Policies on hiring NMC president in the works

To prevent future troubles and legal challenges in naming the future chief executive officer of the Northern Marianas College, the Board of Regents is working on new policies to iron out possible concerns in hiring a president.

At least two policies were endorsed and tackled by the board during its regular meeting on campus Thursday. Board Policy No. 203 was proposed by members solely focusing on the president recruitment and hiring. For the CEO’s specific authority and responsibilities, a separate policy was also endorsed as cited in Board Policy 203.1.

Regent Elaine Hocog-Orilla said the committee made an extensive deliberation on these items but the board’s actions were deferred Thursday, citing the need for more review and study.

The board disclosed that NMC has no clear standing policy in place when it comes to hiring its president. Previous boards, for many years, only adopted resolution stipulating the steps and mechanisms to be used in bringing in qualified candidate.

Board chair Juan T. Lizama pointed out to members that each proposed policy should be scrutinized line-by-line, item-by-item, to avoid possible legal ramifications in the actual hiring process. He cited as example, the specific language to be used in announcing the position across the Pacific region.

Details of the proposed policies were not thoroughly discussed in the open after the members decided to defer them to the assigned committee.

According to NMC president Sharon Y. Hart, establishment of such hiring policy on the college president is among the areas that the accreditation commission is concerned about among its member institutions.

It can be recalled that the previous board, in hiring a replacement for Dr. Carmen Fernandez who was fired from her position adopted, two resolutions for the two presidential search committees that have been formed by the board after the first failed in its mission.

Besides the proposed policies on the president’s hiring, a host of other recommendations is on the board’s table for action. Among these are the policy on residency classification; student health insurance; NMC strategic plan and objectives; creation of budget, audit, and finance committee; policy introduction, amendment, passage and suspension; and policy on honorary degrees.

All these proposals were taken back by respective board committees for further analysis, review, and evaluation.