 BARBWIRE
Howard
Rosenberg: unlikely David vs. Philistine Elite  "We voted for him. It's appalling these people can say 'you guys voted
wrong and we're going to take care of it.' I'm willing to fight for my
vote and that's what I intend to do." --- Reno college student Jennifer
O'NeilMs. O'Neil called me to ask "what can I do?" She has never met Howard
Rosenberg. Neither has her mother, nor her neighbors. All of the above
have expressed anger at last week's power play by the jockocracy at the
University of Nevada.Our wonderful repository of higher education, charged with bringing the
flowers of our youth to full fruition, those wonderful people running the
expensive TV campaign in which UNR solves all the problems of the world -
that same outfit is busily trying to nullify a fair and square election.POT CALLING THE KETTLE BLACK DEPT. Last Monday, University of Nevada
lawyer Don Klasic, representing Chancellor Richard Jarvis, filed a pound of
paper with the Nevada ethics commission. The Philistines in the charcoal
gray suits don't want an advocate of the students putting the lid down on
their lucrative cookie jar. Mr. Klasic has become their designated cookie
monster.Mr. Klasic's opus runs between 75 and 100 pages. I stayed up late reading
the damned thing, and nowhere did Mr. Klasic disclaim his own blatant
conflict of interest. He's acting as lawyer for the university which
currently employs Dr. Rosenberg, trying to keep Rosenberg out of the office
to which he was freely and fairly elected. Klasic will also be Rosenberg's
lawyer when he is sworn in come January, but is working hard to either keep
him from serving or force him to resign his professorship.Mr. Klasic has conflicts of interest up the kazoo, but that doesn't seem
to bother him. He is not the first university lawyer exhibiting the ethics
of a dung beetle. He should have told Boss Jarvis to go hire outside
counsel to persecute Rosenberg. Klasic, a career government lawyer, didn't
have the chops.JARVIS JIVE: BLACK POT PART DEUX. These guys running the U are a
self-satirizing cartoon, a B-movie in bad costumes. Here's Chancellor
Richard Jarvis, the leader of the pack, the captain of the pirate ship,
Blackbeard on the poopdeck. Richard the Lyinhearted, acting only on his
own exaltedness and a solo request by Gomorrah South regent Madison Graves
III, had Klasic draft this pound of paper attempting to extract a pound of
Rosenberg's flesh. Klasic even had the chutzpah to add that he was doing
all this in Mr. Rosenberg's, the university's and the public's best
interest. These guys are a barrel of laughs.Klasic's classic hatchet job boils down to a non-stop series of irrelevant
examples alleging that Rosenberg must quit his job of 29 years in order to
serve in the unpaid position to which he was duly elected. Nevada Atty.
Gen. Frankie Sue Del Papa, herself a former UNR student body president and
former regent, advised Rosenberg early on that his candidacy was perfectly
kosher. Of course, that was back when nobody thought he could win.Now come Ali Baba and the 40 stooges who accuse Prof. Rosenberg while
ignoring their own corruption. Mr. Jarvis' wife has a posh job at the
Desert Research Institute (DRI). Her official title is "chief financial
and administrative officer." Her husband is her boss' boss. Section
281.210 of the Nevada Revised Statutes states "it is unlawful for any
person acting as...an employing authority of the University and Community
College System of Nevada...to employ in any capacity...any relative...who
is within the third degree of consanguinity or affinity."Mrs. Jarvis' employment thus looks as illegal as double parking. But
she's no threat to the system, so the system sits shiva. Why have Mssrs.
Jarvis and Klasic not brought an action before the ethics commission
clarifying Mrs. Jarvis' status? Because we're dealing with dung beetles
here."I'll be one of eleven regents," art and cinema teacher Rosenberg told me
last week. "What are they so afraid of?"The only plausible answer anyone has brought forward asserts that with
Rosenberg on the board, maverick Las Vegas regent Nancy Price might finally
have a second to some of her motions. A solo voice crying in the
wilderness generates little attention. A unified shunning of the shouter
works very well. Mr. Jarvis and UNR President Joe Crowley have been able
to get their money wasting programs rubber stamped by the current rollover
board.MORE MILLIONS DOWN THE DRAIN. This month's regents meeting in Reno
provides a perfect example of the efficiency of Sir Richard the
Rubberstamp. Regent Price did not attend, but it didn't matter. There
would have been no second to her motions questioning the latest cash
hemorrhages.The compliant Reno Gazette-Journal reported none of the important issues,
choosing instead to fawn over the fat new contract given to Desert Research
Institute head Jim Taranik, who will step down next year to become just
another UNR professor with lifetime tenure. The Kazoo-Journal didn't even
know the magic question to ask: will he still get his exorbitant current
salary while serving as a teacher?The style of the U-system has been to reward compliant pet administrators
with fat teaching positions forevermore. An informed source tells me that
former UNLV provost John Unruh also stepped down to become a teacher making
upwards of $100,000 a year for spending just six hours a week in class.
