Trustees, You’ve Fired A Fine Man; Now, You Must Hire One As Good

To North Idaho College trustees:

You are in the process of selecting a new president. We wish you every success in this vital search. The college family, county taxpayers and people throughout Idaho who respect and admire NIC and the fine educational experiences it provides will closely monitor this process.

For whatever insights our collective 21 years of experience as trustees and trustee chairs have gives us, we offer the following:

The search initially must involve a clear definition of your role as trustees, and from that, a clear definition of the role of president as chief executive officer.

Each of you must resolve to live within these constraints and insist the board restrain itself accordingly. You also must insist the board act collectively. Individual trustees acting independently of the board harm the college and weaken the capacity of the president to function.

We believe you will be unsuccessful in attracting high-quality applicants without these clear definitions and policies in place.

The trustees’ duties are to set policy, set budgets and monitor the president to ensure that the policies are carried out. After that, they should be out of the way to permit the president to perform his functions.

The duties of the president are to enact the policies established by the board and to preside over day to day activities.

There has been press coverage recently that suggests President Bob Bennett had communication problems with the board.

We cannot recall any communication problems originating from the former president. On the contrary, his communication skills are of the highest order. We, on the other hand, were unclear in our communications to him from time to time.

If the reported communication problems are substantial, great care must be taken to select a president who will be able to communicate clearly with the board. If Bennett could not communicate with you to your satisfaction, who indeed can?

Lastly, we hope the board will select a person who has the highest level of administrative skills and impeccable moral character, someone who will be vigorous, hard-working and aggressive. This person should be capable of attracting a good administrative staff and deans of talent, character and depth.

The new president should be a person who loves the college and Kootenai County, always having the best interests of both in mind.

The new president must show respect and concern for the faculty and staff, who give so much to our students and our community.

The new president must have vision and courage. The new president must be able to speak his or her mind to the board of trustees and at the same time be willing to carry out its directives.

Your new president should above all be dedicated to the students and their well-being.

In short, the new president should be like President Bennett. xxxx

The following fields overflowed: BYLINE = Betty McLain, Norman Gissel and Jack Beebe Special to Roundtable