NIC board has shown little progress, accreditation report says

Nov. 24—North Idaho College's administration was praised in a new report by the school's accreditor this week, but the board has made little progress toward resolving its accreditation concerns, the report said.

The report released Wednesday is based on a campus visit from Oct. 30 to Nov. 1 by a peer-evaluation team that examined NIC's headway on recommendations made by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities.

"The evaluation team was concerned that the recommendations that require Board response and action had shown little to no progress," said the report prepared by Ron Larsen, the commission's senior vice president and liaison to the peer evaluation team.

The commission placed NIC on a show cause sanction in February, largely over board governance issues from the past few years. Show cause is the last step before losing accreditation.

The progress report follows an extension the commission granted NIC in July. The Coeur d'Alene college has until April 1, 2025, to return to good standing or it will lose accreditation.

"The board reviewed the draft report and has been furnished copies of the final report," NIC President Nick Swayne said in a statement Wednesday. "This is an ongoing process, and the board will be reviewing this report, and working through the issues identified as we prepare for the next meeting with the full commission in January."

Another campus visit is scheduled for next spring.

Despite problems with the board, the college community received positive reviews.

"The evaluation team was impressed by the resilience, dedication, and positive energy of NIC's students, administration, faculty, and staff," the report's summary said. "Their love for the institution and their belief in its potential were evident throughout the many interviews conducted onsite."

The report said that the administration produced positive results for the recommendations under its purview and control.

It also acknowledged hard work by the board's subcommittee tasked with updating board policies, and various positive statements written by the board. However, staff and students are clearly skeptical, the report said, since the board's actions contradict their statements.

"Frankly, that skepticism is validated throughout the evaluation team's analysis," the report said.

The report concluded that NIC has failed to demonstrate an effective board governance structure and does not have a functioning governing board responsible for the quality and integrity of the institution.

The report also raises concern about the board's decision to continue to employ two presidents.

Last December, the board's 3-2 majority supported by the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee placed Nick Swayne on administrative leave and hired Greg South as interim president.

Swayne then sued NIC for putting him on leave without cause and a preliminary injunction forced the board to reinstate him in March. At that time, rather than terminate South's contract, the board placed South on paid administrative leave, even though the commission lists having more than one president as a problem.

South continues to collect his $235,000 salary, which is $5,000 more than Swayne's.

Swayne won his lawsuit in August, yet NIC filed an appeal to the state Supreme Court.

"The Board has taken deliberate steps to defer a resolution," the report said, while noting Swayne's clear popularity among staff and students.

Some unnamed board members confirmed in interviews with the evaluation team that South was kept on contract in the hope that he could eventually be brought back from leave to replace Swayne.

"These Board members stated that they did not support Dr. Swayne as a permanent president and that the rationale behind not negotiating a termination of Dr. South's contract was, indeed, so that the Board could reinstate Dr. South as President in the event that Dr. Swayne's contract could be terminated."

As a result, the evaluation team had "little confidence that there is a will to resolve this issue."

The commission will review the report at its next meeting at the end of January.

James Hanlon's reporting for The Spokesman-Review is funded in part by Report for America and by members of the Spokane community. This story can be republished by other organizations for free under a Creative Commons license. For more information on this, please contact our newspaper's managing editor.