NIC: Put needs of community first

Our beloved NIC is rapidly approaching a critical deadline this week. The NWCCU needs the NIC board’s decision on which option they will chose, should accreditation be lost. It’s an enormously important decision. Option No. 1 seems to be the most dangerous…the “teach out” plan. No. 2 seems the obvious choice as regard to what’s best for students, and least disruptive, and allows NIC to “right the ship” so to speak. No. 3 ignores NWCCU’S request, and sounds like a one way ticket to disaster.

To put it metaphorically, No. 1 would steer the ship directly into the iceberg. No. 2 would have the mother ship come in, and safely guide the sinking ship to safe harbor, with all of the passengers surviving. No. 3 sounds like the defiant ship builder telling the crew “to speed it up” and who cares if the ship is taking on water, with rivets popping!

I’m just one voice here folks.

But my heart has always been with NIC.

My Grandpa’s name is on the deed, along with Mr. Winton’s. Here’s what I know from them. When you are on a board, you park your politics on the shelf. You put the needs of the community, and the students, ahead of your own. And then you remind yourself daily you were entrusted to develop this place, this college, and not destroy it, nor the futures of these promising young people.

SARA FERRIS

Coeur d’Alene