What’s in a name for community colleges in Southern Nevada?

There are many people who have spent a good deal of time working on changing the names of the community colleges in Southern Nevada.

They take the issue very seriously. It's very important to them.

Sadly, they're wrong. And it's long past time we tell them to move along.

Last week, a panel of the Board of Regents declined to advance a proposal to change the name of campuses of the community colleges to reflect their geographic location, or the street on which they're located.

Before that happened, however, a 16-member panel of local community leaders considered the issue.

Next, the (Community) College of Southern Nevada Institutional Advisory Council approved the plan, but only after a subcommittee of the council reviewed and approved it.

Finally, the matter came before the Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education, the group that oversees all public, post-high school education in the state of Nevada.

That's a lot of work to change a few signs (at a cost of $30,000 to $45,000 each). And of all the priorities for the [Community] College of Southern Nevada's campuses in the valley, what we call them is so far down on the list, we shouldn't be able to see it from here.

So why do we? Part of the answer is John Lee, a former state senator who, after having been routed in a Democratic primary in 2012, was elected mayor of North Las Vegas. Lee has long lusted to get greater control over the (C)CSN campus in his city, but he's had little success. Changing the name was Step One of his Secret Evil Plan to gain more influence over the college.

The Nevada System of Higher Education considered the issue of governance of community colleges, with some pushing for more local control so the Board of Regents could focus exclusively on UNR, UNLV and Nevada State College. But that approach was rejected, in favor of having a subcommittee of regents oversee the state's community colleges.

So, over and done with? Not quite.

"It kind of shows that the community isn't as important to the community college system as we would like them to think of us," said Lee, according to a report by the Review-Journal's Ana Ley.

No, it kind of shows changing the name of a community college campus isn't as important as what goes on in the classrooms there, which was, is and will remain the purview of the Board of Regents. Lee ought to be focusing on municipal priorities such as, say, working to keep his city out of state receivership.

Just as bad was the vice chairman of the Institutional Advisory Council, Jose Solario, who said he considered the failure of the regents subcommittee to hold a vote on the name-change idea a "personal affront" that wasted the time of his council. Oh, there was time wasted, Mr. Vice Chairman, but not by the regents.

It was left to newly elected Regent Sam Lieberman to bring the common sense. Planning and workforce development are the (Community) College of Southern Nevada's priorities, not the name, he said. Amen and amen.

Frankly, the last name change (back in 2007, in which the Community College of Southern Nevada became, simply, the College of Southern Nevada) was unnecessary, too. But what's done is done, and we should move on.

In the meantime, if Lee wants to run a community college, he can always resign and run for the Board of Regents. Otherwise, he should stick to the duties he's actually charged with performing.

— Steve Sebelius is a Las Vegas Review-Journal political columnist and co-host of the show "PoliticsNOW," airing 5:30 p.m. Sundays on 8NewsNow. Follow him on Twitter (@SteveSebelius) or reach him at 702-387-5276 ssebelius@reviewjournal.com.