Re-Rogering campus

Whether Jim Rogers’ withdrawal of his resignation as Nevada higher education chancellor is accepted will have to be decided by the Nevada Board of Regents.

Rogers issued a two-word ("I quit") resignation letter on Sunday, then withdrew it late on Monday after meeting with two of his critics on the board and reportedly working out differences.

“There are those people who believe that if he withdraws his resignation within three days, there’s no further action that need be taken because [under Nevada regulations] you have three days to withdraw a resignation,” Regent Howard Rosenberg said. “There are others who think this needs to be acted on by the full board—both letters, both the ‘I quit’ letter and the letter that says he wants to come back.”

Rosenberg said he is certain that the withdrawal of the resignation will be acted on by the board. He also said the idea that the university would be crippled at the Nevada Legislature by an absent chancellor is nonsense.

"There are those people who insist that going to the legislature without him would be suicide. I say that’s the biggest crock of crap I’ve ever heard in my life because the legislature does not give money to Jim Rogers. The legislature allocates money for their constituents who are taking part in one of the most important endeavors this state does, which is educate its citizens. And if indeed they’re only going to give money to someone who happens to be chancellor, I think we got a real major problem on our hands.”

Rogers, in fact, brings a good deal of political baggage with him to the legislature. He has been highly critical of Gov. James Gibbons. As a television station owner, he made news with harsh editorial attacks on Miriam Shearing during her successful campaign for the Nevada Supreme Court, and he once wrote a threatening letter to Justice John Mowbray.