Hart: NMC can be an engine of economic growth

Northern Marianas College president Dr. Sharon Hart led a cadre of officials from the institution up to Capitol Hill yesterday in what she hopes to become a quarterly face-off with members of the Legislature.

While the new NMC president acknowledges that yesterday’s meeting with lawmakers was “a great first step in a continuing relationship between the college and the Legislature,” Hart said her more ambitious goal for the college is to transform it to an “engine of economic growth.”

“I would really hope that what we shared with the Legislature is the importance of all of us working together for the betterment of the Commonwealth and I believe we all have that same goal,” she said in an interview with the Saipan Tribune during a break in the meeting.

She likened NMC, the Legislature, the Governor’s Office, and the business sector, as the four legs of a stool.

“As long as we have a clear vision where we’re going to go, sometimes right now those four legs on the stool, one leg could be broken or two legs could be broken because maybe we’re not on the same team. But if we have that common mission and we will be working on it together then I think we can absolutely as a team do it.

That is why NMC needs to improve its relationship with the fourth leg, the business community, she said.

“That’s why I want to come out and work with the business community because they can also be strong advocates for the college. They are the employers of our graduates but they’re also the ones helping us whether or not what we are providing [them] is what is fulfilling their needs.”

With the help of the Legislature, the Governor’s Office, and the business sector, Hart said that NMC “can be that engine of economic growth to help the Commonwealth and the business industry move forward in the years ahead.”

Hart said she is happy that NMC was able to have a meeting with the Legislature to emphasize to lawmakers that the college getting off probation is their No. 1 priority.

“After we do that, we can move much more aggressively at addressing other needs—the community needs and the employment needs that exists out there across the Commonwealth,” she said.

Aside from reclaiming its full accreditation, Hart said that NMC would also like to re-instill in their students and future students that “NMC is a strong college, we’re accredited, we’re here for them, and we’re going to commit to their success.”

She admits that the institution has lost some students who enrolled elsewhere because they were not so sure about what was going to happen to NMC’s accreditation.

“We plan to get off of probation and we plan to get back on full status to better improve our programs and services to them.”

Another area of concerns she wants to tackle is NMC’s staffing problems, saying the root is the lack of salary increases. In fact, accreditation liason officer Galvin Deleon Guerrero confirmed that the college hasn’t given salary hikes to its employees for more than 10 years now.

“That’s why we’re losing people,” said Hart.

Senate Education Committee chair Sen. Pete Reyes (R-Saipan) said there couldn’t have been a more opportune time for NMC to have a meeting with the Legislature, especially with the college’s budget review coming up.

“It’s good for NMC to come up here and submit a report on what’s going on. We’re very concerned with the accreditation of NMC. Since we’re out of show-cause and now on probation, we’re actually moving out and away from sanction. This is good news,” he said in an interview during a break.

Reyes said that NMC needs to go back to full accreditation because the CNMI is losing a lot of financial aid to students who otherwise would have been eligible to apply for grants. NMC also couldn’t submit federal grant requests for programs that could benefit the institution, he added.

Reyes said that lawmakers are ready to help NMC get its full accreditation back.

“It’s a long way to try and achieve this but we need to make sure that we don’t provide obstacles such as political interference and allowing NMC to work its way out of probation,” he said. “If there’s any other way we can help them, we stand ready to assist. It’s good also for members to hear this so that if there’s legislation affecting NMC, instead of pushing those legislations through, that they at least consult NMC so that they know whether or not it will have implications on issues of accreditation.”