EDITORIAL: Hard to see heaven from NIC's view

Wherever that murky netherworld between higher education heaven and hell lurks, North Idaho College is stuck there.

Some people breathed a deep sigh of relief that NIC did not receive the equivalent of a guillotine chop from its accrediting agency last week. The Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities, which had placed NIC on the final step before the blade Feb. 9, noted last Friday that the college is “substantially” in compliance in three targeted areas.

That’s progress.

However, the accreditors stated that more improvement is needed in each of those three areas. And then came the whammy.

NWCCU declared that the other nine areas it had cited as potential accreditation killers remained out of compliance. See for yourself here: https://shorturl.at/alqV8

For those keeping score at home, that’s a 12-0 butt-kicking; a dozen specific areas accreditors clearly stated NIC needed to clean up before continued accreditation would be allowed, and none of the dozen receiving the agency’s full approval.

Sorry, sports fans, but to claim victory in the game of NIC survival is at best premature. It’s the belief here that the accreditation ax was stayed far more because of the broad and deep support for the college from the community than because of anything trustees Greg McKenzie, Todd Banducci and Mike Waggoner have done.

Accreditors have heard loud and clear from NIC students and employees, SaveNIC.org (and Save NIC on Facebook), the Coeur d’Alene Regional Chamber of Commerce, the Coeur d’Alene Area Economic Development Corporation, Coeur d’Alene City Council and many others how critically important the college is to the community.

From a single mom seeking a better life for herself and her children to students taking affordable steps on their higher ed ladders and local businesses filling important jobs, the message is that North Idaho College is essential to the overall quality of life throughout the region. Its permanent loss would be nothing short of devastating.

Yet there are some who believe loss of accreditation is imperative to save the college in the long run. The thinking goes that as long as extremists hold the keys to the college, purgatory is the only parking space until the final reckoning of academic hell arrives.

Like a painful but cleansing wildfire, the thinking goes, a teardown is necessary before a new structure — one that preserves academic freedom and educational effectiveness — can take its place. And nothing would reveal the deep rot that unqualified candidates can cause more than institutional implosion, perhaps shaping wiser voting outcomes in the future.

For now, President Nick Swayne will work with trustees on all 12 of the targeted areas. With continued community support, Dr. Swayne and the other two board members, Tarie Zimmerman and Brad Corkill, represent the best chance for accreditation to be saved.

If just one of the other three trustees — McKenzie, Waggoner or Banducci — is willing to alter personal course for the greater good, then there really could be light at the end of the tunnel.

Otherwise, incremental improvement until the November 2024 trustee election is the last hope.