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UNLV President David Ashley rubs his eyes during a regents meeting at the Desert Research Institute Friday, July 10, 2009. The regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education decided to demote Ashley from his position as president and return him to the university faculty.
Published Friday, July 10, 2009 | 12:46 p.m.
Updated Friday, July 10, 2009 | 7:57 p.m.
Sun Archives
- UNLV president garners praise, catches a break (7-8-09)
- Bonnie Ashley will not be part of the regents’ discussion (7-8-09)
- Ashley says he's ready to respond to state's concerns (6-27-2009)
- Rogers calls for Ashley's ouster (6-17-2009)
- Wife of UNLV president sends apology note to Rogers, regents (6-6-2009)
- At UNLV, president's wife raises eyebrows (6-4-2009)
The Nevada Board of Regents voted 11-1 Friday to strip David Ashley of his title as UNLV president and voted unanimously to assign him to a position with the university faculty.
He’ll keep his presidential salary through the next academic year and Chancellor Dan Klaich will be charged with getting him a new office on the UNLV campus.
The fight over whether to retain Ashley as president of UNLV was passionate -- with regents grilling the evaluator, faculty split and students lining up against alumni.
The regents rejected a proposal to extend Ashley's contract and never considered letting him finish the final year of the contract.
"It's not about whether Dr. Ashley is a good person," said Chancellor Dan Klaich in recommending the Regents vote not to extend the contract. "This is about what's best for UNLV. It's a job interview. We've got a contract in front of us for a three-year term. He has no expectation that that contract should be renewed and we can legitimately treat this as a job interview."
Ashley and supporters contended he has done an admirable job in a tough environment, moving the university forward at a time of unprecedented economic hardship. They said the regents have been sidetracked by a small but vocal group of nit-picky detractors.
Alumni criticized him for blowing off a tailgate party and other events. Faculty were split on whether he was a competent manager or was supportive enough of research. Some faculty and regents complained that he failed to take their concerns and opinions seriously.
Several students countered that they didn't care about tailgate parties, they're more concerned with the value of their college degrees, which they feel has increased under Ashley’s watch.
Regents were also highly critical of the independent evaluation completed by Cal State Fresno President John Welty. Several complained that numerous people interviewed by Welty for the evaluation came forward to complain about their comments and concerns were not included in the final report. Welty said that it is an accurate reflection of his interactions with the people he met and that many of their complaints were due to time and structure restraints the regents imposed.
Others pointed out that it is actually more inclusive than the recent evaluations completed for presidents of other colleges in the system.
Despite legal limitations on what they could say about her, Bonnie Ashley was still a major item of discourse in the meeting.
Former Chancellor Jim Rogers said David Ashley had failed to handle a mounting conflict between his wife and staff and that the situation quickly spread throughout the university.
He said the president's wife is a key player in many university functions, like fundraising and networking with alumni. They're the face of the university and ambassadors for it.
David Ashley said the situation had been resolved long ago and has been blown out of proportion under intense media scrutiny.
Bonnie Ashley, speaking after the event, said she could have defended herself in the press, but that it would have just inflamed the situation more and opened old wounds.
She said she was disappointed at the board's decision.
"Honestly the anger came earlier," she said. "We're processing a lot of emotions right now. He is such a good man and so capable that them not realizing who they had working for them and using him to his full potential is very disappointing."
Ashley said the disappointing decision was tempered by the show of support from students and some staff. He said he hasn't given it much thought, but he may pursue a position at another university someday.
"I'll consider alternatives to the faculty position," he said. "But Las vegas is still a great place to live so that will be part of my thoughts."
The regents don't have the guts to fire Ashley. It is obvious from comments in past articles he is not respected around campus. He has been there for several years and has the reputation of being a no show and never seen around the campus. Of course he and Bonnie have taken several of vacations compliments of the university/tax payers. It wasn't until it came to light that the Singapore trip was an all expense trip paid for, that he said he was paying back for Bonnie's airfare. It really makes one wonder how many other trips they have taken and the university has paid for it when they were truly vacations. An overview of his expense reports would be interesting. He has 1 year left on his contract. Lose him! Ashley should be ashamed of himself for not stepping up and being a stand out president. In this economy he should be grateful to have a job, but what does he do? He wants a car now. Good grief. I don't even know how he can show his face there, let alone for any length of time. If they keep him he needs to find another job immediately and resign.
I am not sure Elizabeth understands the complexity of higher education and the role of a university president. The president is responsible for directing the university mission of research, scholarship, and service -- while fund-raising to subsidize state budget cuts as we have seen in Nevada.
President Ashley is attempting to cater to hundreds, if not thousands of constituents who are all demanding conflicting interests. Considering the current situation of higher education, financially crippled, he was done a superb job.
I am not sure the internal politics between Rogers, Ashley, and the Board of Regents, I wish they would allow Ashley to do his job freely.
