Regents not set to pull trigger on disclosure

Friday, Aug. 10, 2007 | 7:17 a.m.

A Board of Regents panel wants more information before deciding whether to require Nevada university professors and other professional employees to publicly disclose off-campus employment or to continue to allow them to keep that work confidential.

The regents' four-member Research and Economic Development Committee on Thursday directed Nevada System of Higher Education staff to research the system's policy on the issue and report any recommended changes at its Oct. 4 meeting . Any proposals would be forwarded to the full 13-member Board of Regents for action at its Oct. 11-12 meeting.

The discussion was prompted by the Sun's request for outside income disclosure forms submitted in the past year by UNLV employees. UNLV Vice President and General Counsel Richard Linstrom denied the newspaper's request by citing a university system regulation that keeps those records confidential.

But Chancellor Jim Rogers and a majority of the regents told the Sun that they favor public disclosure.

Professors are permitted to perform outside work so long as their university duties are not affected. The required disclosure forms, normally reviewed by a dean or department head to ensure there are no conflicts of interest, are placed in the employees' personnel files.

Faculty representatives who attended the meeting via teleconference facilities in Las Vegas and Reno spoke in favor of the current policy of confidentiality.

"I don't think anyone can argue that faculty conflicts have occurred around the country and can be very serious," said Glenn Miller, a UNR environmental science professor who represents the Nevada Faculty Alliance.

But he echoed Linstrom's concern that faculty with existing confidentiality agreements with outside employers should not be forced to publicly disclose those deals.

Regent Ron Knecht, a committee member, spoke of the balancing act between the public's right to know and faculty members' confidential relationships with outside employers. Although the relationships can benefit the university as well as the faculty, legitimate questions can be asked about those outside ties, Knecht said.

"How do we assure the public that student research assistants aren't being used inappropriately in a way that benefits an outside client?" Knecht said.

Mark Brenner, vice president of research at UNR, said universities in several states keep faculty members' off-campus employment confidential but cited Ohio as an example of a state where that information is publicly disclosed.

Brenner said when his campus began assuring faculty that outside work would remain confidential, "we got almost a five-fold increase in disclosure."

Some options discussed at the meeting included separate disclosure forms for the public and for the campus employee's personnel file, and a voluntary public disclosure check-off box on the disclosure forms.