Parnell says legislature will "revisit" regents decision on student lists

Regents were asked to change the policy, but at their last meeting decided against making the campuses stop the practice. UNR, UNLV and the Community College of Southern Nevada all make substantial amounts of money from the practice -- the two main campuses well over $100,000 a year.

Campus officials led by UNLV President Carol Harter said they aren't selling the lists. Instead, the campuses collect a fee from the companies for each student who signs up.

Instead of banning the practice, the board voted to require that, in effect, the form explaining the policy and giving students the right to "opt out" be printed more prominently in student catalogs and schedules.

Parnell, who earlier reserved a bill draft request on the subject, said Tuesday the regents didn't go far enough.

She said at minimum the policy should require that students actively sign a form if they don't mind having their names and addresses sold to commercial firms rather than having to fill out a form to remove their name form the lists.

Regents too raised that option earlier this month but were told that would leave most students off the list. And campus officials threatened that students not on the lists would also be left out of mailings for possible scholarship opportunities and even deleted from the list of students graduating each year.

When regents including Steve Sisolak suggested a two-level list where students could just opt out of lists sold to commercial firms, campus officials complained they didn't want the burden of deciding what is commercial.

"We need to continue the discussion beyond where the Board of Regents acted," Parnell said Tuesday. "We don't need to encourage debt."

She said she would introduce a bill on the subject in the 2003 Legislature.