Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2006 | 7:11 a.m.
UNLV's Faculty Senate will have a tough time convincing university regents to curtail the powers of Chancellor Jim Rogers after he pushed university President Carol Harter into retirement.
Regents reached by the Sun on Tuesday said they would listen to faculty concerns that regents had ceded Rogers too much power over the Nevada System of Higher Education. But most regents were hesitant to reverse their February 2005 decision to give the chancellor power to progressively discipline and fire college presidents.
The senate voted 32-7 Tuesday to ask regents to repeal that power.
Placing that proposal on the regents' agenda requires the support of either Chairman Bret Whipple or three other regents acting together. Only Regent Howard Rosenberg said he was prepared to take the step. Whipple could not be reached for comment.
"We gave the chancellor the power to fire so that he would have the support that he needs to run the university system," Regent Jack Lund Schofield said. "And we did it so we could make it possible for us to eliminate micromanagement by the Board of Regents ...
"He's there every day, 365 days a year, and he is able to feel the pulse of what's going on at the university," Schofield said. "The regents are not. We are a part-time body."
Rogers requested the power to discipline presidents in December 2004. Regents debated the issue for more than a year before voting 12-1 last February to grant him that authority.
Fresh on the minds of many regents at the time was an error the board made 15 months earlier in demoting CCSN President Ron Remington and his lobbyist, John Cummings. Regents violated the open meeting law. Rogers argued that the problem could have been avoided by giving him more authority.
The Faculty Senate's vote came after five former Senate chairs met with Rogers on Tuesday morning to suggest that he relinquish a measure of power in favor of a system of shared governance. Rogers replied that he needed the power to bring the eight Nevada institutions of higher education together as a unified system.
"We agreed to disagree," said John Filler, a special education professor and former chairman of the Senate.
Former Faculty Senate Chairwoman Kathy Robins, who serves as faculty liaison to Harter, said Rogers failed to understand why shared governance is so important to faculty.
Rogers agreed with Robins' description of his views. But he also said the faculty representatives did not understand the problems or duties of a chief executive officer.
"We're just miles apart on the philosophy of what the chancellor should do," Rogers said.
Compounding the task for the UNLV Faculty Senate is the absence of similar sentiment on other campuses. No other Faculty Senate has criticized Rogers for his role in the resignations of Harter and UNR President John Lilley.
Harter is stepping down June 30 to lead the UNLV Foundation. Lilley took over the presidency of Baylor University on Jan. 1.
Rogers has said he encouraged both to look for other opportunities after months of management conflicts.
Faculty leaders at UNR and CCSN have defended Rogers since Harter's resignation. The chancellor has been visiting with faculties around the state.
"Faculty group like Jim Rogers a lot" because he has been willing to meet with them regularly, said Jim Richardson, lobbyist for the Nevada Faculty Alliance and a sociology and judicial studies professor.
"He tells it like he thinks it is, but he also listens."
Christina Littlefield can be reached at 259-8813 or at [email protected].
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