Continuing concerns about NIC board

COEUR d’ALENE — North Idaho College’s accreditor revealed that some trustees don’t support NIC President Nick Swayne and hope to replace him with Interim President Greg South, who has been on paid administrative leave since March.

A team from the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities conducted a site visit at NIC Oct. 30 through Nov. 1 and prepared a 19-page peer evaluation report, which the college made public Wednesday afternoon.

Read the full report at cdapress.com.

Since December 2022, NIC has had both a permanent president and an interim president under contract and is paying both full salaries and benefits. Resulting confusion about who is running the college has been among the top issues accreditors ordered NIC to resolve.

South’s 18-month contract is also a core concern cited by faculty, staff and student constituency groups, who have repeatedly called on the board to terminate the contract.

“In the evaluation team’s on-campus meetings, it was abundantly clear that Dr. Swayne has the full support of college leadership, faculty, staff and students,” the report said in part. “If the board were to take action to terminate Dr. South’s contract, it would be a relatively ‘easy win’ and would be a significant step in regaining the goodwill, confidence and trust of NIC constituents.”

Peer evaluators said staff and faculty expressed concern that trustees have kept South waiting in the wings in case they terminate Swayne’s contract, a move that would require agreement from four out of five trustees.

“In individual meetings with the evaluation team, some board members confirmed this suspicion,” the report said. “These board members stated that they did not support Dr. Swayne as a permanent president and that the rationale behind not negotiating a termination of Dr. South’s contract was, indeed, so that the board could reinstate Dr. South as president in the event that Dr. Swayne’s contract could be terminated.”

Trustees Brad Corkill and Tarie Zimmerman have urged their fellow trustees to end South’s contract.

Evaluators concluded there is “little evidence to support that NIC has one president and little confidence that there is a will to resolve” the issue of multiple presidents at NIC.

Among the board policies the NWCCU found NIC trustees remain out of compliance with is the policy regarding the NIC president’s authority over all college operations. The report said there are “several examples of the Board attempting to or actually overstepping these boundaries.” 

“At the Board’s September 27, 2023 meeting, the Board Chair attempted to interject himself into the RFP process for a strategic plan consultant, insisting to see all 21 RFP applications,” the report said, referring to Trustee Greg McKenzie who was board chair at that time. “During that meeting the Board Chair also demanded information on all non-profit community organizations to which NIC belongs in order ‘line-item veto’ those that he found problematic.”

During the board’s Nov. 20 meeting, when the trustees annually elect board officers, the board elected Mike Waggoner to take over as chair. 

The NWCCU’s report found that Swayne and his team of administrators have tackled the recommendations that are within their purview and “produced positive outcomes.”

Chief among these recommendations is rebuilding NIC’s administration and academic leadership team. At the time of the visit, all dean-level positions had been filled with permanent appointees, who evaluators described as “skilled, committed to the college and functional as a team.”

“The evaluation team was impressed with the dedication and resilience of NIC’s administration, faculty, staff and students,” the report said. “They are clearly committed to the success of NIC and are working diligently to address the issues outlined in the show cause sanction.”

Meanwhile, evaluators noted that “the recommendations that require board response and action had shown little to no progress.”

These recommendations include resolving the issues underpinning 13 votes of no confidence from constituency groups, among them the matter of South’s contract and the board’s hiring of D. Colton Boyles, an attorney who had the “lowest score” among applicants and did not respond to several required elements of his application.

“As of this writing, the board’s response to this concern, while accurate, has been dismissive, simply reiterating that the authority to hire an attorney is solely the board’s,” the report said.

Evaluators commended the work of the board subcommittee tasked with reviewing and revising board policies. The report also acknowledged trustees’ written statements about their commitment to retaining accreditation, continuing board training and improving relationships with constituency groups.

“However, the campus constituencies are clearly skeptical given that board action or inaction continues to contradict their written statements,” the report said. “Frankly, that skepticism is validated throughout the evaluation teams’ analysis provided by this report.”