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twitterRogers calls for Ashley’s ouster
Chancellor: UNLV president has the smarts, but lacks leadership
Wednesday, June 17, 2009 | 2 a.m.
David Ashley
One on ONE with University System Chancellor Jim Rogers
University System Chancellor Jim Rogers is stepping down June 30, ending a five-year stint as the leader of Nevada's higher education system. News ONE's Jeff Gillan talks with Rogers about his legacy and his plans.
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- Rogers: UNLV President Ashley should be fired (6-16-09)
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- Wife of UNLV president sends apology note to Rogers, regents (6-6-2009)
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Beyond the Sun
In his five years as chancellor of the Nevada System of Higher Education, Jim Rogers has overseen the ouster of one UNLV president — Carol Harter — and, in his final days, wants to add a second notch to his belt.
In a characteristically blunt letter sent Tuesday to the Board of Regents, Rogers outlined the reasons why UNLV President David Ashley should either quit or be fired.
He was even more blunt with the Sun.
“David is very smart, he’s maybe one of this country’s greatest engineers,” Rogers said. “His IQ is probably 70 points above mine. But he absolutely refuses to see how serious this situation is.”
The regents are expected to review Ashley’s four-year contract, which runs through June 2010, when they meet in August, but the matter may not wait that long.
Ashley said Tuesday said he was saving for the Board of Regents his response to Rogers’ letter.
Rogers said he has had ongoing concerns about Ashley’s job performance — including his management style, his wife’s rude treatment of university staff and a failure to develop a strong connection to the university community.
“He’s a very nice man. There’s not a mean bone in his body,” Rogers said in an interview. “It breaks your heart to see somebody with all of these brains and all of this talent get into a position he’s simply not cut out for.”
When asked what qualities Ashley had possessed that made him an attractive candidate in 2006, Rogers said, “Let me remind you, he was my second choice.”
Rogers selected Ashley, the executive vice chancellor at the University of California campus in Merced, to be UNLV’s president only after his first choice — a three-star general from West Point — pulled out of the running.
Ashley seemed like the right person at the time, but there are job skills required of a university president that can be demonstrated only on the job, Rogers said. A key component is the ability to network with big-name supporters while not losing touch with the core university community.
Ashley’s disengagement is evidenced by his choice of home address, Rogers said. When Ashley opted for a home at Lake Las Vegas, nearly 20 miles from UNLV, “there were regents who called me up and raised holy hell,” Rogers said. “Most college presidents live on campus and it’s a house where students and donors feel welcome to visit. Ashley’s living 30 miles away. He’s something of an isolationist. He’s developed no strong ties.”
Rogers said he’s spoken several times with Ashley about his wife’s behavior, to no avail.
“He refuses to acknowledge that what she does reflects on him and the university,” Rogers said. “She’s very tough on people.”
(Bonnie Ashley last week e-mailed a letter of apology to Rogers and the Board of Regents, saying her only goal was to help the university.)
With Rogers retiring at the end of the month — the Board of Regents will pay tribute when they meet Thursday in Las Vegas — why the rush to resolve Ashley’s employment status?
“These things are very unsettling, especially in academia,” Rogers said. “When there’s turmoil, it takes away from productivity. My opinion has always been that once you decide you don’t want to work for me, or I decide I don’t want you working for me, you leave that day. At that point you’re a lame duck.”
Discussion: 15 comments so far…
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Rogers wields a lot of power at UNLV. Why not make himself president.
Thank you Jesus Rogers is leaving. It's so easy to pontificate about how bad a job so and so is doing, when all you really need to do is look in the mirror, and find the real dope. The Head Dope. UNLV is a joke, and now the Joker is finally leaving. Oops, watch out, that door might hit your ass on the way out, Jimmy...
Lord Rogers...may he have mercy on his subjects.
What will the Keystone Cops Regents do when Lord Rogers retires and no longer bullies them around?
Will they now go out and buy brains to start thinking for themselves?
Lord Vader....I mean Lord Rogers.....have access to email after he leaves......we all are eager to get Rogers spam again.