Tailgate parties!?!?!?! Has this come down to someone's feelings being hurt over the status of their tailgate party? I would be embarrassed to admit in a public meeting that such a thing mattered in comparison to the many challenges this or any president of a university has to deal with.
And if the Regents didn't approve of the relationship the evaluator had with the president, they should have said so then, not now, after the fact.
Neal Smatresk for President
Well, the regents proved me wrong. They did have the guts to do the right thing. Congratulations regents on a job well done! Hope you all have a great week end, I know I will!
The entire university needs to be gone through like this - dept chairs, deans, etc need to be looked at to see if their staff/students think they are doing an effective job, how depts can be combined, and get rid of the dead weight so they don't have to have furloughs and other "cost savings" put on the backs of employees.
Neal Smatresk for President - The guy seems to have the personality and the skills to handle the role at least on an interim basis. I think if he wasn't in line it would be a great injustice.
While he was caught in a perfect economic storm, he was not a great president. Among his bad decisions were many of the adminstrators he hired. Absolutely do not tap any of his appointees as a replacement, including Smatresk or any of the new deans that he hired after clearing out all the previous deans.
The former dean of UNLV law (Richard Morgan) would be great. Some one please give him a call.
So far I have the Provost 3, Morgan 1.
Will Ashley go back to the faculty or is he going to lay low for a while? Discuss.
"Neal Smatresk for President"
Your joking, right? No thanks.
My vote: Carol Harter.
Would she consider an interim position after suffering a fate similar to that of Ashley? Not sure, but if there is anyone in-house at UNLV who is up to the task and, more importantly, knows what the job entails, it is her.
Vegasmind: It's "lie low," not "lay low."
I hope the new president understands that UNLV will not improve its reputation until it improves the quality of its faculty. Get rid of the dead wood, let the new blood come in. Ashley did NOTHING to improve quality. His only vision for the University was his bleak 500 million campaign that ended up falling short.
Thanks for the grammar lesson NNurse. Must be my NSHE education shining through.
Carol Harter = Bonnie Ashley. No way!
Look, the system is severely underfunded and until some of that changes UNLV will still be a valuable asset but third or fourth rate in the greater community of academia.
Harter? The most incompetent president in the history of presidents? Hates students, disrespects staff, hates faculty unless they kiss her butt. UNLV DROPPED in the national rankings after she became president, the budget gap with UNR widened, real research stagnated.
Dick Morgan is the choice.
This is completely ridiculous. I have had the privilege to meet and engage in conversation with David Ashley, and he is an upstanding, kind, intelligent man. The alumni made far too big of a deal out of the tailgate party at ASU and the dinner he did not attend. As the current students attested to, Ashley has been at every other event he's been invited to. Smatresk is also a great guy, but Ashley was served a very raw deal by select faculty members and regents who were bitter over his refusal to just accept the board's preference for UNR and his push for a cut for faculty and tenure-track professors. The NSHE has lost an incredible president. They still have to pay Ashley for the next year, so why in the heck would they push for immediate termination? Now, they'll just have to dole out more money for an interim. Thanks a lot board. You're truly doing good by the taxpayers and students at UNLV...not.
Keystone Regents with Lord Rogers steering the boat into circles.....LOL......
Now....they need to be sure to place ads asking for idiots to applying for only a nut would be willing to work with these jokers.
They have ran two presidents out of the UNLV with tar and feathers.
This biggest laugh is to see the King of Bullies whine and complain about a little lady being a bully.
Lord Rogers must have hissy fits every 5 minutes.
Does this mean Bonnie won't be getting her own campus parking spaces, business cards, and state employees to do her bidding?
Whatever will UNLV do without a wannabe imperial "First Lady?" Oh, that's right, the "position" never really existed except in Bonnie's mind.
What a shame her behavior cost her husband his real campus position.
He's still getting paid the same salary....
The most important point here (very few who are sentient disagree with the fact that Ashley was quite competent at his job) is how does this firing affect UNLV's status nationally? Does it make it easier to hire good faculty and administrators or harder? Clearly it makes things much more difficult. The fact that Ashley's wife is a bitch should not have been very important, because, well, it clearly isn't. Lots of nice, competent guys are married to bitches.
some would say - you say it like bitch is a bad thing - I know ladies who don't see it that way. Yes, I agree that these shenanigans will lower the quality of the university. I would like the members of the board of directors to live up to these standards that they set. I heard Rogers speak once and much that he says is good stuff. But, he owns TV stations and he doesn't own the university.
diogenes,
You're right, lots of nice, competent guys are married to bitches. The smart ones know to leave them home when they go to work.
If I had an employee with a disruptive husband or wife hanging around the job, I would let them know that it's not acceptable and that they will be terminated if it continues. Period, end of story.