UNLV faculty questions imply desire for an outside presidential candidate

As the first of three finalists in the UNLV presidential search wrapped up two days of interviews, it became clear some university faculty are ready for new, outside leadership.

During two public forums on Monday and Tuesday, Georgia Regents University President Ricardo Azziz was peppered with general questions about his qualifications and his efforts to increase student retention rates.

But many more questions seemed to be thinly veiled digs by faculty toward the current administration, including how he would protect academic freedom and thought.

University officials, including interim President Don Snyder and Provost John White, have come under fire in the wake of a report by UNLV’s Center for Business and Economic Research on The Education Initiative, which said the margins tax could be an economic boon and create about 20,000 jobs. The initiative was soundly voted down in last week’s elections.

Emails sent after the report was made public over the summer showed gaming executives expressing their displeasure with the report to Snyder, who called for an academic review.

White’s emails have not been made public, and his responses remain unknown.

At a forum on Tuesday at UNLV’s Fulton building, professor Rhonda Montgomery, who is chairwoman of the faculty senate, asked Azziz how he would work to increase the morale of UNLV professors.

Some faculty are hoping to see an outsider become the next president of UNLV, Montgomery said later.

“I think there is a percentage of the faculty who are ready for a significant change in upper administration,” she said.

Montgomery said she liked Azziz’s ideas. “I think he has the background that would be suitable for the challenges that face UNLV.” She also said she was looking forward to hearing from the other candidates.

Azziz, a medical doctor who has run medical schools, hospitals and universities in Georgia, California and Alabama, seemed to appeal to faculty as he expressed his belief in a “shared-governance” style of leadership and collaboration between faculty and the administration.

But White has his supporters, too.

On Saturday, 20 Boyd Law School professors sent a letter to Nevada System of Higher Education Chancellor Dan Klaich praising White’s leadership as the law school dean before his becoming provost.

White “provided steady financial leadership in the most serious economic downturn in Nevada in decades. … John’s vision and stewardship of the Law School enabled it not only to survive, but to thrive,” the letter said.

Public forums will be held for White on Thursday and Friday.

Meanwhile, Azziz comes with his own past controversies. He has been named as a defendant in a federal age discrimination lawsuit against Georgia Regents University filed Oct. 30. Azziz said he was not aware of the lawsuit and couldn’t comment on it.

He has been publicly scrutinized for attempting to build a $70,000 carport at the president’s home at the Georgia school without permission of the Board of Regents and for using a university bus and driver to transport guests for his niece’s wedding, which was held at the home.

And on Monday, Azziz was criticized by Oscar-winning actress Kim Basinger and the Humane Society for dog experiments performed at the Georgia university. “I am terribly alarmed to learn that GRU has yet to confirm to (the Humane Society) and concerned citizens across the country that these experiments have and will permanently cease,” Basinger wrote in a letter to Azziz.

UNLV faculty, staff, students and alumni will meet the two remaining presidential candidates over the next three days.

Len Jessup, business school dean for the University of Arizona, will visit the campus today and Thursday.

Jessup had a close relationship with a female employee he supervised as a lead fundraiser for Washington State University. She was removed from his supervision, but embarrassing email exchanges surfaced showing Jessup and the woman exchanging flirtatious notes with each other.

A Nevada System of Higher Education presidential search committee will meet Monday and decide whether to recommend one of the candidates to the full Board of Regents.

And Board of Regents Chairman Kevin Page has called for a special meeting on Tuesday at which a president could be chosen.

Contact Francis McCabe at fmccabe@reviewjournal.com or 702-224-5512. Find him on Twitter: @fjmccabe