Nice work if you can get it and you can get if you try.As I warned last Sunday, Mssrs. Jarvis and Crowley were coming before the
board for millions to bail their butts out because they so mismanage our
very rich U that they can't pay the bills. The rollover regents performed
as trained, ripping off $1.3 million from somewhere. (No one will say
exactly. They keep lots of bucks hidden under lots of shells.) The money
will go to cover two quarters of past due workers compensation premiums
owed to the Nevada State Industrial Insurance System. They are also
looking to skim another $3.5 million for SIIS from a heretofore untouchable
endowment funded by federal estate tax money. A UNR official told me that
the estate tax skim might be illegal, but no one in the administration will
look into that as long as the likes of Klasic and Jarvis are running the
show. To start looking into illegality, they would have to gaze in a
mirror."That's financial irresponsibility, robbing Peter to pay Paul," said
another longtime university official. "That's deficit spending and calling
it a loan. The university has one bank account with all operating money in
it. This is the only place it could come from if they did not specify,"
the official said. The U refuses to talk to the Tribune, responding to
questions with press releases. I asked their PR person for the results of
the regents meeting. Mr. Jarvis refused to specify the source of the $1.3
million "loan." My official source added that any redirection of operating
funds means somebody else won't get paid. Period. "This is obscene.
Financial incest."The kissin' cousins will also pay a $52,000 fine for getting behind, a
fact reported nowhere but here. That's a lot of scholarships.Crowley and Co. are totally insensitive on the subject of fines because
they don't hesitate to charge them - to their students. Next spring, broke
UNR students will face a 900 percent late charge increase if they can't pay
all their tuition upfront, from a maximum of $25 to $250. This comes on
top of many other Crowley regime ripoffs stealing from the students so that
the suits can live like kings. For more than a decade, the jockocracy has
raised and skimmed student health service moneys and turned them into a
welfare subsidy for UNR professional sports enterprises.A freshman now pays a mandatory $50 "orientation fee" to cover a tour of
the campus for those so geographically inept they can't find Manzanita Lake
or the men's room. As part of his campaign, Prof. Howard Rosenberg opposed
these increasing and unnecessary burdens, calling them "cash cows." Damn,
he won, said Ali Baba and Blackbeard. Off with his head.FREEDOM UNDER A FULL COURT PRESS. The student newspaper, Sagebrush, again
in jeopardy of losing its independence because it won't act as Pravda for
the party line, said this in a recent editorial: "At a time when a
student's funds are already crunched, the University of Nevada Regents have
found yet another way to make the pursuit of higher education tedious. The
obscene increase in the penalty for late payment of tuition...will hurt
most those who already feel the financial crunch...The late fees will put
the Reno campus in line with those of Las Vegas, it seems. First we've
heard of this problem. UNLVegans pay $20 for health center fees versus
Reno's $57..." Sagebrush said."It's time students started wondering where all the money's going. Surely
this money isn't tagged for those six-digit incomes of administrators and
deans, but these figures do tend to fascinate...Just a few familiar names -
Joe Crowley, president, makes $179,667. Paul Page, vice-president...makes
$125,501. Pat Miltenberger, v.p. for student services, $114,707...the king
of the med school, Robert Daugherty, is listed on the payroll twice, his
deanly income a mere $182,112 with a pittance of $15,836 for a related
subdeanly task," Sagebrush groused. (Retirement benefits and other perks
substantially increase the above base figures.)"These comfy incomes don't seem to be trickling down to your assistant
professors and lecturers, however. Chances are that the faculty who've
labored over your term papers are making just slightly more per hour than a
Sagebrush columnist," the November 15 editorial concluded. CASPER COLLECTS COPIOUS COIN: For the past four Sundays, I've related
financial and personal horror stories worthy of a Franz Kafka novel. Ghost
professors who never show up for work remain on the payroll for $100,000 a
year (a way to hide embarrassing legal settlements). Chancellor Jarvis
said he knew of no such thing when we talked a couple of weeks ago. He
promised to investigate. I'm still waiting. He also promised to ask
lawyer Klasic for a list of court cases. I'm still waiting.According to an article by UNR Profs. Thomas Wright and Laurie Larwood in
the September '96 Journal of Management Inquiry, "the latest available
figures from the chancellor's office...show that it is involved in
approximately 60 lawsuits and administrative proceedings, many stemming
from the personnel issues discussed here or others similar to them."In May of last year, the same two courageous dissidents made a
presentation to the regents about the corrosive favoritism and oppression
of the regime. The Tribune printed the story, of course. The
Kazoo-Journal silently sat shiva as usual. Wright and Larwood charged that
"the UNS Code is being flagrantly abused by members of the UNR
administration. Administrators are allowed to fabricate charges and then
act as judge, jury, witness for the prosecution and executioner. This will
result in lawsuits and publicity detrimental to the University," they
stated. "President Crowley has been formally made aware of this
