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UNLV President David Ashley, far right, talks with regents and others following a preliminary evaluation of his performance April 30. Ashley nominated seven people to serve as consultant to the Board of Regents in his evaluation, and the higher education systems’s vice chancellor picked a California university president.
Monday, May 11, 2009 | 2 a.m.
Sun Coverage
UNLV President David Ashley had a hand in choosing the consultant hired to evaluate him, a product of the way Nevada’s public higher education system selects its presidents’ evaluators. Campus presidents are allowed to submit a slate of candidates. The chancellor takes the presidents’ lists into account when recommending an evaluation consultant to the chairman of the system’s Board of Regents, who has the final say on the selection.
Ashley came up with seven names and from that list Dan Klaich, the system’s executive vice chancellor, picked John Welty, president of California State University’s Fresno campus. (Klaich made the recommendation on the chancellor’s behalf.) Regents Chairman Michael Wixom then approved Welty.
Welty and Ashley knew one another before the evaluation because before coming to UNLV in 2006, Ashley served as executive vice chancellor and provost at the University of California, Merced. In that capacity, he worked with Welty on California’s Central Valley Higher Education Consortium.
Wixom explained that one reason the system gives presidents a say in who evaluates them is that they are likely to know people who are “similarly situated” and understand what it takes to run a university.
“We are not talking about a list that includes his mother and close relatives but rather sitting presidents of similar institutions,” Klaich said. “Can you suggest a better group to draw from? These are people who know what the job entails, what the pressures are and what the pitfalls are.”
Ashley pointed out that the vast majority of public university presidents know one another professionally. He also noted that the system had asked that Ashley suggest potential evaluators from Western states, if possible, to minimize the consultant’s travel costs, which the system covers.
Welty delivered a positive preliminary assessment of Ashley’s performance on May 1.
After interviewing 59 people including faculty, students and members of the Las Vegas community outside the university, Welty said many people praised Ashley for handling UNLV’s budget crisis well and hiring a strong leadership team.
At a June meeting, regents will review Welty’s findings and decide whether to extend Ashley’s contract, which ends in 2010.
In addition to covering Welty’s travel expenses, the system is paying him $7,500 to complete the evaluation.
•••
The University of Southern Nevada in Henderson has become the second private college in the state to qualify as a participant in the Millennium Scholarship program, which gives top high school graduates $10,000 toward college.
Award recipients can spend the money to study in undergraduate programs at state colleges or nonprofit, nonsectarian higher education institutions originally established in Nevada and accredited by an agency recognized by the U.S. Education Department.
The state attorney general’s office determined in April that the University of Southern Nevada met those requirements, and scholarship recipients will be able to use their awards there in the fall semester, said Reba Coombs, executive director of the Millennium Scholarship program.
•••
UNLV’s decade-old law school has moved up again in the U.S. News and World Report’s annual ranking.
The William S. Boyd School of Law tied with one other school for U.S. News and World Report’s 75th spot. Last year, Boyd shared the 88th spot with six other schools.
The recognition comes at a time when the law school, like the rest of the university, is facing budget cuts that could damage its reputation and its ability to provide students with a quality education.
Boyd has lost some key faculty members in part because they question Nevada’s commitment to education. Others are considering leaving.
The Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) of picking a slate of like-minded supporters does not seem impartial at any point. There is Thom Reilly in the photo provided along with a person that resembles Hannah Brown from a backside viewpoint, both of whom strongly favor Ashley's team. Could there be any one without a tie or vested interest sit in evaluation of Ashley?
It is our hope on campus that the University System Regents review the methodology used to evaluate Ashley and his team's policies and make them open to the public. It could be posted on the website or the same Sun reporter could bring it to the attention of the readers and general public with the UNLV community as part of that.
Without names, of the 59 said to be contacted, what generic positions and from what departments did they derive their findings? There are approximately 3,000 employees and some 26,000 students on campus. What is the breakdown and what are the questions being asked? Was Ashley able to see the names or know those who filled out the evaluations? This is not a stretch considering the article points out that Ashley is able to essentially pick and choose a slate of candidates.
Why do Ashley and other individuals keep using the phrase 'team' when discussing the University President? Under Harter and prior UNLV presidents, it was simply administration. Many of us at UNLV sense Ashley's inability to lead singularly. In his short tenure, several matters have been called into question regarding his abilities or lack thereof. He cannot seem to control particular high-ranking administration figures in the face of controversy.
The following comments are gleaned from a recent public posting. It appears that other than attending classes of political potentates spouses' classes and receiving high-profile journalists with some questionable interference, and according to public comments by his spouse, Ashley has the ability to 'focus' and is 'brilliant' and 'not one to hysterical bursts'. Okay, nice comments, nice deeds but narrow in scope and support for such a conclusion. But based on what fair, sensical, non-biased, fundamental criteria?
I found this recent comment very telling. One of my co-workers was riding down the elevator with Ashley. She told me later the next day over lunch that he was pleasant and made a few comments. One comment was that he said it was such a long day. It was literally 5:02 pm when he made that comment. Maybe he came in early but my co-worker says Ashley is '8-to-5' and that is certainly not inspiring for his approximately $300,000 salary plus benefits at a public institution. Although it too is very narrow in scope -- and so I will continue to ask questions and reserve final judgment as to whether Ashley (not as a person but as a highly-paid administrator of a public institution) is a brilliant, focused genius or average university president or less. In the meantime, let's see how the openly biased and favorably skewed evaluation was performed and what was answered.
A parting thought - every good commentary needs one to hit the point home - UNLV President Ashley, try and evoke some passion ... even a simple heartbeat in the face of pending drastic cuts that will affect others than yourself and your wonderful, overpaid, administrative 'team.' (For those not familiar with their salaries, please search the UNLV website for their base salaries and add their benefits. It may astound some.)
Ashley needs to go!