North Idaho College has made needed improvements, its accreditor said in a new report, but ongoing concerns with governance throw the future of the college's accreditation into doubt.
In February 2023, the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities placed North Idaho College on a show-cause sanction — the last step before it could pull the institution’s accreditation.
NWCCU flagged several concerns with the institution, including multiple lawsuits, high turnover, leadership uncertainty and several no-confidence resolutions in the board.
The community college has until April 1, 2025, to meet the federal deadline to fix NWCCU's concerns or it will lose accreditation.
The accreditor will decide if it will place North Idaho College in good standing in January, the last chance the institution has to ditch the show-cause status before the federal deadline arrives. Without accreditation — and the access to federal financial aid that it provides — colleges often can’t survive.
North Idaho College did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday.
Peer evaluators for NWCCU recently completed a two-day tour of the Coeur d'Alene institution and conducted extensive interviews and meetings, including with students, faculty, the president, top leaders and most of the board members. The resulting report found that no one expressed a high confidence in the sustainability of recent improvements to the board’s well-documented governance issues.
"Only a sustained record of good practice can decisively heal the distrust and dysfunction of prior years," the evaluators said in their report last week.
What led to North Idaho College’s woes?
North Idaho College's board of trustees is at the heart of the institution's strife.
The community college, which enrolled almost 4,300 students in fall 2022, first faced public headwinds in November 2020. That month's trustee election resulted in conservative members gaining majority control of the traditionally nonpartisan board.
Their takeover became an ideological flashpoint in the community.
In early 2021, for instance, local human rights organizations sent a letter to NWCCU accusing North Idaho’s then-board chair, Todd Banducci, of aggressive behavior and of undermining academic freedom.
And in 2021, the board members fired then-President Rick MacLennan without cause, the first of several decisions that resulted in chronic leadership instability. The board hired his permanent replacement, Nick Swayne, in June 2022 and then placed him on leave before the end of the year.
For a time, the college employed two presidents — Swayne and an interim leader appointed by the trustees, Gregory South. Swayne ultimately won a lawsuit against the board to be reinstated, which it then sought to appeal.
The board voted to drop the appeal in May, NWCCU evaluators found last week.
"The board has resolved many of the uncertainties regarding college leadership by allowing the contract for Interim President Gregory South to expire, resulting in the college employing only one president," their report said.
North Idaho College's board has resolved other lawsuits NWCCU cited as concerns in its initial show-cause order, evaluators said.
Despite improvement, employee concerns linger
North Idaho College worked to address many of its accreditor’s concerns in an August report. In it, the college focused on improving its governing board and strengthening its working relationship with the president, in addition to reducing institutional risk overall and building inclusivity on campus.
Last week, NWCCU's peer evaluators noted the continued "high level of professionalism, dedication, and positivity" among North Idaho College's employees.
North Idaho College’s trustees have successfully sustained a "collaborative agenda-setting process" between the institution’s president and the board chair, the report said. Trustees have also adopted an orientation policy for new members.
The board has also developed policies on board members’ conduct, ethics and evaluation.
"The changes have led to improvements in decision-making," the report said. "Notable among these are the procedurally smooth adoption of NIC’s FY 2025 budget, an equally smooth approval of NIC’s strategic planning goals, and completion of the president’s evaluation."
However, NWCCU evaluators expressed trepidation regarding the longevity of these changes — concerns they said were echoed by campus community members.
When touting its improvements, North Idaho College relied almost entirely on one May board meeting as proof, according to the evaluators. And even that single event faced operational challenges.
Since then, board meetings have continued to improve, the report found. But it said the months of improvement aren’t “long-lived,” particularly in light of the college's years of accreditation sanctions.
North Idaho College said in its action plan that it has moved to address employee turnover concerns, putting several new initiatives into action.
All senior-level members of North Idaho College's cabinet are currently filled, and the college sought to increase retention through flexible work options, a general wage increase and community-building activities, NWCCU evaluators said.
However, turnover among North Idaho College employees remained high. In fiscal 2023, 18.1% of the college's workers departed, nearly double the national average of 9.6%, according to the report.
The college still has a high number of vacancies, worsened by a lack of candidates with higher education experience and crucial niche skill sets, like financial aid processing.
North Idaho College employees also said the board hasn’t addressed the no-confidence votes levied against it, per the report. From February 2021 to February 2024, the board faced 13 votes of no confidence from its constituency groups, according to the college.
North Idaho College told NWCCU evaluators that it is addressing those votes through its ongoing work to address accreditation concerns.
But the faculty, staff and administrators told peer evaluators they did not agree with this assessment.
"They contended that the NIC board had not ever addressed the votes of no confidence," the evaluators' report said. "Nor is there any evidence that the board has engaged in meaningful dialogue with the constituent groups who generated the no-confidence statements."
Instead, community members reported that board members have dismissed or been condescending to them.
Employees said they have "little confidence that the current board would consistently act in the best interest of the college long-term," a distrust that will extend to whichever trustees hold office after this month's election.
Two members of the board's conservative majority — Board Chair Mike Waggoner and Banducci, now the board's vice chair — are not running for an additional term.
North Idaho College's employees want the board to publicly take accountability, they told NWCCU officials. From there, trustees should commit to improving their behavior and demonstrate they can consistently do better over time.
