NMC students lament need for facility upgrades

Northern Marianas College students spoke up about the state of their college facilities, with one lamenting the seeming lack of progress in this area.

One student, who agreed to speak on the condition that she not be named, told Saipan Tribune about hallways lights that do not work. She singled out the ones that “flicker nonstop.”

She, like other non-traditional students, takes advantage of the college’s night classes as they may have competing work or family priorities.

“I get out of class when it’s pitch dark so having the school properly illuminated is important,” she said.

The student pointed to the parking lot in front of NMC’s Building A as one place that could use more lighting.

She said her lab class, which houses 21 students plus her instructor for three hours every Friday, is always so hot that they could barely focus on the lecture as they have to continually fan themselves.

She pointed to a part of the ceiling at Building A that collapsed last year and left a leaking hole.

The building’s roofing has reportedly been replaced since then with funds from an $800,000 grant from the Office of Insular Affairs. The replacement cost a reported $186,000.

Another student, Cedie Chan, claims the railing for stairs in the NMC’s computer lab building seems to be held by only two bolts—one at the bottom and another at the top of the stairs.

“It feels like the stairs are going to fall,” he said. “I think NMC is focusing too much on equipment than buildings—flat screens, projectors, that’s good too…but the buildings kind of suck,” he said.

From his talks with NMC alumni, Chan senses there has not been much change in improving facilities since they attended the college.

He has been at the college for two years. The college was built on or about 1955 as a single storey, semi-concrete hospital.

‘Band-aid patch’
In separate interviews, both NMC Board of Regents chair Frank Rabauliman and regent William Torres described past renovation work on the college as mere “patchwork” or “band-aid patch.”

Since the adoption of Beca International’s designs for NMC, there has been little movement on that front, due in part to the college’s overlapping or competing priorities, according to Torres.

He earlier said NMC needs more commitment from the NMI government in the form of $3 million in CIP funds annually to begin plans for the college’s reconstruction.

In 2013, the board presented a budget of $27 million to the Legislature even if they knew a project like that is not usually approached through local funds. However, they chose to establish on record the need for a modern campus, according to Rabauliman.

Recently, the college issued a request-for-proposals to build a student center and student housing building. Torres described these plans as private-public partnerships.

Rabauliman called this option “taking a pulse of interest” from the business sector.

Essentially private companies would build on NMC land without charge of rent. In return they would finance, construct, and maintain these buildings.