Las Vegas business leaders defend embattled UNLV president
Las Vegas business leaders are coming to the defense of UNLV President Len Jessup amid some disapproval within the state university system over his practices and performance.
Tom Kaplan, senior managing partner for Wolfgang Puck Fine Dining Group, said he is “appalled that the NSHE situation has erupted as it has, where a leader such as Len Jessup has been chastised for excellent work.”
“There’s a reason why Len is attracting a quarter-billion dollars in the last three years. It’s because he’s doing great job,” he said Saturday.
Kaplan said he hasn’t met a single business leader who has had anything other than fine things to say about Jessup.
Peter Guzman, president of the Latin Chamber of Commerce, also criticized how the situation has unfolded.
“I don’t think this is how we should be treating our leaders of the university. I don’t think people should be treated like that unless it’s warranted,” Guzman said Saturday. “How are we going to get a high-level person to take UNLV seriously whenever we do things like eating our own leaders in full view of the public this way?
Kaplan also took issue with some regents’ concern for cost overruns related to the university hosting the third presidential debate more than a year ago. The cost of the debate doubled from $4 million to $8 million.
He said the publicity value for UNLV came in at more than $100 million.
“The international and national stage that we were put on, you couldn’t have paid for that,” Kaplan said. “It was offset by tenfold for the media it got, but some people don’t like to look at the whole picture.”
The rising cost of UNLV’s medical education building is another major concern for a majority of the board. University officials originally estimated that the building would cost $100 million, but the latest figures show a price tag of $232 million.
“I don’t know of an infrastructure project that hasn’t had cost overruns,” Kaplan said. “It’s not because of foul play. If there are some cost overruns, it’s natural. But is it a reason to victimize a president of a university?”
Other recent issues include the news that a dentist at UNLV’s Faculty Dental Practice Clinic reused a dental implant device that was made only for single-use; questions from regents regarding the university’s use of a $19 million line of credit for the medical school’s clinical enterprise; and concerns about the balance surplus in UNLV’s student access fee account, which is intended to help needy students pay for their educations.
It’s unclear whether any of these issues, or others unknown to the public, ended up in a performance evaluation delivered to Jessup on Jan. 22 from Thom Reilly, chancellor for the Nevada System of Higher Education.
However, many members of the business community don’t want to see Jessup — who announced on Wednesday that he’s seeking other job opportunities — go. They also, on the whole, believe the good he’s done outweighs the bad.
Jessup came to UNLV after serving from 2011 to 2014 as dean of the Eller College of Management at the University of Arizona, where he was also professor of entrepreneurship and innovation, and the Halle Chair in Leadership.
“Since President Jessup assumed the leadership of UNLV more than three years ago, he has enabled, for the first time, a critical alignment of the university and city to come together to function more effectively,” John Ritter, trustee of UNLV Foundation and chairman of the board and CEO of Focus Property Group, said in a statement. “His accomplishments on behalf of the community are marked — the launch of an outstanding medical school, a landmark stadium, a revitalized hospitality program and events like a world-class debate.”
Hoping he’ll stay
Michael Brown, president of Barrick USA, shared similar sentiments.
“I think he’s doing a very good job,” Brown said. “Since we opened our office in Southern Nevada, I watched Len as he’s worked to transform the university.”
Brown said he hopes that Jessup decides to stay, even though the university president already announced that he is job hunting.
“I hope this can all be sorted out locally,” Brown said. “Personally, what I see is a man with a vision. Somebody, who when he got here, made a great effort to reach out and learn how the place worked and what it needed. We have had a whole series of presidents in this job. You need some continuity. You need a long view. You need somebody in it to carry it all the way through. I hope we can achieve it.”
Guzman said that although Jessup announced his intent to job hunt, he doesn’t believe that Jessup wants to leave UNLV.
“He’s being told by the regents or the chancellor that’s he’s fired, so he’s got to look at other options,” Guzman said. “He’s got a family to support. I don’t necessarily think that that means he wants to leave. He’s being put in a position to have to make a comment like that.”
‘Real, incredible progress’
Jenna Morton, co-owner of the Morton Group, also hopes Jessup decides to stay. Speaking from her experience in the restaurant business, she said she believes the system should invest in an “existing positive asset,” rather than look elsewhere.
“I think for all of us, at least for this community, it is a better investment to encourage and invest in someone who already knows our culture,” Morton said Saturday. “You don’t change that midstream.”
Morton said that while there might be areas of constructive feedback for Jessup, there also needs to be support for the “real, incredible progress” that has been made.
“The trajectory of UNLV, including the last few years of President Jessup’s tenure, has been really positive,” Morton said. “We all feel that. The key is that the trajectory be supported. We’ve raised the bar of education in Las Vegas and in Nevada, and we need to keep that going.”
Contact Natalie Bruzda at nbruzda@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3897. Follow @NatalieBruzda on Twitter.
