NIC: Understanding the crisis

I would like to respond to Chris Sullivan’s April 14 letter to the editor. NIC’s impact on the region should give everyone a dog in the fight in the ongoing NIC saga. The Coeur d’Alene Press is commendably reporting the news that is much more than a perceived political bias. It is the complicated consequences of choosing unqualified, politically motivated candidates to local board positions.

The value of higher education is so people can learn about life beyond themselves. It’s working when the knowledge people gain includes an understanding of how much they still don’t know.

It promotes equal access to learning for students who are women, have disabilities, have low entry skills, are veterans, are of different cultures, are LGBQTIA, and all others.

Todd Banducci has apparently been dissatisfied with NIC’s direction, but his vision for NIC has not been clearly revealed. Many of his supporters seem to expect NIC to become a college with more conservative values. This is pretty ambiguous. Values defined, however, by religious preferences expressed in churches or private colleges are restricted in public institutions supported by the diverse views and values of taxpayers.

Higher education standards are well established and verified through accreditation. Those who want to simply define the current NIC saga to a dividing political bias don’t understand the true crisis. The Press is trying to inform everyone about the ongoing real struggle over current efforts to lead NIC astray of the purpose and standards of public higher education and the tragic consequences.

GARY COFFMAN

Coeur d’Alene