.

Harter said she had raised more money for UNLV than any other president before her, accounting for $556 million in gifts and pledges since she took office in 1995. UNLV has also increased its research dollars from $14 million to $69 million during that period.

Her half-hour address was "inspiring and depressing at the same time," one bystander said.

"It's our loss," said Kitty Rodham, a member of the foundation board, which voted unanimously Thursday morning to approve Harter's new role.

After the speech, Harter said she did not like the way her departure was handled. But she refused to discuss the circumstances, saying she preferred to look ahead.

In her remarks, Harter apologized that the campus learned she was leaving from "media speculation." She also said she hoped that in her new role, she could help the foundation achieve its $500 million capital campaign goal.

"If you haven't given yet, you better," Harter told the crowd. "I'll be chasing you around the community."

Christina Littlefield can be reached at 259-8813 or at clittle@lasvegassun.com.