Campus morale takes hit

On Feb. 12, an intermediary from Gov. Jim Gibbons approached Nevada higher education vice chancellor Dan Klaich about setting up a dialogue to work out differences between the governor and Nevada higher education Chancellor Jim Rogers, who have been locked in a series of battles since Gibbons became governor.

In an odd case of timing, the approach was made by Gibbons associate Patty Wade Perry just one day after Gibbons released a podcast on the state’s higher education budget that sent morale on the UNR campus plummeting.

Rogers told Klaich to rebuff the approach from Gibbons on the grounds that too many previous such initiatives had come to nothing, and Rogers would deal with state legislators instead.

The same day the machinations between Wade Perry and Klaich were going on, UNR President Milton Glick held a campus meeting at which there was very small attendance. One attendee attributed it to reaction to the Gibbons podcast: “They can’t bring themselves to even listen to anyone talk about it.”

Meanwhile, campus denizens took some comfort from a response to the governor’s podcast written by UNR economist Elliott Parker. Both the text of the governor’s podcast and Parker’s response can be found on our Newsview blog.