NIC accreditation report in works

The accrediting organization for North Idaho College may have a report from its site visit by Feb. 15.

Representatives from the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities held virtual forums with college staff, faculty and students. They also met with the NIC’s interim president and the board of trustees in a fact-finding site visit on Jan. 18.

The visit was sparked by a second letter of complaint over actions of the board of trustees signed by the Bonner, Boundary and Spokane County human rights task forces as well as the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations.

In an email to the college on Wednesday, NIC Interim President Michael Sebaaly said because of the complexity and volume of the information related to the complaint, the NWCCU is hoping the evaluation report will be completed by Feb. 15 or soon after.

Following, the NWCCU board of commissioners will be convened to review the report and issue a letter of action to the college. The date of the meeting has not yet been determined.

NIC’s executive accreditation and planning committee will update the status of the report on or before Feb. 4 if there are any significant changes to the timeline.

“Until the college receives the NWCCU’s Letter of Action, we are prohibited from publicizing any information contained within the initial report, per federal regulations and NWCCU policy,” Sebaaly said in an email to the college. “I pledge to RELEASE TO THE CAMPUS COMMUNITY the final Letter of Action after receipt from NWCCU along with the External Review Panel’s Report.”