NIC board places President Swayne on immediate leave; votes to ask former interim president, Mike Sebaaly, to return

COEUR d’ALENE — The North Idaho College board of trustees voted Thursday to place President Nick Swayne on immediate administrative leave and ask Michael Sebaaly, the former interim president, to return as acting president.

The actions were taken when the trustees returned to open session after 10 p.m., following a roughly three-hour executive session.

The motion to place Swayne on administrative leave was made by Trustee Todd Banducci and recommended by the college's new attorney Art Macomber, who clarified the motion.

Macomber said the motion would allow him to work with Greg McKenzie, the board chair, to "investigate things that have arisen of concern that impeded our accreditation success."

Trustee Tarie Zimmerman voted against both motions, which passed by a 3-1 vote. Trustee Brad Corkill was not present for the meeting.

Because the trustees remained in executive session until after The Press deadline for Friday’s print edition, the full story about what occurred in open session will initially be available online only, and it will be published in Saturday's print edition.