Board accepts McPhetres’ resignation

The Board of Regents has unanimously approved and accepted the retirement plan (essentially a resignation) of NMC President Agnes McPhetres during the executive session held yesterday.

The acceptance of the resignation came amidst calls from faculty and students urging rejection of McPhetres’ plans to retire.

In the same meeting, the Board also accepted her proposal to appoint an acting president while she takes her leave in August, the press statement said.

According to Chairman Manuel Sablan, the board will name the acting president in the next two weeks who will take charge of the daily operations at the Northern Marianas College.

In an interview, he said the board is looking at the three incumbent vice-presidents as possible candidates for the acting post. However, interested individuals should apply for the job, he added.

For her part, McPhetres will concentrate on the Strategic Master Plan, the implementation of the assessment and evaluation, preparing the annual report and the new NMC catalog, and the self-study process for the accreditation.

“The bottom line is to reorganize the college with the objective of making it a student and employment-training driven, and to keep the organization fiscally accountable and fully transparent, within its available human and budgetary resources,” Sablan was quoted in a press statement.

Before the board made its vote to accept her retirement, two petitions were presented yesterday urging members to turn down the president’s offer to step down in December.

Herbert Henry Cruz San Nicolas, a former student leader and who has been studying at NMC for four years now, gathered 216 signatures signifying their support for McPhetres.

“We feel that she has done an excellent job,” he told the board claiming the petition came from concerned students of NMC.

Senate Faculty President Rik Villegas likewise submitted to the board similar signed documents appealing to its members to reject the resignation of the president.

“President Agnes McPhetres announced at a special faculty meeting on Tuesday, March 16th that she submitted her resignation. We, members of the Northern Marianas College Faculty and Staff, wish to express our desire to the Board of Regents that her resignation not be accepted,” the covering letter said.

However, NMC student association president Shirley Santos made it clear to the board that the petition earlier presented by San Nicolas was initiated by him and not by her group.

“That’s totally bias and we did not take an official position over the President’s retirement,” she said.

Although San Nicolas gathered more than 200 signatures, Santos said there are around 875 members of the student body.

For the petition filed by faculty members, Villegas said the information was sent through e-mail and 93 signed letters were submitted to him.

“I don’t feel there was pressure,” he told the board.

Villegas submitted a similar petition last November when talks were ripe about McPhetres pending retirement.

Following the president’s announcement about her retirement, one NMC official earlier predicted that a petition supporting McPhetres will again be circulated at the college.

“A lot of faculty members will start a petition for her to stay. But we will be going around the circle,” the official said.