Nevada’s open meeting law hinders search for university system chancellor

Your Tuesday story concerning the search for a university system chancellor did not include the major reason the search has failed so far. Indeed, the story left the impression that feuding among regents was the major cause of candidates withdrawing.

This may be the case with interim Chancellor John White (who, by the way, has done a good job and would make a fine chancellor). However, other top candidates withdrew because of the way the Nevada open meeting law is implemented. All candidates who make the list of finalists are required to have their names made public, which discourages many potential candidates who have good positions elsewhere that might be jeopardized by such a revelation.

If Republican Assemblyman Paul Anderson of Las Vegas wants to assist the system in attracting strong, well-qualified leadership, he should introduce a bill to modify the open meeting law to allow searches to be handled in a reasonable manner in order to attract, and retain, the best candidates.