The Nevada Sagebrush

➤What: A peaceful rally in support of summoning a grand jury to investigate claims of corruption at UNR
➤ When: Noon Friday
➤ Where: Second Judicial District Court, 75 Court St., Reno
➤ Event organizers, including grand jury petitioners Terri Patraw, Richard Schweickert and Lane Grow invite all concerned individuals.

Last week a group identifying itself as “UNR Corruption” sent an e-mail message titled “The Evidence Against UNR Officials is Staggering” to more than 3,500 members of the Reno-Sparks community.

The e-mail quotes Ron Cuzze, president of the Nevada State Law Enforcement Officers Association, as saying he believes “the public should accept nothing less than a full examination and criminal prosecution” regarding claims of extensive corruption at the University of Nevada, Reno.

Former Nevada women’s soccer coach Terri Patraw, geological sciences professor Richard Schweickert and reinstated UNR Police Department Sgt. Lane Grow, along with other activists, are responsible for the e-mail messages. At an evidentiary hearing last month petitioners Patraw, Schweickert and Grow presented support for their claims of extensive corruption and racketeering at UNR before Washoe District Court Judge Connie Steinheimer.

The accusations against the university range from embezzlement of university funds, extortion and abuse of power to intimidation by UNR officials and use of UNRPD as a private police force. The petitioners allege that officials ranging from UNRPD Chief Adam Garcia to General Counsel Mary Dugan to UNR President Milton Glick are involved in the wrongdoings.

Steinheimer has yet to issue a decision on whether the claims will be investigated by a grand jury.

Patraw and others have undertaken a publicity campaign to bring attention to the petitioners’ claims of corruption within the university administration. In addition to issuing a slew of e-mails, Patraw said the petitioners — at the suggestion of several “concerned citizens”— have helped organize a peaceful demonstration at noon on Friday outside the Second Judicial District Court in Reno.

“One of the reasons we want to do the demonstration is that we know Steinheimer is under a lot of political pressure to throw this case out,” Patraw said. “She needs to know that the people who elected her are tired of the corruption.”

The petitioners hope to increase awareness of their claims throughout the community because, as Patraw said, “everybody has a dog in this fight.”
“Students, taxpayers (and) employees are paying for this corruption,” Patraw said. “These outside law firms are using state taxpayer and student tuition money to engage in illegal activity.”

Cuzze said the NSLEOA and its parent organization, the Nevada Association of Public Safety Officers, became publicly involved in the corruption issue to show that they stand behind a “citizens’ commission” to investigate the allegations. He said nearly every police department in the state supports NSLEOA’s position.

“I don’t have any first-hand knowledge of these allegations other than what’s been going on at the UNRPD,” Cuzze said, “but we support a grand jury to investigate these claims. We are tired of the intimidation and corruption by Chief Garcia.”

Cuzze said a special prosecutor and grand jury are the “proper venue” to investigate the claims against the university. He said that the Office of the Attorney General investigates all allegations against state institutions, but state attorneys are obliged to represent all state employees in legal matters.

Since Nevada has no inspector general to investigate allegations such as the petitioners’, Cuzze said he believes “there’s a natural conflict of interests” in Nevada’s state-level legal system.

“We feel that the students should know about it,” Cuzze said. “Not only are they paying tuition, they’re paying taxes, sales tax, too.”

Kent Robison, a private attorney representing UNR, said the efforts at publicity that the petitioners and others have undertaken are an attempt to unfairly manipulate Steinheimer’s decision.
“They’re obviously trying to influence a judicial officer, which is highly improper in my business,” Robison said.

He also said Cuzze and the petitioners acted “prematurely and irresponsibly” in issuing a public statement on the allegations against the university before consulting with university representatives.
“They don’t know the truth, they know the false statements that have been expressed,” Robison said. “I’m sure they raised their eyebrows when they heard it. What they should do is come to us and let us respond to the accusations.”

Guy Felton, a Web publisher and local activist, created the Web site unrgrandjury.com on Oct. 12 after receiving an unsolicited e-mail from the UNR Corruption group. Felton, who has published several other Web sites alleging corrupt or unfair practices in state and local government, is not affiliated with the case against UNR.

“Civilization can never achieve its highest aspirations without serving justice to the max,” Felton said. “Web sites can make individuals aware of problems that insult justice and encourage them to get involved in forcing solutions.”

Felton fully supports a grand jury investigation into the petitioners’ claims of corruption at the university. He said he finds the evidence of wrongdoing presented by the petitioners as well as by Hussein S. Hussein, a former UNR professor who was fired by Glick in 2008, to be deserving of public concern.

“For bottom-feeding bastards holding responsible posts at UNR to dump on these good people (Patraw, Schweickert, Grow and Hussein) is totally unacceptable,” Felton said.
Patraw said she and the other petitioners will appeal the case to the Nevada Supreme Court if Steinheimer dismisses it.

Though he refused to speculate on Steinheimer’s decision, Robison said “we are optimistic, and we hope justice will take its course” when the matter is eventually resolved. Jane Tors, UNR spokeswoman, said the university remains “confident that these allegations will again be found to be without merit.”

Aaron Benedetti can be reached at news@nevadasagebrush.com.

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