CARSON CITY - University regents have been told not to expect a Nevada Supreme Court decision on whether college presidents are public officers before early next year at the soonest.
Tom Ray, the University and Community College System of Nevada's general counsel, said the system still hasn't formally appealed a Clark County District Court ruling that college and university presidents are public officers.
The Sept. 29 ruling followed a challenge by the Las Vegas Review-Journal of the system's plan to hold closed-door interviews of finalists for the Community College of Southern Nevada presidency.
Ray told regents Thursday that the high court appeal will be filed as soon as a final order is signed by the lower court, and he'll ask for expedited consideration.
Regent Howard Rosenberg asked why it was taking so long for the appeal process to move forward, and suggested that attorneys for the Review-Journal were not moving as quickly as they could.
''They're hurting an institution and they're hurting students,'' he said.
Regent Mark Alden asked regents to reconsider the idea of appealing the lower court ruling, saying, ''I want these searches done in the open.'' But he got no support from other regents.
The Review-Journal is arguing that presidents are public officers, and as a result, interviews should be conducted in public. Finalists for the Community College of Southern Nevada presidency said earlier that they had no problem with public interviews.
