NIC received a show cause letter, containing an extensive list of board actions that brought the college to where it stands now. Mainly the letter found the previous letter NIC sent to them, “fail to adequately demonstrate that the institution is in compliance with a number of NWCCU eligibility requirements and standards of accreditation.”
The Interim president Dr. Greg South said the accrediting commission encouraged them to “work through this.” Once the board understood their concerns, they can keep accreditation. And the commission said they wanted the board to understand their concerns.
The accrediting commission is looking for four standards of accrediting. South said NIC remains compliant for three of the four standards: Teaching instruction, student services, and school finances.
“The fourth one is governance, and that’s just the only place where we have an issue,” South said.
South said the board started an entire training process when they went to the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee in January. While in Boise for the legislative session, South brought the entire board with him, insisting they go together. The board working together is the main concern of the accrediting commission.
When they went to Boise, South said the board had formal training with the attorney Generals Office. The training involved how to conduct open meetings. They had another one on communication between the board and the Idaho State Board of Education with the executive director. The week after, the board started a retreat training session.
Evidence of board training have been sent to the accrediting commission. They are looking for the trainings to show what it means to be a board.
“So what we’ve have been doing is every week we’ve been sending the accrediting commission a letter of the board trainings,” said South. “Things that the board has been doing that week trying to move in the right direction, updating them and that’s demonstrable evidence.”
South said this will be an ongoing process for the next six or nine months until the accrediting commission are satisfied with the training requirement, though he is unsure whether board training will ensure NIC’s accreditation.
“But we’re going through the process of trying to help them understand their roles and function like a functioning board does at most schools,” South said.
South said the board does not have to agree on votes or material passed. They just have to speak with one voice. He even mentions that the board will often pander to their specific groups in the audience.
“They can’t go out and counter each other, which they have a history of doing,” said South. “Which is part of what the accrediting commission is concerned about.”
The show cause letter has a list dating back to September 22, 2021 of when tumultuous board actions first began. The first actions dating to former NIC president Rick McLennan fired without cause.
Board governance has become a hot topic within recent months, if not for a few years. Trustees subsequently broke open meeting laws, placed former NIC president Dr. Nick Swayne on administrative leave. They also hired Art Macomber on the spot as NIC’s new attorney. Swayne reminded them, as stated in the letter, was “the impropriety of the hiring process.”
South said he wants to implement the best practices proven to work “from other institutions the accrediting board looks for.”
“So part of that is board education, board training for role definition, role acceptance,” said South.
South has reminded the board of their duties as elected officials to the college. Voters as their stakeholders of the community to speak as one voice.
“They haven’t been doing that,” said South. “that’s why we had the problems.”
When South arrived at North Idaho College, he held some listening sessions, bringing a list of things he is trying to do.
- Ensure accreditation.
- Get everyone working together.
- and bring the temperature down, due to how inflamed the issue has become.
South said that there was a chance things have already been inflamed. So his objective is to try and get people working together, get accreditation sorted out that would supposedly bring the temperature down. He remains confident with the team he has, that the college will get through this.
“The pressure doesn’t bother me because I’ve been doing this for a long time and I’ve been a president before, I’ve been through these things,” said South. “One school I went into we had 14 counts of warning for accreditation my first day. I walked into that kind of like what I’ve walked into here, it wasn’t as inflamed, but it was much more serious. And we got off all that in a year.”
South said the college is running out of time and that the board should not be doing anything else, which allows him to push back harder.
“We don’t have time,” South said. “We’d rather not be on show cause and not have these issues.”
As the college sails through uncharted waters, students become the center of the main focal point.
North Idaho College student Helenna Obrien is taking Physics. She said she hopes things go well for the college, though at times hard to watch what is happening.
“Its definitely hard seeing the college go through this stuff, because I want them to succeed,” said Obrien. “But it’s also hard seeing them kind of fight against themselves, cause they’re having organizational problems as far as I can tell.”
Business and marketing student Moriah Kugler has some similar sentiment. Kugler is an out-of-state student who stays in the dorms, since it is the only affordable option for her and college is expensive.
“I think it’s really inconvenient for all of us, especially I’m out of state so it kind of limits my choices,” said Kugler. “it’s a really great community that’s being threatened, it really sucks because especially, I’m on campus too, so housing is going to be a big issue for me if that goes away.”
NIC currently has accreditation for now. Credits are still transferable and awarded degrees will not be taken away.
Edit: As of writing, the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities have sent NIC a new letter addressing two changes to the submission date and special-evaluation visit. This is to give the college more time to complete the self-evaluation report on eligibility requirements and accreditation standards. The new date for a show cause report submission is March 31. The special visit will now occur on April 26-27. Links to the letters on board development from the interim president are added.
