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As if the Community College of Southern Nevada didn't already suffer from an image deficit—scandals in the '90s and, this millennium, racism, whiste-blowing, a federal probe into lobbying and hiring practices—now comes Teaching Amidst the Neon Palm Trees, a salt-in-the-wound tome from fired political-science professor Lee Ryan Miller about his time at Controversy College.
Now living and teaching in Modesto, California, he returns to Vegas today for four days of book signings. Reached at home prior to the visit, the 36-year-old author talked about life under the CCSN bigtop.
Why does controversy continually dog CCSN?
Nine out of 10 people couldn't tell what regent represents them, so these people aren't being scrutinized by the public. There should be a community board that runs each community college.
Press materials describe your book as a "tell-all" and quote you as saying, "A lot of very powerful people in Las Vegas are furious about what I've revealed." Who are these powerful people and why are they furious?
Most of the regents are unhappy, the people I talk about—Richard Moore, Bob Silverman—aren't happy and, I heard through the grapevine, the administration is angry. They're angry because the book reveals how naïve they [administrators] were to put faith in Moore, Silverman and others who fell from grace. You know the saying, 'You wouldn't eat sausages if you know how they are made.' People wouldn't go to CCSN if they knew all the bad things goings on.
Why write an expose five years later?
The book in not about, 'I lost my job' and sour grapes. It's about education taking a back seat to politics and egos. Problems are ongoing at CCSN, and that's because there are a bunch of people with very large egos with insufficient ethics running the place. Education is lowest priority, with political maneuvering being the highest.
Describe working conditions under Moore.
There was a lot of fear, especially if you didn't have tenure. My first meeting with him, I go to his office and he bursts out the door with Sandoval chasing. He says, 'follow me.' He and Sandoval talk for 20 minutes, he makes several cell phone calls and completely ignores me. After they're done, he says, 'follow me.' We go to Silverman's office and he leaves me. If he had half as much integrity as he does charisma, he'd be nominated for sainthood.
The official reason for your termination was for "unprofessional behavior." What did you do?
I don't know. I was never given any explanation. I was told by others that they (university officials) were concerned about my willingness to follow rules or procedures. They fired me while I was in D.C., shadowing (Democratic Rep.) Shelley Berkley. I got a call from my department because students were complaining that they couldn't register for my class. It was cancelled.
You encouraged your students to engage in political activity, one time requiring them to register to vote or write a paragraph on why they didn't want to. Did this type of behavior lead to your demise?
No. Some people disagreed with me, but it wasn't a major controversy. Look, I'm teaching political science, and one of the goals is to encourage people to engage in the political system. I had a review, so it wasn't my teaching that was an issue.
The European trip seemed to seal your fate. Explain its genesis, purpose and why it caused controversy.
I'd written my undergraduate honors thesis on the European Union and I thought it'd be great to take students to Europe to learn about the EU, NATO, the Yugoslav War Crimes Tribunal going on at the time and to meet with government officials. The department chair thought it was a great idea. A colleague told me to ask student government for some funding because the two-week trip was $3,000 per person, expensive for college students. Problems started there. The student government advisor opposed the trip, but the money was eventually approved—$20,000 for 8 students.
That's a lot of loot for so few students.
Student government wanted 20 students to apply, but only six did because many were told the trip wasn't approved.
In his book review, Doug French, a policy fellow at the Nevada Research Policy Institute, calls you "a whinny (sic) leftist political-science instructor who constantly makes it clear that he's underpaid, under appreciated, constantly broke and without dependable transportation (he tells of two instances when his car either didn't start or died inside the first 16 pages of the book)." Comments?
I think it's great that my book appeals to people across the political spectrum—his political views tend to be a bit right of center. I corresponded with him and he saw my book as a wonderful case for mismanagement of government resources.
But that's a harsh characterization for someone who "liked" the book.
He didn't like who I represented as a character. I came across as left-wing.
Since leaving CCSN, you've taught at Cypress College and California State University, Stanislaus. The folks at Stanislaus say you left there and wouldn't say why. What's going on?
That's weird, I'm still at Stanislaus, teaching part-time at the university as an adjunct professor. My official title is lecturer.
You're going to speak about the book September 22 at UNLV. Gonna have a flak jacket?
I actually should [laughs]. No, it should be fine. There is nothing libelous in the book. The worst things that were said all came from the newspapers. My story just fills in some of the gaps.