North Idaho College politicking

[Langue_doc]

Is this the future of higher education in some states? Discuss.

The MAGA-fication of North Idaho College
G.O.P. activists set out to root out the "deep state" at home. An Idaho community college may never be the same.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/06/us/politics/north-idaho-college-republicans.html

For most of the past two years, the college's governing board has been a volatile experiment in turning grievances into governance. Trustees backed by the county Republican Party hold a majority on the board. They have denounced liberal "indoctrination" by the college faculty and vowed to bring the school administration's "deep state" to heel and "Make N.I.C. Great Again."

The injection of such sweeping political aims into the routine administration of a community college that had 4,600 students enrolled last year, one better known locally for its technical training programs than the politics of its faculty, has devolved into a full-blown crisis. The school has faced lawsuits from two of the five presidents it has had since the start of the previous school year. A district court judge ordered one of those presidents reinstated on Friday in a ruling that castigated the trustees for "steering N.I.C. toward an iceberg." The college has lost professors and staff and had its debt downgraded by Moody's, which cited the school's "significant governance and management dysfunction."

[Parasaurolophus]

Since they have so little time to satisfy accreditors, I'd say that's not quite the future of higher ed (unless it's that some states will have none). It does seem like only a matter of time before  Florida is in accreditation trouble.

It does seem, however, like that's probably the only thing that will get through to the right-wing cancelmob. It's just too bad that the lesson inflicts so much damage on so many people.

[marshwiggle]

Is this the future of higher education in some states? Discuss.

The MAGA-fication of North Idaho College
G.O.P. activists set out to root out the "deep state" at home. An Idaho community college may never be the same.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/06/us/politics/north-idaho-college-republicans.html

For most of the past two years, the college's governing board has been a volatile experiment in turning grievances into governance. Trustees backed by the county Republican Party hold a majority on the board. They have denounced liberal "indoctrination" by the college faculty and vowed to bring the school administration's "deep state" to heel and "Make N.I.C. Great Again."

The injection of such sweeping political aims into the routine administration of a community college that had 4,600 students enrolled last year, one better known locally for its technical training programs than the politics of its faculty, has devolved into a full-blown crisis. The school has faced lawsuits from two of the five presidents it has had since the start of the previous school year. A district court judge ordered one of those presidents reinstated on Friday in a ruling that castigated the trustees for "steering N.I.C. toward an iceberg." The college has lost professors and staff and had its debt downgraded by Moody's, which cited the school's "significant governance and management dysfunction."

This sounds like there were probably some specific incidents that led to these charges of "indoctrination". Anyone know how this got started?

[apl68]

That doesn't even make sense.  This is basically just a vo-tech school, isn't it?  The students are only there to get vocational credentials.  To the extent that they have to take gen-ed classes in literature and such, they probably by and large see them as something to get through as quickly as possible just to check a box.

[mythbuster]

Marshy,
  According to the article the fact that the school issued a statement of support for Black Lives Matter after George Floyd's death was the spark for much of this. Given the political leanings of the area, it really wouldn't take much to rally the horde.

[spork]

That doesn't even make sense.  This is basically just a vo-tech school, isn't it?  The students are only there to get vocational credentials.  To the extent that they have to take gen-ed classes in literature and such, they probably by and large see them as something to get through as quickly as possible just to check a box.

The local GOP was taken over by MAGA radicals who then injected their alternate reality into what are supposed to be non-partisan public positions. I assume some, like Banducci, see the notoriety as a way to gain election to statewide office. 

[marshwiggle]

Marshy,
  According to the article the fact that the school issued a statement of support for Black Lives Matter after George Floyd's death was the spark for much of this. Given the political leanings of the area, it really wouldn't take much to rally the horde.

It's surprising that a statement would have even been seen much by people off campus. Around here, the captive audience of faculty, staff, and students would get the announcement in email. The local paper might pick it up in a one or two sentence mention unless there was some activity related to it. Most of the community probably has little idea of university "statements" about anything.
ETA: (Except for the boilerplate "statements" that all kinds of organizations make about big events, but which don't have a lot of impact because everyone else is saying the same thing; e.g. everyone condemns the Russian invasion of Ukraine, so any institution saying so is not particularly noteworthy.)

[Langue_doc]

Here, statements made by schools are emailed to faculty and students; the public is rarely aware of these statements or the schools' position on issues unless someone brings them up.

[Ruralguy]

I believe that the PR folks at my school often release (mostly meant to be internal) statements to the press. We're sort of desperate to look sympathetic to almost any point of view without being committal. Even if they didn't, someone is bound to contact a member of the press.

[larryc]

I live just down the interstate. I have friends who teach at NIC and am too familiar with what is happening. As one of them says, "No matter what you read in the paper the reality here is far worse." The board has a list apparently of "deep state" professors they want to fire when they get full control.

Since that NYT article, the situation has gotten worse. The accreditors demanded the return of the most recently fired board president and the board said no. The guy sued for his job back and won and the board grudgingly complied then appealed the ruling (and was denied). Then--- oh hell it is just a clusterfuck. You can follow this link and then find other reporting from the local paper (which is doing a fine job): https://cdapress.com/news/2023/mar/21/nic-seeks-reverse-swaynes-reinstatement/

At this point, I would say that deaccreditation is likely. The MAGA board (popularly elected) is hell-bent on getting their way or burning the place down. The accreditors seem to be holding a hard line to make an example for the dozens of other elected community college boards in red regions that are edging towards similar shit. The best case scenario is that loss of accreditation is followed by Idaho State University taking it over as a branch campus.