NIC awaits site visit report

COEUR d’ALENE — North Idaho College will soon receive a final report from the accreditation evaluators who visited campus last week.

NIC President Nick Swayne and accreditation liaison officer Steve Kurtz shared the latest accreditation developments with trustees and community members Wednesday night during the monthly board meeting.

A site visit team from the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities met with stakeholder groups, trustees, administrators and others on campus Oct. 14 and 15. NIC has operated under a show cause sanction, the last step before the loss of accreditation, since early last year, stemming from issues of board governance and trustee behavior.

“They took a lot of time viewing the videos of past board meetings and reading the report and all the evidence that was attached,” Kurtz said of the site visit team. “It was way more than what was spent on a traditional comprehensive evaluation.”

Last week’s site visit was the last one before the April 1, 2025, deadline for NIC to return to good standing with its accreditor, though the visit and subsequent report aren’t NIC’s last chance to show improvement.

NIC received access to the draft report Tuesday, Swayne said and has until Oct. 29 to correct any minor errors of fact. The final report will likely be published Nov. 4 or 5.

“The report is not the last step in the process until the commission meeting (in January 2025),” Kurtz said. “The college is permitted to provide updates and additional evidence to the NWCCU, as there are four meetings, including tonight, that we can provide evidence of best practices and board governance.”

Wednesday was the final board meeting for at least two trustees. Mike Waggoner and Todd Banducci chose not to run for reelection this year, while Greg McKenzie will face challenger Eve Knudtsen in the Nov. 5 election for his Zone 4 seat.

At the close of the meeting, Waggoner spoke positively about Banducci’s 12 years on the board.

“He voted his conscience and, as a volunteer, he has tried to do what is good for the school,” Waggoner said. “He has taken great satisfaction during his tenure in helping individual students when possible or referring them to leadership to find solutions to solve the challenges they faced. He has seen lives positively impacted and changed for the better in the long term.”

McKenzie praised board chair Mike Waggoner, who was first elected in 2022, for his leadership during the past year.

“I just want to say it’s been an honor to have you as chair,” McKenzie said. “Thanks for your service. A great chair. Many years of experience have been widely used around here.”