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La Fiesta transfer to become official—finally
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Posted on Jan 05 2005
The transfer of the La Fiesta shopping complex from the Northern Marianas College to the CNMI Executive Branch will finally be official tomorrow.
Kimberlyn King-Hinds, chair of the NMC Board of Regents, said the signing of the final memorandum of agreement between Gov. Juan N. Babauta and the college will take place at the Governor’s Office at 4:30pm Friday.
“We’re definitely looking forward to getting the transfer completed, so we can send the good news to the [Western Association of Schools and Colleges] before they have their meeting,” King-Hinds said in an interview.
The WASC accrediting commission is set to meet this month. Part of the agenda is NMC’s accreditation, which has been on warning status for a year now.
“We don’t want to go on warning status. Hopefully, this development will give WASC a brighter outlook on NMC’s financial position. Turning over La Fiesta to the central government will definitely alleviate the stress placed on the college by years of mismanagement,” King-Hinds said.
In January 2004, the WASC Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges placed NMC’s accreditation on warning status due to the college’s failure to correct finance-related problems and inability to comply with certain accreditation standards.
The ACCJC retained the warning in June, citing concerns over NMC’s lack of resources to maintain two campuses.
The WASC Senior College Commission stated the same reason in July when it issued a warning that put the college’s four-year elementary education program—its only baccalaureate program—at risk.
On Sept. 15, 2004, Babauta and the NMC Board of Regents signed a memorandum of agreement to transfer La Fiesta to the Executive Branch.
The agreement was not finalized until the original sellers—Hotel Nikko Saipan and Coco’s Lagoon Development Inc.—consented in November and until the Attorney General’s Office completed its legal review of the pact.
