Removed Community College of Southern Nevada President Ron Remington was left without a transition plan Friday after five university regents abruptly left the room rather than cast a vote for or against the chancellor's recommendation to keep Remington at the college.
Regents Tom Kirkpatrick, Doug Hill, Jill Derby, Doug Seastrand and Bret Whipple left without notice late Friday as many of their colleagues began to criticize the chancellor's recommendation as "mean-spirited." Regent Marcia Bandera had left the meeting more than two hours before the agenda item was reached.
The remaining seven regents voted 5-2 against the chancellor's recommendation before the meeting dissolved into chaos as the board lost its quorum.
Chancellor Jane Nichols had originally agreed to Remington's request to move to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas' educational leadership department, but said she changed her mind after she reviewed Remington's contract and the board's policy.
Nichols said she was unaware when she first agreed to Remington's request that his contract stated that if he were reassigned or if he stepped down he would go to the faculty at CCSN. She said that stipulation and other concerns such as Remington's tenure led her to recommend that he stay at the community college as a psychology professor.
"I wanted to do what was absolutely clean and what was specified," Nichols said.
Several regents, however, said they were not satisfied with that recommendation and were angry at what they said appeared to be a broken promise. The regents were also angry that Remington heard about the about-face in Jon Ralston's electronic newsletter "Flash" rather than from the chancellor herself. Ralston writes for the Sun.
"It's mean-spirited to do this to someone," Regent Steve Sisolak said. "It's picking on someone on the playground just because we can.
Regent Linda Howard went as far as to say the decision was "black-hearted."
Remington, who is still fighting to be reinstated as CCSN president, expressed similar sentiments when he addressed the board Friday and asked the regents to support his transition plan to teach at UNLV.
"The vote you are about to cast would seem to be about where I will teach next year. It is much more," Remington said. "This vote is about your values and the principles that govern Nevada's higher education, and it's also about winning back the public trust."
The position at UNLV, Remington said, allowed him to tap his 30 years of experience as a college administrator and allowed CCSN and the system to heal after his controversial removal.
Regent Howard Rosenberg agreed that it would be better for Remington and for CCSN if he moved on to UNLV.
"He is a lightning rod whether we want him to be or not," Rosenberg said. "It would be in the best interest of that institution for him not to be there so the new president can start off fresh."
Regents Thalia Dondero, Mark Alden and Linda Howard also criticized the chancellor's plan but most of their colleagues did not stay long enough to listen to it. No regent spoke in defense of the plan and only Chairman Stavros Anthony and Regent Jack Schofield stayed to vote on it. Both voted for it.
The meeting was about an hour over the scheduled time for Friday's meeting with about three items left on the agenda when the regents reached the Remington transition issue, which is why some of the regents may have left, Nichols said.
But their colleagues said they left in an effort to break the quorum and end the meeting before a vote could be taken.
"They saw that there wasn't the support for the chancellor's plan and so rather than stand up for it, the stand they took was to walk away," Sisolak said.
Regents will have to look at the issue again at their next meeting.
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