As a taxpayer and a community member who has children that may be going to the college in the future, I would like to voice publicly some of my observations of that meeting.
First I would like to congratulate Regent Janet King for accepting despite the challenge by legal counsel the chairmanship for the board of regents. I would also like to congratulate the members of the board who voted for her. I had the feeling during the election process that the president of the college and Regent Cepeda did not want Regent King to be the chair. I wonder what their motives were. I watched and listened carefully to Regent King’s response to the inappropriate question of Regent Charles Cepeda when she was voted as the chair. Her demeanor and her responses led me to believe that she would make an excellent chair for the board of regents. Congratulations Chair King!
I worked for many years as a board CEO, so I know what it is to work with a board and how a board interacts with the CEO. My observations during that meeting are as follows:
1) It looks like Regent Charles Cepeda was not too happy with the outcome of the election. He seems to be protecting President Fernandez. Why?
2) During this economic crunch and when most government departments are hunting for funding, the college seems to be enjoying an endless flow of cash. To my knowledge the Public School System is one of the largest departments, yet has only one lawyer. The college has maybe 200 to 300 employees, yet it has two lawyers. Is it because President Fernandez has the habit of terminating contracts of employees and she needs legal advice? Isn’t this a waste of public funds?
3) I have been on Saipan since the establishment of NMC, and, believe me, I have never witnessed the place to be so divided. The climate of an organization reflects the head or CEO. If the president of the college cannot pull NMC together, why then is the board not addressing this important issue? I have never seen a college with so much turnover of employees in such little time. This cannot be good for an institution of higher education.
My hope is that the entire board of regents will work to investigate and resolve these issue before the college implodes.
JUAN M. SABLAN
As Teo, Saipan
