On Friday, the board of regents decided to re-open the position and assured that it will expedite the process.
Lorraine T. Cabrera will remain as interim president.
Board Chairwoman Paz C. Younis is confident that the new search for president will not affect NMC’s accreditation efforts.
“We are very optimistic because our college is really working very hard. As long as we’re trying our best and doing what we could, I think that’s what the accreditation commission wants to know,” she said.
In a statement, Younis said the presidential search committee transmitted the names of two finalists to the board of regents on Oct. 7, 2010. One of them withdrew, and the board interviewed the remaining candidate on Dec. 3, 2010.”
The one who withdrew was Dr. Betsy Boze, who accepted a similar job offer at the Bahamas.
The other candidate was NMC instructor Rik Villegas.
“It appears that politricks is alive and well at NMC,” a resident who declined to be identified said. “The board decided to re-open the position of president after months and months of recruitment efforts. Why was Villegas not selected? Did he not meet the qualification requirements or did he not have the proper connections with the governor or relatives on the board of regents? Was he not political enough for NMC? NMC’s HR has a tendency to continue this practice of re-announcing positions after they have been long closed and interviews were conducted with qualified candidates. I bet if Villegas had a ‘local’ last name he would have gotten the job. I bet if he swore his allegiance to Fitial’s causes he would have been hired. The longer NMC does not have a non-political president, the higher the chances are of them losing accreditation. That would be the last thing the CNMI needs.”
Younis said the board recognized “the hard work of the members of the presidential search committee led by Sgt. Edward Camacho in selecting the finalists, and we thank them for their service.”
She said the board will select new members of the presidential search committee, but instead of nine members it will have five.
Before the end of January next year, she said NMC will have a new president.
“We are not going to prolong the process. We will expedite it as much as possible,” she added.
The new presidential search committee will work in collaboration with the Association of Community College Trustee, she said.
She declined to disclose whether the service to be rendered by the association will be free of charge.
She also declined to disclose why NMC did not hire Villegas, saying “it’s a personal [issue] that we cannot divulge.”
Villegas, she added, can re-apply for the position.
The previous presidential search committee was created in June. Last Jan. 12, the board suspended then-president Dr. Carmen Fernandez who was eventually fired on April 12.
