Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Regent says he won’t travel to board meetings in Northern Nevada

Mark Alden, a member of the Board of Regents that governs higher education, said today that he will no longer attend two-day regents meetings outside Las Vegas if he feels he can participate effectively over the phone.

The board's next meeting is next week in Reno, and Alden plans to miss it. A forensic accountant, he said he had too much work to do in Las Vegas to fly to Reno and stay for two days.

Instead, Alden said, he will listen in, contribute and vote over the phone. "It’s a hassle to travel to the meeting," said Alden, whose term ends in 2012. "And two days? Half the time we sit around and do nothing. I will never go to another two-day meeting outside of Las Vegas."

He later qualified that statement several times. He said, for example, that he would attend meetings if he needed to make a presentation or if the board was scheduled to tackle "earth-shattering" issues.

He also said he might go to one day of next week's board meeting if regents Chairman Michael Wixom insists upon it.

Wixom did not want to comment on Alden's planned future absences without first speaking to Alden about the issue.

Alden called next week's agenda a "non-event agenda." Regents are scheduled to discuss topics including UNLV's strategic plan and mission statement, the impacts of budget cuts on campuses and the evaluation of a college president.

The regents have six regular meetings scheduled in 2009 -- three in Clark County and one each in Carson City, Reno and Elko. Alden said he would prefer to have fewer meetings each year, to save taxpayer money. State dollars, he said, pay for regents' meals, airfare and lodging.

Of next week's meeting, Alden said of his planned absence, "Why doesn't he go? Because Mark wants to be more efficient."

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