condition." Just as Jarvis was made aware of the ghost professors more
than a year ago, but nonetheless told me he knew nothing. He also pleaded
ignorance of the $2 million missing at the UNR Foundation, funds earmarked
for construction of a new mines library.As only this column reported last Sunday, a request on the November
regents agenda for $2 million to pay for the project proves that the
money's missing somewhere, very possibly to settle another lawsuit. They
plan to steal the money from student funds earmarked to maintain student
housing. Outrageous.In an interview with Tribune columnist Dennis Myers, printed in the Reno
News & Review earlier this month, former deputy state controller Mary
Sanada added new confirmation to charges of uncontrolled secret borrowing
and deficit spending. One reason the prestigious Mackay School of Mines
has gone without a dean for years lies in the fact that a long gone former
dean is still collecting a six-figure annual legal settlement. (A new dean
will start next July, right after the last check to the old dean clears.)DO AS I SAY, NOT AS I DO: The official strategic direction of the
University and Community College System of Nevada, posted on the internet,
contains an accountability statement. "As a public institution, the UCCSN
is committed to conducting its business in an open manner...the UCCSN will
exercise responsible stewardship of resources..." Nothing could be further
from the truth. The university foundation broke the state public records
law when it canceled an appointment with this writer to review public
financial data on the university-owned Marigold Mine before the recent
regents' vote. Mine proceeds were the source of the missing $2 million.MONEY, POWER AND JUICE DEPT. All of this explains why Prof. Rosenberg is
perceived as a threat. He wants to stop the ripoff of his financially
struggling students. He may at long last provide a second to some of the
motions of crusading Regent Price. The legal research to destroy Rosenberg
was in the works well before the election. His well-funded opponent,
Mary-Ellen McMullen, told me so. The first volley was fired by McMullen's
campaign four days before the election. They released a June letter from
the puppet legislative counsel bureau to Assembly Speaker Joe Dini
(D-Yerington). That memo now acts as the basis for lawyer Klasic's one
pound paean to the pomposity of power.Mr. Dini raised the better part of $200,000 in a rural Nevada district
with no Republican opponent. His campaign contributor list reveals a who's
who of the fatcat lobbying clients of Mrs. McMullen's lawyer-husband, Sam,
and her lawyer-campaign treasurer, Harvey Whittemore, the most powerful
juiceman in the state. The most egregious on Dini's list are Philip Morris
Tobacco, RJ Reynolds Tobacco, ARCO, Southland Corporation (7-11 Stores),
and International Game Technology (IGT), which also gave $2,500 to Mrs.
McMullen's campaign. An IGT executive sits on the Nevada Ethics Commission
charged with judging Mr. Rosenberg's fitness for office. So does an exec
from Southland. Looks as impartial as a hangman's convention.The only other problem with the filing before the ethics commission is
that Klasic utterly fails to make his case that Rosenberg must leave his
beloved students in order to serve as regent. For all its length, Klasic's
tome does not make the necessary connection that a regent exercises
operational control over professors' salaries or grievances. Klasic
himself notes that the buck stops with university presidents, not regents.
He cynically raises the spectre that paying Prof. Rosenberg to teach after
he becomes Regent Rosenberg might constitute a felony - drivel designed for
TV and aired without counterweight by KOLO TV-8 last week. Klasic and his
bosses may be immoral, but they know how to dress in pink to pimp on the
streetcorners of soundbyte cityFIGHT BACK. Jennifer O'Neil is a mother and a college student. She will
not stand by while the pirates in the ivory tower try to consolidate their
power. "I'm tired of people doing things that are wrong. I follow the
rules. I get mad when I see people who say 'we don't have to follow the
rules.' They should just suck it up and forget it. I know a lot of people
who feel that way. Howard Rosenberg ran an election the way it should be
done. They can't stand that. They put money into Mary-Ellen," she told
me.Ms. O'Neil wants to work at forming a citizens committee to keep the
public's vote from being stolen and to investigate the wholesale corruption
in the university system. I'm gathering more names every day. E-mail me
at the addresses below, or spend 32 cents to P.O. Box 10034, Reno, NV
89510. I'll also make all columns of this now five-part series available
to anyone with e-mail download capability. By midweek, a complete set will
be available for about a dollar at Office Depot next to Costco on Plumb
Lane in Reno. Ask at the business services desk. You can also pick up
back issues of the Tribune for 35 cents each at 10th and "C" streets in
Sparks, next to the Silver Club tower.ADIOS, CAUDILLO: Our fearless leader, Tribune editor Bryan Jacobson, is
departing for greener pastures. Of all the editors I've worked with at
this paper since 1988, he's the first I'm wishing a public and fond
farewell. With his departure, Sparks loses a tremendous community asset.
May he and his family live long and prosper, and of course...Be well. Raise hell.
Andrew
Barbano is a Reno-based syndicated columnist and 28-year Nevadan.Barbwire by Barbano has appeared in the Daily Sparks Tribune since 1988. This column originally published 11/3/96. Copyright © 1996, 2010 Andrew Barbano |
