“I’m hearing about some of them for the first time from newspaper reporters, but I welcome any appropriate inquiry into any of the decisions I made as president,” she said yesterday.
“I have even asked the human resources department of NMC to extend their assistance to those who are not familiar with the grievance procedures,” she added.
Leo Pangelinan, NMC’s director for counseling program and services, described the disclosure of the grievances to the media as “strange” and very untimely.”
The complaints were mostly filed last month and were addressed to Dr. Debra T. Cabrera, NMC’s academic programs and services dean.
Despite these grievances, Fernandez said their momentum toward accreditation reaffirmation has not slowed down.
“Faculty, staff, students, and board members are hard at work doing their part in meeting accreditation requirements, especially in preparation for next week’s meeting with the accreditation team visit,” she said.
Two of the grievances concern students issues, four are about the hiring process and the renewal of a contract, one involves the management of bookstore, and the other is about the preparation of the college budget
The grievance of Ivan Mereb Jr., the Associated Students of NMC president, was addressed to the student grievances committee while the complaint of Janel Villegas, an NMC student, was addressed to Gov. Benigno R. Fitial.
Mark Haag, languages and humanities department chairman, filed his complaint against Fernandez for the delay in the hiring of an English instructor and a full-time Japanese instructor.
Larry Lee, acting chairman of the business department, complained about Fernandez’s “detrimental hiring practices.”
Lee also criticized Fernandez for the “irresponsible and improper handling of the NMC bookstore’s personnel and operations.”
Frank Sobolewski, social science and fine arts department chairman and honorary member of NMC’s board of regents, complained about the way the college’s proposal for fiscal year 2010 was submitted to the budget and finance committee and then to the college council.
In an interview, Pangelinan, who was mentioned in Mereb’s complaint, said the grievances are supposed to be addressed at the department level first.
He noted that the grievances, filed last month, were disclosed to the media a week before the scheduled visit of the accreditation team.
Pangelinan believes that the complaints do not reflect the sentiments of the NMC community.
Fernandez said she is encouraging any individual who feels that he or she has been wronged to make use of the grievance process that has been put in place by the NMC board of regents.
But she refused to comment on any grievance “to protect the privacy of individuals.”
