Editorial: Open those records

Wednesday, Aug. 8, 2007 | 7:21 a.m.

It seemed like a reasonable request, and one that would not encounter any difficulty. The Las Vegas Sun wanted to examine the forms UNLV employees submit when planning to work part time for an off-campus concern in addition to their university jobs.

The Nevada System of Higher Education requires the forms as a way of guarding against employees accepting an outside position that would represent a conflict of interest with their university or college jobs.

But the Sun's request to see the outside income disclosure forms was denied because the university system classifies them as "confidential personnel records," according to a story by reporters Jeff German and Steve Kanigher that appeared Tuesday.

Such a classification, however, makes no sense to us. The public, which foots most of the bill for the university system, has every right to know where system employees have found other work. In fact, academic integrity depends on the university system being open about the side jobs of its employees.

"Hypothetically, there could be a case where someone is skewing a syllabus because of a business interest," Craig Walton, a former UNLV ethics professor and president of the nonprofit Nevada Center for Public Ethics, told the Sun.

Fortunately, this does not appear to be a case where the university system will fight against openness. Chancellor Jim Rogers says he favors making the records open. He has ordered university officials to make an effort to comply with the Sun's request.

Additionally, most members of the Board of Regents, which sets policy for the university system, told the Sun they favored disclosure. Several said they favored changing the records' classification.

"This is what feeds into the taxpayers' distrust of government, when they are kept from getting information that common sense says they should be able to see," Regent Steve Sisolak said.

Members of a regents' committee are to discuss removing the forms' confidential classification at a meeting Thursday. We hope the records are quickly declared open to public scrutiny.