CSN professor sues state, says removal from program came after complaint of nonpayment

A College of Southern Nevada professor has filed a federal lawsuit against the state, alleging that CSN stopped paying him and his staff while he was running a small business program, then did not re-appoint him as director when he complained about the nonpayment.

Kevin Raiford, a business professor at CSN, previously told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that he was ousted from the multimillion-dollar, tax-funded NV Grow program after he refused to award federal money to unqualified companies to which State Sen. Dina Neal pressured him to give money, including one owned by her friend.

Neal, who did not immediately respond to requests for comment Friday, denied Raiford’s claims last year, but was investigated by the FBI after the Review-Journal exposed the allegations.

Raiford’s suit, filed Thursday, did not mention Neal, but stated that starting on August 1, 2022, CSN stopped paying Raiford and other NV Grow staff.

The suit was filed against the State of Nevada. CSN is a public college supervised by the Nevada Board of Regents.

Raiford complained to then-President Federico Zaragoza and Bill Dial, the chief human resources officer, about what Raiford said was the failure to pay. He told Zaragoza that “the payment issue was urgent and required his assistance as it was having an adverse impact on the NV Grow staff, including one employee who was unable to pay his rent because he had not been paid,” according to the suit.

And on August 16, 2022, the suit said, his attorney wrote to Dial, “asserting that CSN’s continued failure to pay the NV Grow staff was unlawful” and that he might be forced to take legal action against the college.

Two days later, the college told him in an email that he was not re-appointed as NV Grow director, the suit claimed.

“Defendant decided not to renew Plaintiff’s appointment as Director of NV Grow because Plaintiff complained about Defendant’s failure to pay the NV Grow staff any of their wages in August 2022,” the suit said, and “effectively terminated” Raiford.

CSN spokesperson Richard Lake said CSN cannot comment on litigation. Lynda King, an attorney for the Nevada System of Higher Education, the agency governed by the board of regents, said she did not have knowledge of the lawsuit, declined to comment and hung up on a reporter.

Zaragoza, who recently retired, could not be reached for comment. Dial did not respond to a request for comment. Raiford’s attorney, Michael Arata, also did not respond to a request for comment.

Raiford said Friday that he’s about to begin a new school year as chair of the business administration department.

NV Grow started in 2015. It’s a program intended to help local businesses. CSN’s Division of Workforce and Economic Development operates it, according to the lawsuit.

The suit said Raiford has been a tenured professor at CSN since 2008. He was rated third on ratemyprofessors.com’s 2011-2012 list of top professors.

Contact Noble Brigham at nbrigham@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BrighamNoble on X.