Three NMC department chairs file 5 complaints

The Northern Marianas College suffered yet another blow after three department heads recently filed five successive complaints against the college’s management. This comes even as NMC continues to wait for the decision of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges on its continued show-cause status.

Documents obtained by Saipan Tribune show that five grievances were filed with the office of Dr. Debra T. Cabrera, dean of Academic Programs and Services.

The complaints were signed by Frank Sobolewski, chair of the Social Sciences and Fine Arts Department; Mark Haag, chair of the Languages and Humanities Department; and Larry Lee, acting chair of the Business Department.

All five complaints were received by Cabrera’s office on March 26, March 27, March 29, and March 31.

All four personnel, including Cabrera, were among the signatories of the petition supporting former regent Agnes McPhetres’ retention on the Board of Regents.

Board chair Charles V. Cepeda declined to comment yesterday, saying he respects the process, which he said is designed to hear the voices of students and faculty members.

“I understand that it is their way of relaying the message to the president. I respect and I believe in that process,” Cepeda told Saipan Tribune, admitting that these complaints have yet to reach the president’s and the board’s attention and are being resolved at the lower levels.

Some college official who agreed to comment as long as they are not identified expressed belief the issues currently being raised against NMC are meant to discredit the college during this critical time when it is trying to reaffirm its accreditation.

Delaying the hiring of qualified instructors

In his complaint dated March 26, Haag alleged that NMC president Dr. Carmen Fernandez is deliberately delaying the hiring of an English instructor, resulting in the overload and distress of full-time English faculty.

“The extreme overloads have caused serious problems for the English instructors. Those problems are being solved to impact as little as possible on our students…but the solutions are taking a toll on the English instructors,” he said.

Haag disclosed that on Feb. 23, the president recommended the hiring of an off-island non-qualified applicant to the position and had offered the job to the candidate, contradicting the recommendation of the HRO and the department chair.

Due to delays, NMC lost other potential candidates for the position, according to Haag.

“Timelines are not acceptable if we wish to hire qualified instructors when they are needed. Most of the time, it was because of the president’s inability or unwillingness to make a decision. Either way, her lack of a timely decision has caused the English instructors and department a lot of problems because of the high overloads,” Haag said.

Haag also complained about delays in the hiring of a Japanese instructor. Fernandez, he said, disapproved the recommendation to rehire adjunct faculty Hiroko Yasukata, which led to the cancellation of a class in January until the president changed her mind and approved Yasukata’s term for the Spring semester only. Because of this, the assigned adjunct instructor was advised late about the president’s new decision.

Due to Fernandez’s inability to make timely decision, both instructors were treated unprofessionally, Haag said.

Detrimental
hiring practice

In a complaint dated March 31, Larry Lee said that Fernandez’s hiring practices violates the policy and procedures of the academic council. He cited three occasions that he said seriously affected the quality of academic programs and services at NMC.

Lee disclosed that in Fall 2008, the president took no action on the recommendation of then department chair Eric Plinske to hire two accounting instructors, causing the cancellation of classes.

In December 2008, another delay in the president’s decision caused the department to scramble to find adjunct faculty for five accounting classes, he said.

The same thing happened with the computer instructor for the department, which also resulted in cancelled classes.

“The current practice of the president exercising sole authority over the hiring of full-time and adjunct faculty is causing serious harm to the quality of our academic programs and services,” Lee said, adding that the president’s explanation about the delayed decisions are also causing undue process and massive amounts of extra work for the department chairs.

Saipan Tribune learned that the former bookstore manager of NMC was placed on administrative leave by the president in September 2008. She was then left in limbo until she resigned in December last year.

Lee said the lack of attention and “extremely poor transition” to the current manager resulted in a delay in the arrival of dozens of textbook orders. It was disclosed that there were 17 academic courses that were still without the required textbooks, greatly reducing the quality of academic instruction on campus.

Improper
budget process

On March 27, Senate Faculty president Frank Sobolewski filed a complaint before Cabrera’s office about what he described as the “improper” budget process conducted for Fiscal Year 2010.

Drafted by six people, Sobolewski alleged that the procedure violated the budget process as stated in the NMC Institutional Excellence Guide of December 2008.

The violations include:

* The role of the group of six persons is not mentioned in the description of the budget process;

* The meeting held by the group were not open or inclusive and there is no evidence as to whether or not they were objective;

* No consistent relationship between the budget proposal and program review results was presented at the budget and finance committee meetings; and

* No relationship between the budget proposal and the composite report was presented at the meetings.