NIC amends accreditation response letter

COEUR d’ALENE — North Idaho College amended a response it sent Jan. 4 to its accrediting body, the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities.

The college announced Thursday in a message to employees that it corrected an erroneous date in the original letter, which was submitted to the NWCCU.

Following a series of chaotic meetings of the college’s board of trustees in December, the NWCCU sent a letter Dec. 17 to the college calling for NIC to explain in writing how the college is not out of compliance with eligibility requirements and standards for accreditation.

The original response from NIC referred to a special meeting Dec. 17, during which the college attorney was tasked with contacting Greg South and offering him a position as interim president while NIC President Nick Swayne remained on administrative leave.

But there is no record of any such meeting.

“It was an honest mistake and we fixed it immediately after it was brought to our attention,” said Laura Rumpler, NIC’s chief communications and government relations officer.

The date in the original letter should have been Dec. 10, “which was properly noticed and occurred as scheduled,” said an NIC announcement.

During the Dec. 10 meeting, trustees announced that their first choice for interim president, Michael Sebaaly, had declined the job offer. The board then voted 2-1 to contact South and begin negotiations with him.

The college has informed the NWCCU of the date error and submitted an updated letter.