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Permanent tenure eyed for NMC faculty, staff
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Posted on Nov 25 2004
Northern Marianas College is considering a proposal to grant permanent employment to faculty and staff members after a two-year probationary contract.
The proposal, which would provide greater job security for college employees, was presented during the NMC Board of Regents meeting Wednesday. It was favorably received by members of the policymaking body.
Currently, NMC faculty and staff are hired on a contractual basis, with their employment subject to renewal every two years.
“It’s a really valid concern that the board should take a look at, especially because it has been brought up more than once. I think employees deserve to have that peace of mind, instead of making them go through the renewal process every two years,” said NMC chair Kimberlyn King-Hinds.
During the board meeting, faculty regent Danny Wyatt noted that some faculty members are having difficulty applying for loans and long-term plans due to their lack of tenure.
He also said a two-year probationary period should be enough for the college to determine which employees are assets or liabilities to the institutions, as well as for faculty and staff to form an opinion on NMC as an employer.
For her part, King-Hinds said the board will try to tackle the proposal more thoroughly in its next meeting.
Giving job security, she said, is the least NMC could do for its employees who have not received any salary adjustment for years now.
“I can’t even remember when we last gave a salary increase to anyone. We adopted a salary compensation policy in 1989, but we have not been able to implement it due to lack of funding from the [central government],” she said in an interview.
Meanwhile, she said, the Board of Regents and the college administration will continue to lobby the Legislature for more money not just for additional full-time employees, but also for the existing staff.
Further, efforts will continue toward the reinstatement of a performance evaluation program for college employees, she said. “That program will provide us the tools to measure if an employee is really serving the students and worth keeping around,” King-Hinds said.
