Wednesday, September 14, 2005
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Regent's departure still causing ripples

Seastrand took post at UNLV in May

Doug Seastrand Ex-regent took position as a principle computer scientist

Doug Seastrand left the Board of Regents for a job at UNLV in May, but regents are still grappling with his unorthodox departure.

Regents stop short of criticizing Seastrand, but most have acknowledged a need for self-imposed restrictions. In the past four months, they've discussed a cooling-off period, a policy that would require regents to wait after they've left the board before applying for jobs at any of the system's eight institutions.

Regent Steve Sisolak will call on regents to enact a one-year cooling-off period at the Sept. 22 and 23 meetings.

Current state statutes require similar one-year hiatuses for gaming, public utility and other public regulatory officials, but not for the Board of Regents.

"I don't think we should have been left out," Sisolak said. "The gaming commission is an appointed board. As an elected board I think we should be held to a higher standard."

Howard Rosenberg, a professor at the University of Nevada, Reno, ran for regent after he started at the institution, which the Nevada Commission on Ethics ruled legit in 1997. He said he's not sure whether there is a need for a policy. A regent who had intentions to become a university president would obviously have a conflict of interest. "But I just don't see that kind of thing happening," he said.

Regent Mark Alden thinks a two-year cooling-off period is appropriate. He said regents, who have the authority to terminate presidents, could taint the search process that's in place to find the best qualified candidate.

"When you sit on a board that has oversight, you have an edge, no doubt," he said.

Seastrand went through a normal search process, competing against nine other applicants for the $105,000-per-year position as a principle computer scientist at University of Nevada, Las Vegas' Institute of Security Studies.

He said he resigned from the board to avoid what could be perceived as a conflict of interest. He told UNLV officials he would resign from the board if he got the job, which he believed to be the appropriate course of action.

Craig Walton, Nevada Center for Public Ethics, discussed the cooling-off period with at least two regents in May. It's clear Seastrand had good intentions, he said, but the decision to apply for the job while serving on the board was inappropriate.

"He inadvertently put other people into a very bad situation, namely, having to evaluate the employment application for the position of someone who is the boss of their bosses," he said. "If you've got a nice person who is trying to do a nice thing, is that enough? I think the answer is no. It's not enough because you're in government and that is more than or different than private family decision making."