North Idaho College

Between 2018 and 2022, the KCRCC placed three endorsed candidates on the North Idaho College Board of Trustees: Todd Banducci (Zone 3), Gregory McKenzie (Zone 4), and Mike Waggoner (Zone 5). Together they formed a 3-of-5 majority that fired the college president without cause, drove out senior administrators, triggered a federal accreditation investigation, and brought the college within a board vote of losing accreditation entirely. No Idaho college has ever lost accreditation.

Voters removed the last KCRCC-endorsed trustees in November 2024. What happened next is documented here to the same standard as everything above. The accreditor lifted its final sanction in February 2026 and enrollment grew that spring. NIC will be the first state college in Idaho with a classical education pathway. In July 2026 the college announced a job guarantee for career-technical graduates, which President Nick Swayne believes is the first in the country.

• North Idaho College makes new pledge to graduates
  Coeur d'Alene Press · July 2026 (archive)
  • The NIC Guarantee promises career-technical graduates with a 2.5 GPA or higher will be ready for entry-level work in their field.
  • Graduates not employed within six months get placement help, career coaching, and up to nine tuition-free re-training credits.
  • President Nick Swayne: "I think we're the first school in the country to do this."
• NIC celebrates solid enrollment numbers
  Coeur d'Alene Press · February 2026 (archive)
  • Spring 2026 enrollment rose 3.8%. Full-time and dual-credit enrollment was projected up 7%.
  • Homeschool enrollment rose 16.7%.
  • Swayne: "Now the story isn't about what NIC almost lost: it's about what we're building next."
• North Idaho College retains accreditation
  Coeur d'Alene Press · February 2026 (archive)
  • NWCCU removed the probation sanction and reaffirmed NIC's accreditation on February 9, 2026, four years after its first warning.
  • Trustee Tarie Zimmerman: "What happened at North Idaho College should never have happened."
  • Save NIC Now co-founder Christa Hazel credited the 2024 election of trustees Durbin, Havercroft, and Knudtsen with restoring good governance.
• NIC prepares to launch Cardinal Classical Academy
  Coeur d'Alene Press · August 2025 (archive)
  • Cardinal Classical Academy offers a two-year associate degree built around a classical education curriculum.
  • NIC is the first state college in Idaho to offer a classical pathway. It launches in fall 2026.
  • Swayne said the program gives graduates of Idaho's growing K-12 classical charter schools a next step.

• Six candidates vie for North Idaho College board as final accreditation decision looms
  Spokesman-Review · October 2024 (archive)
  • The board's firing of President Nick MacLennan without cause cost taxpayers roughly $500,000 in wrongful termination settlement and back pay.
  • NIC went through three consecutive presidents and received the most serious accreditation threat possible under the KCRCC majority.
• Accreditation is central issue in NIC trustee races
  Idaho Ed News · October 2024 (archive)
  • Banducci did not seek re-election in 2024; the KCRCC's next three NIC candidates all lost.
  • McKenzie, running under a "Make NIC Great Again" banner, also lost after claiming the college was doing "outstanding" while under its worst accreditation sanction.
• MY TURN: Here's how Banducci can be NIC hero
  Coeur d'Alene Press · March 2024 (archive)
  • A fellow trustee called McKenzie "equally detrimental to the college's success" and publicly asked him to resign.
  • After four years of Banducci's tenure, the accreditor had suspended NIC's reviews until the college demonstrated improvement - a community voice called it "the gravest threat to the college in its 90-year history."
• Mike Waggoner replaces Greg McKenzie, becomes 4th NIC Board Chair in 18 months
  KHQ · November 2023 (archive)
  • The KCRCC majority had cycled through four board chairs in 18 months while the college was under its worst accreditation threat.
  • A community advocate said the change still wasn't good enough after five years of trying to fix the board.
• North Idaho College board majority votes to 'nullify' president's contract
  Spokane Public Radio · April 2023 (archive)
  • For the second time in six months, the KCRCC majority tried to remove the sitting president. A court had already ruled they could not challenge his hiring.
  • A fellow trustee said the board was "one bad board meeting away from losing accreditation."
• MY TURN: The tragedy at NIC
  Coeur d'Alene Press · September 2023 (archive)
  • A former trustee documented that Waggoner "voted to support almost every bad decision" the KCRCC bloc made.
  • The majority hired an attorney who had donated to all three of their campaigns, then had him declare the sitting president's contract void.
• NIC ELECTION OUTCOME: Another perspective
  Coeur d'Alene Press · November 2022 (archive)
  • After Waggoner won the Zone 5 seat, the CDA Press wrote that if NIC lost accreditation, it would be "solely on the shoulders" of the three KCRCC trustees.
• North Idaho College board sees new chairman as 3 new trustees join
  Spokesman-Review · May 2022 (archive)
  • Banducci and McKenzie sued to block state-appointed trustees from joining the board and lost. The lawsuit was funded with college money.
  • An incoming trustee called the environment "toxic" and warned the college could lose its liability insurance.
• A polarizing presence, at the center of North Idaho College's dysfunction
  Idaho Capital Sun · April 2022 (archive)
  • Banducci led the vote to fire President MacLennan without cause and pushed to replace him with the college's wrestling coach.
  • Banducci told the president he was expected to take "marching orders" from board members; faculty passed votes of no confidence.
  • McKenzie voted to fire the president and publicly defended the board's actions when fellow trustees called for accountability.
• Elephants in the room
  Coeur d'Alene Press · March 2022 (archive)
  • A woman told the Press that McKenzie approached her at a KCRCC meeting and tried to recruit her for a scheme to infiltrate the Kootenai Democratic Party by registering as Democrats. (archive)
  • McKenzie told the Press he did not recall the conversation.
• Former North Idaho College President to receive $500K of compensation after his firing
  KREM · 2022 (archive)
  • The state's insurer paid $250,000 to settle MacLennan's wrongful termination lawsuit.
  • MacLennan also received a full year of salary and benefits, bringing the total cost to taxpayers to about $500,000.
• North Idaho College accreditation threatened by trustees' actions, report says
  Spokane Public Radio · March 2022 (archive)
  • The accreditor's official report found that Banducci believed his job was to purge the college of "deep state" administrators and had pressured faculty over Covid policy and grades.
  • The board majority's actions drove out all three Vice Presidents and a Dean.
• Partisan politics poisoning NIC
  Coeur d'Alene Press · September 2021 (archive)
  • Experienced attorneys told the board not to proceed with firing the president; they were ignored.
  • Banducci did not graduate from high school.
• North Idaho College's accreditation at risk as commission investigates Board of Trustees conduct
  Spokesman-Review via Wenatchee World · May 2021 (archive)
  • The college president reported credible allegations that Banducci physically assaulted a female employee at a college event in 2019.
  • The accreditor found the board majority's collective actions had driven out all three Vice Presidents and a Dean.