WHILE students may not “hire and fire” the Northern Marianas College president, a mechanism should be in place for us and other elements of the community to give input into the search for a new president. We are the “community” the regents represent.
The new president should encourage and welcome input from students on any matter affecting student life. S/he should have a doctorate and at least one degree in education; be an innovative researcher, a continuing learner, model a spiritual foundation and display an ease with cultural and individual diversity; be a family person, physically fit and alcohol and drug free; have experience in local cultures; and be as comfortable with Sun Tzu’s “The Art of War” as she is with Levin’s “A Mind At A Time,” or Silverman’s “Crisis In the Classroom” and Birenbaum’s “Overlive: Power, Poverty, and the University.”
The president should be a people person, a communicator, and a mediator who leads and inspires. S/he should understand that students with children need child care accommodations and class schedule considerations and have plans to meet those needs. S/he should be a wise fiscal manager who would be first to accept a salary cut, and who, given distance learning, resists allocating funds for new building construction.
We students need a president who has career experience in both the small college and the large university, has known both failure and success, is effective with students and articulate with faculty, regents, legislators, and children. We need a president who can help NMC become the community college it is designed to be.VICTORIA TAITAGUE
Chalan Kiya, Saipan
