Regents support chancellor who promises to improve performance

More talk. Less email.

That was one point elected Nevada Board of Regents members mentioned repeatedly on Thursday when evaluating a report by a hired attorney clearing Chancellor Dan Klaich of any wrongdoing in his handling of a consultant's 2014 report critical of his agency.

Board of Regents Chairman Rick Trachok launched the $57,495 investigation after the Review-Journal exposed the issue by reporting that email exchanges obtained through the state's public records law showed higher education officials had buried the report intended for a legislative committee that was considering breaking up the higher education governance structure. System insiders believed the report would be used to "bludgeon" the agency if it became public.

Emails also show that researchers ultimately rewrote the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems report, offering to eliminate it entirely if need be. In the end, the report was kept internal.

The regents decided not to take action against Klaich in light of the investigation finding he'd done nothing wrong, but did talk about higher education officials sending fewer emails — which Trachok called "eternal evidence" — and better regulating how consultants are handled.

A somber Klaich promised to change and improve his performance. He urged the board to take up the issue of how consultants are managed and said he'd be more professional in emails. The 2014 emails from Klaich to staff and researchers were sometimes emotional, predicting the worst outcomes for the higher education system if the report was made public.

Regent Kevin Page said he felt the press took the issue with Klaich too far. He also urged everyone to have more conversations and send fewer emails.

Regent Sam Lieberman said the system needs to do a better job of handling matters internally and then presenting them publicly so that the press isn't constantly "airing our dirty laundry."

Political power players including Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval and U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., rose to Klaich's defense, heaping praise on the chancellor in letters submitted to the regents.

The $57,400 investigation was done by San Francisco-based attorney Stephen Hirschfeld, who concluded Klaich did not "violate any ethical or governance standards in higher education."

Hirschfeld's conclusions are based on the assumption that the report in question was not intended for an interim legislative committee on community college governance.

But emails show the report was expressly for that purpose. Hirschfeld found a researcher agreed to soften language in the report, but he concluded the hired researchers did not feel pressured.

The system has stressed that the report contained factual errors and that all the recommendations in it were adopted despite it not being made public. Although Klaich did send some fact changes back to researchers, the emails exchanges with his staff are about how the report would be received, not factual errors.

Regent Trevor Hayes said he felt he had to accept the investigation's findings because otherwise he'd be doing what the system had been accused of in the first place: Not listening to a consultant.

Critics of the report's handling have taken issue with the report not being made public so that there could be vigorous debate, not that the system officials felt negatively about it.

Hayes questioned how many consultants are used by the higher education system, what policies exist pertaining to consultants and where the reports go. He also said he thought the emails showed a thin-skinned culture averse to criticism.

That needs to change, he said.

Regent Allison Stephens praised Klaich, as many of the regents did, noting that she was on the legislative committee that was to have received the 2014 report. She said she felt the committee came to the right decision because Klaich was so open to criticism.

Still, she said she was surprised to see Hirschfeld's investigation had uncovered more information that the committee didn't get and she would have liked to see — though she didn't think it would have changed anything.

Regent James Dean Leavitt, also an attorney, said he'd often wished the criminal justice system could take the approach he summed up as "verdict first, trial second, " a sentiment expressed by the Queen of Hearts, a character in a Lewis Carroll novel. But in this case he said he's glad the regents afforded Klaich "due process."

"The chancellor is guilty of caring too much," Leavitt said.

Contact Bethany Barnes at bbarnes@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3861. Find her on Twitter: @betsbarnes