Wife of UNLV President Apologizes for Clashes

Bonnie Ashley has apologized for the tone of her communications with staff members at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, where David Ashley, her husband, is president, The Las Vegas Sun reported. “I don’t want this to be misconstrued as an apology for being a strong-minded woman, but rather to show an awareness that it must be exercised in a more temperate fashion,” she wrote in a memo to the Board of Regents in which she volunteered to relinquish her "hostessing role" until the university system determines what it wants from her. Among the e-mails that have recently been made public are ones in which she told some staffers "You all are paid way too much for me to have to put up with the constant problems I am dealing with, and it’s just wasting my time.” Another said: “I should not have to tell you this ... you do NOT argue with the first lady ... that behavior is completely unacceptable.” In December, another presidential spouse -- Carol Petersen -- was the center of a dispute over allegations over how she treated staff members at the University of Tennessee. Not long after, John Petersen quit as president.