Effort to rename NMC draws strong opposition

Majority of students of the Northern Marianas College are opposed to a plan to rename the institution after former CNMI governor Carlos S. Camacho, based on the results of a survey conducted by the Associated Students of NMC and the office of the college president.

In his presentation to the Board of Regents on Thursday, external relations office director Frankie Elliptico said an “overwhelming majority” of the survey respondents were not receptive to the idea of renaming the college.

House Bill 17-41, which proposes to rename the institution to the Gov. Carlos S. Camacho Northern Marianas College, is currently pending at the Legislature. It was authored by House Speaker Eli Cabrera (R-Saipan). This bill is identical to a measure that was first introduced in the 16th Legislature but was not acted upon.

“The president [of the college] and the Associated Students of NMC did the survey among students and received a wide number of participation. Overwhelmingly, the students opposed the idea of renaming the college,” said Elliptico.

The board deferred taking up any position on the bill following opposition by regent William Torres.

According to Elliptico, the survey was conducted when the college was first asked to comment on the same measure in the 16th Legislature.

He said many of the respondents questioned the necessity of giving the college a new name after many years of existence under the name NMC. Also, many of the students did not know the former governor. Also, many were concerned about the costs associated with the name change, which would require changing signages and logos, among other things.

Elliptico said there was a popular recommendation to just dedicate a building after the former governor in recognition of his contributions as a pioneer in the creation of the college.

Board chair Juan T. Lizama expressed his support to just dedicating a facility but not renaming the institution as a whole after the former official.

William Torres, for his part, conveyed his support for the bill, citing Camacho’s big contributions to the college. Despite understanding some of the “practical difficulties” in the name change, Torres said it is just proper to rename the institution after the former governor.

Torres said that when he was still a lawmaker, he introduced a similar bill, describing Camacho as someone who “single-handedly” developed and established the college at a time when the Legislature was opposed to it.

“To me, people that are opposed to renaming this institution are the people that are ignorant of the history of this institution. I think it is incumbent upon us to educate our kids as to who the leaders are,” said Torres.

Galvin Deleon Guerrero, the college’s accreditation liaison officer and director of the Office of Institutional Effectiveness, told the board that the accrediting commission has “discouraged” NMC from making any substantive changes during the college’s probation status.

According to NMC president Sharon Y. Hart, any change can only be allowed once the college is lifted from its probation status. NMC has only until October this year to fully address all commission concerns. Failure to do that will result in the termination of its accreditation.

To avoid further arguments, Lizama referred the matter to the board’s program committee for review and recommendation.