BOR seeks meeting with Eucon

By Marian A. Maraya

Staff Reporter

The Northern Marianas College Board of Regents is seeking a meeting with Eucon International School officials in an attempt to stop escalating tensions between the two learning institutions.

Acting BOR Chair Fermin Atalig expressed dismay over Eucon’s claim that CNMI’s lone public postsecondary institution is allegedly preventing the private school from being a fully-licensed center for college educational programs.

“These people have not sought our guidance. We have not even met these people so how can they say that we are dragging their feet? The appropriate step would be for them to set up a meeting with us so that they can tell us what their concerns are,” said Mr. Atalig during a BOR meeting Friday.

The regents, according to Eucon President Dr. Christian Wei, in a letter sent to newspaper publications, has failed as the sole agency licensed to give permission to grant the establishment of postsecondary educational programs in the CNMI.

NMC’s position opposing a House measure seeking to promote the establishment of postsecondary institutions without a regulatory body to oversee its entry to CNMI’s educational system, Dr. Wei added, is an “illegitimate attempt to thwart progress in providing quality education for the people of the islands.”

“After all these years of being accorded the responsibility to grant licenses to institutions, there are still no application forms, no documents to read and regulations in place for organizations to follow who would seek such permission. We can only come to this conclusion because we requested for such forms and documents from BOR and received nothing in return,” said Dr. Wei.

The regents, however, maintain the private entity has not sought their audience regarding this matter.

In earlier reports, acting NMC president Alvaro Santos said that wisdom of allowing anybody, person or organization, to establish a postsecondary educational institution in the Commonwealth without regulation by any agency of the government is questionable and even dangerous.

In a written testimony, Mr. Santos told House leaders to exercise caution in installing an open-door policy for such institutions without the benefit of scrutiny.

He added the legislation does not provide for an alternative mechanism to license and regulate postsecondary educational institutions that wish to enter the local education system.