Carol Harter, president of the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, who has been looking for work elsewhere, has long complained that the state university system declined to invent a high-paying job out of thin air for her husband, Mike Harter, currently the dean of the college of health and human services at California State University, Sacramento.
Guess what? They finally came across.
Marking the third time in three months that Nevada higher education officials have offered high-paying positions to hand-picked candidates without conducting formal job searches, state university administrators last week asked the Harters if it would make things easier for them if Mike Harter were to report for duty here in Las Vegas, "coordinating health care programs and setting goals for Nevada's medical school and university system" -- a crying need if I ever heard one -- for a meager $120,000 per year, plus benefits.
Though Mr. Harter has not yet formally responded, Mrs. Harter indicated last week the deal may be acceptable. "Having my husband here will be a great joy," she said Thursday. Whereupon the university president -- who only weeks ago was interviewing for other work as far afield as the Florida everglades -- declared "I want to reaffirm my commitment to UNLV."
Oh, I feel faint. That's for this year, at least. Next year, who knows? Maybe Mrs. Harter, like County Commissioner Erin Kenny, will turn out to have an uncle.
A search committee of three met for less than two hours on Feb. 11, interviewed Mr. Harter, decided he "fit the bill," and offered him the job without considering any other candidates, according to University system Vice Chancellor Jane Nichols, who must have donned a good-sized pair of coveralls to undertake this lube job.
Why does Mr. Harter "fit the bill"? Last fall -- when the job in question was described as a two-year assignment with a lower salary and fewer responsibilities -- UNLV Provost Douglas Ferraro said the job was (start ital)not(end ital) a good fit for Mr. Harter, and Mike Harter said he wasn't interested.
The reason it's now such a "good fit," clearly, is that they went back in and beefed up the job description and the salary until Mr. Harter no longer found it insulting.
Board of Regents Chairwoman Jill Derby, who a month ago said Mr. Harter would have to compete with a national field of candidates in a formal search if he wanted the job, is also whistling a different tune now, saying last week the university has hired the wives of other top administrators without formal searches; that she sees no problem with this liberal application of tax-funded grease; that "the reputation of the board is enhanced by hiring outstanding people"; and that "I have absolute faith in the work of Jane Nichols and Dean Miller," who certainly ought to get a few good meals at the Harter table out of this one.
Informed the job was custom-tailored for Mr. Harter and no other candidates were considered, University Regent Tom Kirkpatrick said, "I would expect them to search for someone, not just give him the damn job."
But Mr. Kirkpatrick, the lone watchdog still not with the program, appears to be out of luck. The hiring of associate deans and "coordinators" does not require board approval, you see.
Now, marriage is a wonderful institution, and couples who wish to honor their commitments by living in the same state should be encouraged. But believe it or not, plenty of families manage to squeak by in this town on less than Mrs. Harter's modest salary of $186,900 (plus a $10,000 housing allowance, plus a $6,000 car allowance, plus a $5,000 brie-and-chablis "host account.") And plenty of spouses in the private sector -- you know, the ones who pay the taxes that keep folks like the Harters in lamb chops and limousines -- have to go out and actually take whatever job they can get when their significant other opts to take that job offer in Las Vegas.
Yes, in the real world, universities are sometimes known to ease the household budget and domestic tranquility of a struggling assistant professor by offering his wife a part-time job in the school library or infirmary. Such "favoritism" may not be the worst of sins, so long as the modest job being filled is a real and vacant one.
But if Ms. Derby really knows of other cases where six-figure posts have been dreamed up out of thin air so the spouses of "top university administrators" won't have to settle for some second-rate private-sector job paying, say, a paltry $90,000, or $70,000, we'd all like to see the list of names.
And if Nevada's university system has this kind of extra money to throw around, I'll be anxiously awaiting their lobbyist's recommendation for across-the-board tax cuts when the Legislature next convenes in Carson City next year.
Vin Suprynowicz is assistant editorial page editor of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. His new book, "Send in the Waco Killers: Essays on the Freedom Movement, 1993-1998," is available by dialing 1-800-244-2224; or via web site http://www.thespiritof76.com/wacokillers.html.
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