The first step to save NIC

The report wasn’t just critical.

It was downright damning.

A panel submitted results and recommendations from its investigation into what’s going on at North Idaho College to the body that’s responsible for accrediting NIC. Accreditation is to a college or university what cash flow is to a business. Without it, you’re toast.

And NIC is headed toward the toaster.

In its 27-page report, two major conclusions/recommendations from the panel emerged: One, that the college be placed on probation; and two, that until the foundering ship stops taking on water, overall leadership be handed to the State Board of Education. Talk about a vote of no confidence.

So what’s to be done? What we know is that soon, perhaps by the end of this month, the accrediting organization, Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities, will render its verdict and chart a course that might save NIC from the toaster. The view here is that it will be neither gentle nor easy.

In one year, leadership from Trustee Chairman Todd Banducci, abetted by board newcomers Greg McKenzie and Michael Barnes, has eroded the very foundation upon which NIC is built. It’s not just that termites have been detected. It’s that termites have made the house uninhabitable.

Academic freedom, the bedrock of higher learning, has been assaulted in no small part because of Banducci’s personal statements and actions. Administrative protocols have been blown up by the board majority, causing a leadership exodus that’s left the college utterly rudderless. The casualty list of competent people is long. The bleeding must stop.

And here’s the first step in staunching the gushing artery: Todd Banducci should resign.

He should step aside immediately, giving the NWCCU time to revise its assessment and steps to save accreditation. The State Board of Ed could step in right away to ensure people who know how to properly manage an institution of higher learning keep NIC afloat and perhaps even correct its dangerous course.

Among his many failures, Banducci has held up the process to hire a strong replacement for the president he fired. Stepping aside now would immediately make that replacement process the college’s top priority, as it should be.

Most of all, Banducci’s departure would instantly replace the chaos and fear of further subterfuge on campus with confidence. Confidence that people who know what they’re doing, who have the college’s and community’s best interests in their hearts and minds, will be free to do their jobs.

Resigning now would represent the most selfless act Banducci could commit. It would show, against an astonishing body of evidence to the contrary, that he really does care about the welfare of the institution and its people — the college’s students most of all.

Then the massive cleanup project can begin.