The chairman and vice-chairman of the Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education has reprimanded Chancellor Jim Rogers for that scorching op-ed in Sunday’s Nevada Appeal attacking Gov. Jim Gibbons. And, of course, they granted Gibbons’s request to have a “liaison” appointed in lieu of Rogers to speak to the governor on behalf of the university system. (It’s Dan Klaich, the executive vice chancellor. Sorry, Mr. Klaich.)

“Those statements by you were unauthorized and inappropriate, and may have compromised our ongoing efforts to further the interests of the Nevada System of Higher Education,” the letter reads. “You are certainly entitled to your individual opinion as a citizen, but you are not authorized to issue such statements as chancellor.”

According to the letter, Rogers told the regents that he didn’t intend to speak for the board when penning the op-ed, which called Gibbons all sorts of names and concluded that the governor was greedy and incapable of empathy toward humans.

“You have also agreed, during your service as chancellor, to refrain from making personal public comments concerning the governor. Per our conversation, you have authorized the release of this letter to the public,” the missive concludes. (Hat tip to my colleague Jon Ralston for posting the letter on his blog.)

Well, of course Rogers wanted the letter released. It was probably so people like us at Various Things & Stuff could point out the following:

1. Nowhere in the letter do Wixom and Geddes tell Rogers that what he said about Gibbons was wrong, or that they disagree. They appear only to be upset that Rogers said those things out loud.
2. The only real regret the regents seem to feel is that Rogers comments may have hurt them with the governor’s office. But, really, how much worse off could they be? He already sliced their budgets to hell and breakfast, so do they think Rogers being nice to Gibbons would change things? C’mon, regents, wake up: Gibbons really doesn’t care about students or higher education in Nevada.
3. Rogers, in his comments to the regents, did not apologize, nor did he say he was in error about what he said about Gibbons.
4. In fact, the only person we know who has said Rogers was wrong about Gibbons was the governor himself! Every other person with whom we’ve conversed about this — to a person — has only said it was inapporpriate for Rogers to attack the governor so publicly and viciously. But no one — not a soul — has told us Rogers’s assessment of Gibbons character was incorrect.

So, since Rogers has indicated he’s stepping down as chancellor this summer, we’ll see if he can hold his fire that long. We kind of doubt it, but if he does, we cannot wait for the first KVBC Channel 3 editorial after Rogers leaves the chancellor’s office. That’s going to be fun!