Regents back initiative that paves way for changing NMC’s mission statement

The Board of Regents of the Northern Marianas College has expressed its support for a Senate legislative initiative that would amend the Constitution to allow regents to revise the mission statement of the CNMI’s community college.

Senate Legislative Initiative 17-12, introduced by Senate President Paul A. Manglona, would make changes to Section (b) of Article 15, which contains the current mission statement of the college.

NMC’s Frankie Eliptico said during Monday’s board meeting that the initiative was passed by the House last week and is expected to be passed by the Senate.

“Once the Senate passes it, it then goes to the Election Commission, [which] will certify it and [place it on] the ballot,” said Eliptico.

He said that the initiative will require two changes: the word “mission” will be revised to “purpose” and a proviso will be added stating that it will be the Board of Regents that will establish the mission statement.

He said that NMC has already talked to both the House and the Senate to expedite the passage of the bill since they need as much time as possible to conduct a public education campaign around the initiative before it goes to the November ballots.

Dr. Sharon Y. Hart, president of NMC, noted that accreditation standards call for the Board of Regents to establish the institution’s mission. She said this is one of the things the accreditation team will be looking at during their visit this fall.

NMC remains on probation with the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges.

Hart described as “unusual” the current setup of NMC’s mission statement since other states delegate the mission statement of their community colleges to their respective boards, allowing these governing bodies to periodically revisit and re-examine the mission statement.

“A mission statement reflects what the institution is doing now,” she said.

The college’s mission statement has remained the same for 31 years and does not reflect new programs such as online education.

“I’m looking forward to having this board work with the college and the community in reviewing its mission,” said Hart.

It was pointed out at the meeting that the public must be informed about the kind of mission statement that NMC will try to come up with in order to make the initiative more “sellable” to the public.