EDITORIAL: No denying it: NIC in serious trouble

Denial is a dangerous business.

You can deny that your candidate lost an election despite what all the facts say, and maybe even convince others that your righteous indignation has some basis in truth.

You can deny that an insurrection was a treasonous act of violence, and there will be like-minded people who agree with your view that it was little more than a patriotic picnic.

Right here in Coeur d’Alene, you can deny that North Idaho College accreditation — the very lifeblood of a college — is at risk. Punched in the nose repeatedly by facts to the contrary, you can then shift your spin to blaming anyone but the three people blatantly responsible — the incompetent college trustees backed by the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee.

For those who harbor any doubt that NIC’s accreditation is in serious jeopardy and who specifically is responsible for pushing the college to the cliff’s edge, the body empowered to revoke accreditation has a very clear explanation. No amount of spin, no alternative interpretations can blunt the razor-sharp points made in the accrediting agency’s Feb. 9 “show cause” letter to NIC.

But don’t listen to us. And please, don’t listen to the local political machine pumping out misinformation and disinformation like confetti at a parade. Read the report for yourself and see if there’s any question how serious the situation has become, who got it to that point and what they must do, quickly, to save North Idaho College: https://bit.ly/3YIE52f

All the denial in the world won’t put a candidate who lost back on the throne. Nor will history’s picture of a violent attempt to overturn a legal election portray it as anything but treason, no matter how much some people paint it more pleasantly.

And at North Idaho College, denial has run its foul course in full. We’re too far down the dangerous road toward losing accreditation to be forced to go back to first steps, but here we are:

Until we, as a community, fully understand that the danger is real; that Trustees Greg McKenzie, Todd Banducci and Mike Waggoner must right their many wrongs promptly, thoroughly and provably; and until we, as a community, hold these men personally accountable, even darker days await our college on the lake.