Editorial: Jon Ralston on what’s in store for university presidents dealing with the chancellor

Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2006 | 12:33 p.m.

Jim Rogers looked tired and dispirited Tuesday morning.

And no wonder. Running a media empire, overseeing a university system, firing presidents and bending a Board of Regents to your will must take its toll. The guy can multitask, but even he must get fatigued, especially with the near-universal opprobrium coming his way.

Rogers regained his energy when the taping of "Face to Face" began, and for the first time, he all but acknowledged his role in pushing out UNLV President Carol Harter, although he denied he had ever asked law school Dean Dick Morgan to take over UNLV. He was also fairly candid about the short life span of Chancellor Jim Rogers.

"Jim Rogers is going to be here three to four years," he said. "Because at the end of that period, it's my feeling that I will either have offended so many people or have made so many goofy decisions that it will be time for me to move on. That's just the natural evolution of this kind of job."

Actually, Darwin would have had a field day with the origin of this species, where the natural way to deal with university presidents (or school superintendents) is to hector until no one is fit to survive.

In this valley that tends to stifle development unless it is of the brick and mortar variety, Rogers truly is a bridge to the past and the future. He is the good old boy who longs for the days when the guys could sit around and decide everything. But he also is someone who rails against mediocrity and the stasis in the lower and higher education systems, and unlike most people, he actually wants to do something about it.

Mostly, of course, he is the boss. Of Channel 3, which he owns. And of the regents, whom he owns.

Rogers became chancellor for obvious reasons - to remake the system and push out Harter and UNR boss John Lilley.

When I asked him about that Tuesday, he did not argue:

Ralston: "Two of those changes you thought were needed were UNR and UNLV and you wanted to chase the presidents out. That's what you thought about doing when you got in there.

"And, now you've accomplished that. It's time to get on with Jim Rogers' vision. True or false?"

Rogers: "I don't think it's true or false. I can say this: A lot of what you say is accurate."

Ralston: "But it's pretty close."

Rogers: "I think it's pretty close, Jon. I think so."

In this case, pretty close means pretty close to dead on, I'd guess. So be it.

The question is whither the system now and whither UNLV and UNR. Rogers insists the publicity will not deter any "superstar" applicants from coming to UNR and UNLV. "I believe we are going to have very, very strong applicants for both presidencies," he insisted Tuesday.

Perhaps. But these prospective applicants also have to be reading about this scenery-chewing chancellor and regents who are either living on another plane of reality or rendered invertebrate by their political ambitions. Caveat emptor.

Rogers has never had a "light touch" setting on his approach. It's either "heavy-handed," "blunt force" or "relentless pounding" until everyone buckles.

I remember in 1992 when he spent an entire election cycle performing on-air eviscerations of Judge Miriam Shearing, who was challenging the man Rogers thought should be on the state Supreme Court, Chuck Thompson.

Rogers was as relentless and vicious as some say he was in ousting Harter.

Shearing barely won that race, and I still believe Rogers hurt Thompson, who many thought would have made the better justice. Whether Rogers' methods have evolved in 14 years may well determine whether the outcome of his latest campaign produces the result he is seeking and whether he exhausts himself trying.

Jon Ralston hosts the news discussion program "Face to Face With Jon Ralston" on Las Vegas ONE and also publishes the daily e-mail newsletter "RalstonFlash.com." His column for the Las Vegas Sun appears Sunday, Wednesday and Friday. Ralston can be reached at 870-7997 or at ralston@vegas.com.