For years, the Nevada System of Higher Education's Board of Regents has been marred by controversy.
In 2018, UNLV President Len Jessup resigned due to ongoing conflicts with the Board, marking a key moment in the public’s growing concern over the Regents' leadership, Regent Byron Brooks bringing a firearm to a meeting with Chancellor Melody Rose in 2022, who later resigned with a $610,000 severance.
Earlier this year, Regent Patrick Boylan stirred outrage with comments about transgender athletes, and just weeks ago, Regent Stephanie Goodman faced criticism for sharing a video seen as racially insensitive towards Vice President Kamala Harris. These controversies, along with growing concern over their productivity and spending as a body of government, has raised questions leading to this November's Ballot Question 1
If passed, some of things Ballot Question 1 would do are:
- Remove references to the Board of Regents from the Nevada Constitution.
- Require a biennial audit of the Nevada System of Higher Education (NSHE) and the Board of Regents’ spending.
- Open the door for the legislature to restructure the Board, possibly making it an appointed body, keeping it elected, or creating a hybrid system.
Supporters argue the measure would increase accountability and transparency, allowing more oversight of NSHE and the Regents' activities. By removing the Board’s constitutional protections, they believe the legislature will have flexibility to address ongoing concerns and improve governance.
The Nevada Faculty Alliance has endorsed Question 1. Its president, Jim New, said the standards for the board need to be raised.
"There's a very low bar to who qualifies to be regent. You only have to live in the district and you don't even have to have any prior experience to higher education, even as a student," New said.
However, critics warn that changing the Board’s elected nature could limit voters' influence on the governance of higher education, fearing that an appointed or hybrid board could reduce public accountability.
State Senator, Robin Titus, who has opposed the measure twice in the senate said keeping the Board of Regents as an elected body is her biggest concern.
"The majority of citizens [in Nevada] live in Clark County. In the last legislative process we changed the number of regents to reflect where people live and people get to vote for those people. Having the citizen's elect the Board of Regents is critical to the process. I've been in [the legislature] six terms and I would not want to see us take over control," Titus said.
The future of the Board—and how Nevada’s universities are governed—will be decided by voters this November. If the measure passes, the structure of the Board could change dramatically, depending on how the Legislature acts in the years to come.
Guests: Robin Titus, state senator, district 17; Jim New, president, Nevada Faculty Alliance and professor, Truckee Meadows Community College
