‘Shame on you’: Rogers blasts officials over UNLV president choice

By Paul Takahashi

Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2014 | 2 a.m.

“Every college president across this country must be howling at the thought that a man with a B.A. from Wyoming is now the academic leader at UNLV.”

That’s the opinion of Jim Rogers, Las Vegas TV mogul, philanthropist and former chancellor of Nevada’s higher education system, about UNLV’s new acting President Don Snyder.

And if you follow the prolific Rogers on social media, you’re about to read more of his blunt remarks and thoughts about UNLV’s 10th president. Rogers said Monday night that he is planning to post a new message on social media and his television station, Channel 3, every day for the next couple of weeks.

Last week, Nevada regents appointed Snyder — UNLV’s stadium point man, former Hotel College dean and former banking and casino executive — to take the helm of UNLV while they look for Neal Smatresk’s permanent replacement. Smatresk is leaving Las Vegas next month to become the president of the University of North Texas, near Dallas.

In the wake of Snyder’s appointment, Rogers has criticized Dan Klaich, Nevada’s current higher education chancellor, and Kevin Page, chairman of the Board of Regents, for picking Don Snyder over former UNLV President Carol Harter.

In his Facebook post, Rogers accused Klaich and Page of cutting a deal with Snyder to become acting president, calling this alleged act “high school politics at its worst.”

“You have permanently damaged and insulted a great lady, an academician and a person full of loyalty and dedication to this university by choosing Don Snyder,” Rogers wrote on Facebook Monday morning. “With all of his talents, and I admit that he has many, Don’s resume is a blank sheet when compared to Carol Harter’s education, experience as a true academic leader, writer, philosopher and intellectual.

“You owe Carol an apology and you owe the entire faculty of UNLV an apology,” Rogers continued, addressing Klaich and Page. “Shame on you both.”

Rogers, who effectively ousted Harter from the UNLV presidency in 2006, refused to comment further about his Facebook comments. Instead of debating Nevada’s higher education leaders in the Las Vegas Sun, Rogers encouraged the public to read his Facebook posts in the coming days.

“Whether you like it or not, I’m going to express my opinion,” Rogers said. “That’s my obligation as my own media person.”

Snyder said he took offense to Rogers’ comments, arguing there was no backroom deal to appoint him as acting president.

“It’s ridiculous,” Snyder said. “That’s absolutely flat-ass wrong.”

Klaich and Page also said they followed the Board of Regents’ procedures in naming Snyder as acting president. Page said it is an “outright lie” that the presidential search process was somehow predetermined in Snyder’s favor.

“Jim Rogers is entitled to his own opinions, but not to his own facts,” Page said. “We went out to the campus community for three days, and Don Snyder was the overwhelming person that they wanted. It wasn’t unanimous, but it was overwhelming.”

Page pointed out that many prominent Las Vegas business leaders came out in support of Snyder during Friday’s regents meeting. Jim Rogers’ wife, Beverly, was the only person who spoke in favor of Harter during Friday’s regents meeting, Page said.

Beverly Rogers, a TV executive and major UNLV donor, lobbied hard for Harter over the past several weeks, even laying out her case for Harter in an editorial that aired on Channel 3 earlier this month. Jim and Beverly Rogers recently donated $10 million to the Black Mountain Institute, a creative writing institute that Harter oversees.

Page said if Rogers wanted to conduct a lie detector test on him, “bring it on.”

“To say that we’re dishonest because he didn’t like our selection is ridiculous,” Page said. “We don’t owe faculty an apology. I don’t know what I would even apologize for. Maybe (Rogers) needs to apologize for firing (Harter).”

Rogers, who lobbied to end Harter’s 11-year tenure at UNLV several years ago, criticized Harter at the time as a micromanager who didn’t pay enough attention to diversity in hiring faculty and recruiting students. Since then, Rogers has become one of Harter’s biggest champions.

Klaich said Rogers’ Facebook comment didn’t change his mind about his recommendation to name Snyder as acting president.

Snyder may not be an academic, but he brings a wealth of fundraising experience and a breadth of connections that will strengthen UNLV’s ties with the Las Vegas business community, Klaich said. Snyder, who helped develop the Fremont Street Experience and the Smith Center for the Performing Arts, was tasked by Smatresk to shepherd the UNLV stadium project to completion.

As UNLV’s acting president for the next six months to a year, Snyder plans to carry on Smatresk’s legacy projects: transforming UNLV into a top-tier research institution with its own medical school and on-campus football stadium.

“Once the recommendation is made and accepted by the Board of Regents, I hope people will focus on UNLV and making it better,” Klaich said. “I’m moving forward to help UNLV; I’m not looking backward. I hope the university and community moves forward instead of getting mired in petty matters.”