She said she was accused of unsubstantiated actions that were reported to the accrediting commission for the “main purpose of tarnishing my reputation and making me a scapegoat for the current turmoil within the institution.”
“I find this to be exceedingly degrading and unprofessional, and I absolutely refuse to continue to tolerate it. Once I am no longer a regent, I can openly defend my honor and my reputation, which I certainly intend to do,” she said.
In her resignation letter dated March 6, McPhetres told Gov. Benigno R. Fitial that NMC President Carmen Fernandez lacks the transparency and forthrightness in dealing with the board of regents and with Dr. Barbara Beno, president of the accrediting commission.
Fernandez was not available for comment as of press time yesterday.
“I have lost faith and trust in the president’s ability to lead our institution into the future. Under such circumstances, I can no longer be an effective board member,” she said.
McPhetres, NMC’s longest serving president, said Fernandez lacks what it takes to gain the confidence and the commitment of the faculty and staff “bold enough to voice publicly their dissatisfaction with her management of the institution.”
She told Fitial that some faculty, staff, administrators and community members asked her to meet them as they would express their concerns against Fernandez.
“The sheer frequency of the calls suggested that there are problems the board is failing to recognize,” McPhetres said, adding that these frustrations were manifested when a group of staff and faculty met to voice their concerns.
McPhetres, who was NMC’s president from 1981 to 1999, said she did not attend the meeting.
“I certainly did not instigate [it],” she added.
But, she said, she was later called to a meeting with some of the board members, to defend herself against actions that she had no part of.
“The pain I had to go through as I sat and had to defend myself against obvious lies was unbearable. I am also at a loss in this situation because I fail to comprehend how a professional educator (such as the NMC president) could stoop so low as to accuse a well-intentioned fellow educator (namely me) of unsubstantiated action,” she said.
She told the governor that during the less than two-year period since Fernandez became president, she, McPhetres, was the third, if not the fourth, regent who resigned because of issues with the president.
“Hence my decision to resign from the board so that I will no longer have to turn my back on those who feel they have no one to openly listen to their concerns and to offer recommendations for addressing them, and so that I can defend my reputation without being fettered,” McPhetres said.
