We, the undersigned, object to the process used to select Dr. Michael D. Richards as the College of Southern Nevada President. First, Dr. Michael D. Richards signed a contract to become the Interim President and the contract stipulated that he would not become a candidate for the permanent job. When the national job search was conducted candidates applied for the job based on that good faith assumption.

Secondly, Dr. Richards broke his contract and then did not follow nationally published procedures to enter the candidate pool. Specifically, he joined the pool after the search closed, and was therefore able to forego competing with the other candidates to become a finalist.

We strongly feel that two better-qualified finalists for the job were passed over in favor of Interim President Mike Richards who was by far the weakest and least experienced of the three finalists.

Since it has become apparent that Dr. Richards might not enjoy the majority support of the CSN faculty, we request that at your upcoming May 1 meeting you ask for a vote of confidence from the CSN faculty before you nominate Dr. Richards as CSN President.