The college was not scheduled for a regular WASC visit this year because WASC in early 2010 extended a six-year term of accreditation. The WASC team will visit March 28-29.
While WASC will be visiting, the Attorney General’s office and Auditor General’s office have launched an independent investigation into possible financial irregularities at the college.
A College of the Marshall Islands official said Wednesday there are several issues not connected to Woodbury on WASC’s agenda, and at least two of them are “misunderstandings” that can be resolved by the visit.
“We’re glad WASC is coming earlier,” said board of regents member Jack Niedenthal Wednesday. “It’s an opportunity for us to show we have processes in place so that when (former President) Wilson Hess left (in late 2009), even though we’ve been through some difficulties with the most recent president, CMI is coming out of it okay.”
CMI this week named acting President Carl Hacker “interim president” to increase stability at the college while a committee is established in the next week to launch the search for a new president.
The review by WASC accrediting officials comes as the Marshall Islands government has launched an investigation into possible inappropriate use of CMI funds by Woodbury to buy out contracts of administrators who had complained about Woodbury’s leadership and then resigned after Woodbury survived a faculty and student-led effort to get him to leave in December.
Attorney General’s Office officials confirmed they and the auditor general’s office are reviewing a series of complaints lodged with the AG’s office.
Niedenthal confirmed that the Auditor General’s Office has asked to see college financial records, and “we’ve told them they can see anything they want.” In addition, Niedenthal said the college is calling in its own auditor for additional review to “make sure everything is okay.”
Woodbury, who departed Majuro last Wednesday, was served at the airport just before he got on a Continental flight to leave Majuro by an AG office official with a summons to produce documents pertaining to financial transactions at the college, according to the AG’s office. The AG is also seeking information from other college administrators. Woodbury was at CMI for just over one year.
One issue under scrutiny is a payment on departure of $28,000 — in two checks — to former Vice President for Student Services Eric Zoellner, who resigned and left theh island in mid-December.
The CMI board met earlier this week and tightened control on the amount of money — one month’s pay — that is allowable for the college president to give to a staff who resigns, with any amount above that requiring approval of the board of regents. “We didn’t have a mechanism in place to prevent this, but now we do,” Niedenthal said. “The board has proposed a policy to the administration that will be approved in the next two weeks.”
