EDITORIAL: Not presidential

The University of Nevada, Las Vegas is at a critical crossroads. The university aims to add a medical school, become a Tier I research institution and push for a new stadium on or near campus two years from now. And to top it all off, UNLV is searching for a new permanent president — just before the start of a legislative session.

So how does a university with such important, ambitious plans end up with a presidential finalist with more baggage than a “Real Housewives” reunion on the Strip?

Ricardo Azziz, M.D., is one of three finalists to lead the university. Dr. Azziz, 56, is the founding president of Georgia Regents University, a school created in 2013 by merging Augusta State University with Georgia Health Sciences College, where he had been president since July 2010. And it appears the higher education system’s presidential search consultant failed to do so much as a Google search on the man.

Just type in “Ricardo Azziz controversy” and several reports come up, many of them covered in a May 2013 piece from WRDW, an Augusta TV station: a wedding for his niece at his state-funded home, including the use of uniformed public safety officers and a university shuttle bus and driver to transport guests; his plan to add a $75,000 carport to his state home, with state funds, without board of regents approval; and using school officers to pick up his children from school.

WAGT-TV reported that same month about a chain of emails detailing efforts to get Dr. Azziz’s school-supplied car, with the university police chief writing, “If it is not to specifications, we will not take it. Leather seats, fold down work space, nicely appointed inside, upgraded wheels and rims. … After we get it we can trick it out with corner strobes and lights and it will be a nice ride.”

As reported Tuesday by the Review-Journal’s Francis McCabe, Dr. Azziz is a defendant in a federal age discrimination lawsuit filed two weeks ago.

And Dr. Azziz also was in the middle of a public relations flap over the name of his current school, with many saying “Augusta” was not accorded enough deference. That may seem unimportant, but a university president must relate to those in the school’s community. That quality will be paramount at UNLV, with its grand plans and grand fundraising needs.

The carport ultimately was scrapped, and Dr. Azziz also reimbursed the school $400 for the shuttle bus. Still, none of the aforementioned situations reflect well upon Dr. Azziz as a responsible steward of public funds. Instead, they reflect a sense of entitlement and poor judgment.

At a Monday public forum that introduced Dr. Azziz to university faculty and students, Dr. Azziz attributed the carport controversy to a misunderstanding based on “an obscure law.” Far from obscure, the law was put in place precisely to prevent someone such as Dr. Azziz from blowing public money without authorization.

UNLV needs a dynamic leader who can rally the taxpaying public, the business community and lawmakers behind the university. It can’t afford to hire someone prone to creating distractions — UNLV has already been there, when David Ashley was president.

We’ll learn more this week about the other two finalists: Len Jessup, business school dean for the University of Arizona, and UNLV Provost John White. Dr. Azziz has set the bar awfully low.