That a new search can be done and a president found before the WASC Accrediting Commission’s final decision in late June is highly unlikely. Unless, in desperation, the board makes a hasty on-island hire. Or unless it resurrects the recommendation of the previous search committee, whose findings were summarily — and insultingly — dismissed, and hires Rik Villegas, an NMC business instructor of some 15 years, whose credentials are sterling, who is respected by all who know him, and who is fully cognizant of the college’s strengths and weaknesses.
How did NMC get to this point? I taught English at the college from 1995 until retirement just this past January and worked under every president, actual or acting, it has had. I found teaching at NMC the best job I’d ever held. Initially, I loved the place, and even as its administration began to crumble and its morale tumble some years ago, I still enjoyed the great mix of local and international students. The kids in the classroom kept my spirits up.
But with the appointment of the last president (picked from far down the list of that search committee’s choices) with an autocratic management style, things began to go rapidly to hell. Some of the best, most experienced and dedicated personnel the college had, both faculty and staff, were squeezed out, fired or non-renewed, and without any real due process. Standards eroded. And there has been such a high turnover since that hardly a single current key manager has been in position for at least two years. Though I dearly hope not, for I’m still fond of the old place, I’m afraid the damage done to NMC, placed on show cause twice within two years, may well be irreparable. More than a pity, a crime. The commonwealth deserves a decent college.
BRUCE T. JOHNSON
San Vicente, Saipan