It will be interesting to see who applies for the UNLV job.
I wonder if Lord Rogers has already pencil himself in.
where on campus do they live? i don't recall seeing any place of living that a president would live (dorms aren't exactly the best of places?)
Dear Rogers,
Your legacy and reputation are ruined forever. You should never have been named Chancellor. It will take decades to undo the damage YOU have done. Please LEAVE NOW.
Sincerely,
The Entire Nevada Higher Education System and the Board of Regents.
I agree with Jim Rogers
Ashley has to go away from Tumble Weed Tech now known as U.N.L.V.
Rogers bashing really? Why not discuss the real issue, a president that doesn't do the job he was hired to do. The president that takes a junket to singapore with his wife. The president who is disengaged from the university. You may not like Rogers, but he is correct in this regard. There are serious issues with this presidents job performance. It is unfortunate that this is lost because of the chancellors previous actions and statements. When you get a chance pick up the student newspaper at UNLV and read the opinion from a student. It basically says what most faculty fell, it would be nice to support our president against the chancellor and regents. However, in the three years that the president has been on campus he has yet to make the connection that students are important. There would be no university without them. Students will get behind president they feel is working for them. Do you see the student outrage here. No! For those of you bashing UNLV, get a life. Is an education really a bad thing? Every university has its own problems and UNLV is not immune. However, UNLV is still a good place to get an education.
is this letter fake?
Take a chill pill and let's take a look at what is really going on with Bonnie Ashley:
1. This woman sounds exasperated and at the end of her rope because she has had to deal with incompetent state employees:
a. She had to spell out simple multiplication to the morons who work at UNLV
b. She was not told that invitations were sent out IN HER NAME with the wrong date
c. She had to beg employees to follow through, and to keep her up to date with events IN HER OWN HOME
2. Finally, let's look at how much this 'expertise and professionalism' costs the tax payers of Nevada (compiled from the names on the leaked emails--Thanks Tori!!):
a. Tori Klein makes $60,510
b. Christian Hardigree makes $119,116
c. William Boldt makes $277,680
d. Do the math! (Total: $457,306 in case you are a state employee)
This is really more of a commentary on the Nevada state worker pool. Any feedback of state employees is considered abuse in the state system. These employees are EXPENSIVE and INCOMPETENT, and without Bonnie Ashley they have no accountability!
nora b. must be bonnie's mommy.
A reminder to nora b....
Bonnie Ashley is not employed by UNLV.
I, for one, will miss Jim Rogers' fashion sense.
He is so retro.
Who frickin cares? Rogers is like our mascot - like Ronald McDonald. He's entertaining and fun in small doses.
I laugh when I hear idiots talk about how businesses WANT to move where the highly educated live. Well were that the truth, every good job would be around Harvard or Yale or MIT. Fact is, we're a resort state. The resorts in Massachusetts suck. We will never have MIT and they will never have the Bellagio - simple as that.
But that isn't enough... some people have this delusion that if we were to somehow gouge businesses and give UNLV all the cash in the world that business would flock here for all of the highly educated lemmings pouring out.
Fact is... UNLV is a convenience - nothing more. We do have a great hotel management program. Do you see Berkeley freaking out that our hotel program is better? Of course not.
Highly educated people will go where the jobs are - not visa versa.
This legislature is the one that killed the state.
Who is John Galt?
Apparently, Rogers's veracious appetite for destruction has not been satisfied. Not only does Rogers want to fire the guy he wants to humiliate him. Rogers's statement "he was my second choice" is nothing more than a bit*hy bogus gutter slap. But then Rogers knows something about being a second choice, based upon the age difference between he (fossil) and his wife (50's), I'm confidant that he too was her second choice. Will somebody please send this guy Viagra tablets? His testosterone is misplaced.
SUN's title:
Chancellor: UNLV president has the smarts, but lacks leadership
The fact:
Las Vegans: NSHE Chancellor doesn't have the smarts, and lacks leadership
Conclusion: Leave! Chancellor Rogers, leave! Good riddance!
Nora B is, without a doubt, Bonnie.