Sunday, Sept. 9, 2007 | 1:23 a.m.
Chancellor Jim Rogers and the elected Board of Regents have taken quite a beating in the press since news broke in August that Rogers would not be donating any more money to UNR because he was upset about a regent's evaluation of him.
Most of the criticism was aimed at Rogers, who decided not to go forward with a $3 million gift he was considering for UNR because of Regent Ron Knecht's harsh criticism. Four newspapers ran editorials questioning Rogers, with most saying it may be time for Rogers and regents to sever their ties.
(The Rebel Yell, UNLV's student paper, questioned whether regents were a "joke" because of some "bonehead" decisions, but concluded that regents for the most part were dedicated to improving higher education.)
After the story appeared in the Las Vegas Sun, news of Rogers' decision was sent out by the Associated Press wire picked up by newspapers and magazines across the country, including the Chronicle of Higher Education and Forbes. Regent Howard Rosenberg, vice chairman of the Board of Regents, responded to the blog site for the Chronicle article to point out that Knecht was not the only regent critical of the chancellor.
Knecht wrote to the Chronicle to correct a mistake in the article. He later wrote articles for the Nevada Appeal and the Reno-Gazette Journal to defend his evaluation of Rogers.
After an appearance on "Face to Face With Jon Ralston," in which Rogers struggled to defend his position, Regent Jack Lund Schofield called the Sun to stick up for Rogers, who Schofield thought was being unfairly attacked.
"People are biting the hand that feeds them and that isn't right," Schofield said. "The man works for no pay, gives it all back, and what do we give him?"
The media blitz was rounded out by an analysis by Pahrump Valley Times columnist Dennis Myers in the newsreview.com. In a later column, Myers concluded that the real tragedy is that all the news print dedicated to higher education personalities meant higher education issues were not being covered.
Nevada State College in Henderson has designed a new system of promoting its full-time lecturers.
Starting this semester, instructors not on the tenure-track to become full professors can apply for promotions to senior lecture r and then distinguished lecturer.
It's a way to recognize the longtime service of lecturers, who are critical to providing Nevada State College's classes, said Lesley Di Mare, the college's new provost. Full-time lecturers can still apply for the more limited tenure track spots as they come available.
Each promotion, which can be sought after two years of service to the college, comes with an annual $1,000 pay increase. That is in addition to the regular merit and cost of living increases available to lecturers.
Nevada State College has 36 lecturers and 33 tenure or tenure track professors, along with 82 part-time instructors.
Students returning to the College of Southern Nevada last month surely would have noticed that the C that stood for community was gone from college signs.
That's because its outlines were still visible.
Despite clear attempts to cover up that there was once an extra letter or word, several signs look as if a prankster stole a letter . If the outline didn't give it away, the strange gap did.
About 10,000 students signed a petition to take "Community" out of Community College of Southern Nevada, with then-student body President Presley Conkle saying "community college" carried a stigma. Regents approved the change in March .
CSN officials have not provided an estimate of how much the name change will cost.
Or when the outlines will finally disappear.
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