LIES EXPOSED: How Christie Wood Hijacked North Idaho College And Weaponized Her “Anti-Racist” Non-Profit Against Conservatives
“There is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed: nor hidden, that shall not be known.”
For the past two years, thousands of hours and dozens of articles have been dedicated to hashing, re-hashing, digesting and regurgitating the ongoing turmoil at North Idaho College. This evolving situation at our beloved community college has turned into a melee of special interests; each trying to outdo the other in their quest for attention and control.
What started as a spat between two trustees, Christie Wood and Todd Banducci, has steadily escalated to a cacophony of moves, and counter-moves. At each step new allies, interests, and objectives are poured into the fray. All this attention seeking has caused the core issues that led our community down the destructive path we find ourselves on today, to be buried in a deluge of bogus articles, based on lies, that were faithfully disseminated by the establishment media.
The Cd’A Press, Inside Higher ED, Idaho Press and dozens of other publications, even the New York Times, have all chimed in to put their spin on the situation, in an attempt to convince YOU, the reader, of the veracity of each of their points of view.
We believe that we need to go back to the beginning of this whole debacle, and seriously examine how this situation originally began. There must have been some very serious events that precipitated North Idaho College’s potential loss of accreditation… Right?
In The Beginning…
The Accreditation crisis at North Idaho College began on March 12, 2021, when a letter of complaint was sent by an organization called the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations (KCTFHR), a non-profit for which liberal former trustee Christie Wood currently serves as the president.
At the time of the letter’s writing, Wood was serving on both the North Idaho College Board of Trustees as well as the president of the Task Force.
The original complaint, which was recently obtained by the Idaho Tribune, outlines several “issues” that warranted an investigation into the NIC’s accreditation, putting the whole college at risk.
The first issue cited in the complaint to the North West Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU), were comments made at a legislative town hall on September 19th, 2020, by former Republican Senator Mary Souza, former State Representative Steve Vick, and current State Representative Ron Mendive.
The question posed by Don Bradway cited a resolution passed by the North Idaho College Diversity Council on June 5th, 2020, that affirmed support of of the Black Lives Matter movement.
At the time the Diversity Council’s resolution was passed, over 200 cities across America had imposed curfews due to widespread rioting and looting, over 4,400 arrests had been made, and over 62,000 National Guard troops had been deployed to quell the violence.
Bradway asked the legislators “Did you know that at NIC, tax monies are going to support Black Lives Matter? Do you approve of this and if not what will you do about it?” Senator Souza answered:
“It's disheartening to hear that NIC is involved in putting forward these Social Justice efforts using taxpayer money. I do not believe that any of that is supposed to be what our education system is offering to our students. I don't think that it should be publicly supported by taxpayer money.”
Representative Mendive said:
“We've given a lot of ground to the enemy on this one and it's hard to get it back but we are trying. […] I did not know about NIC. […] We all need to fight this fight. The legislature can't do it alone. We all need to make our voices heard to our legislators, our governor, and everybody; all the school boards. We need to get involved in the School Board elections.”
Former representative Steve Vick said:
“When it comes to NIC: that's controlled by five local trustees. It doesn't have to be stopped at the legislative level or stopped at the governor level. That can be stopped here. […] We have an opportunity to take back control of the Nic board. […] Your responsibility is to make sure every one of your friends knows that they need to get out and vote for Greg McKenzie and Michael Barnes.”
Even though none of these elected officials served on the board, or had anything to do with the academics at North Idaho College, it was these statements that were cited in the March 12, 2021 letter of complaint sent by Christie Wood’s Task Force, as a reason to investigate accreditation.
Christie Wood And The Task Force On Human Relations
Christie Wood served as an officer in the Coeur d’Alene police department for over 26 years, before becoming a Trustee at North Idaho College. She is currently a Coeur d’Alene City Counselor, and up for re-election this November.
Christie Wood - Credit: CDA Press
Wood, and her organization KCTFHR, came to prominence when they partnered with the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) in the 1990’s and early 2000’s to go after Richard Butler and his little band of idiot Neo-Nazis in Hayden, the Aryan Nations.
However righteous Wood and her organization’s cause was back then, they have strayed a long way away from their original mission. Instead of fighting for Human Rights, Free Speech, and Justice, her organization has, like the SPLC, become a weapon against Conservatives.
Just this week, the SPLC was discovered to have ties with Domestic Terrorism, following an incident in Atlanta, Georgia, when one of the SPLC’s lawyers allegedly joined hundreds of violent Antifa Black-Bloc terrorists who were arrested for firebombing a police station.
Wood’s Task Force was the first mover in the accreditation crisis at North Idaho College.
In addition to sending their Letter to the accrediting agency, the Task Force filed a civil rights complaint with the Biden’s Department of Justice.
The 4 page letter of complaint alleges a number of unsubstantiated claims of “human rights violations” against one trustee named Todd Banducci, who had served on the board along with Wood for around a decade.
It is important to note that although this complaint was also filed with the Biden Administration Department of Justice, no criminal charges have ever been brought, and there has been no notice of any kind of official investigation into the unsubstantiated allegations.
“Grievous Acts”
The letter of complaint alleges that “at least three criteria required by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities for full accreditation have been severely violated” including:
#5 STUDENT LEARNING (e.g., global awareness, cultural sensitivity-diversity)
#7 NON-DISCRIMINATION;
#16 ACEDEMIC FREEDOM.
The complaint implies that there are many violations but only lists a few examples of the most terrible and egregious ones that would justify removing the accreditation from an 90 year old College based on the non-criminal actions of one man.
The complaint offers several worst-case “proofs” of violations.
The Pledge of Allegiance
“A specific example of Mr. Banducci’s infringement of free speech occurred” when he objected to the student body vice-president omitting the words “under God” when leading the Pledge of Allegiance during the College’s 2020 graduation ceremony.
To be clear, the complaint alleges that the student’s free speech was violated when the student was not allowed to alter the official words of the Pledge of Allegiance.
The graduation ceremony, which was “virtual” and held over Zoom due to the pandemic in 2020, featured a pre-recording of the pledge.
Trustee Banducci, in addition to his roles as a NIC Trustee and Republican precinct committeeman, also serves as an officer in the U.S. Air Force Reserves.
As a military man, Banducci took an oath to uphold the Constitution and defend the United States, and has said that he feels honor bound to object to the pledge being altered. In the past, Trustee Banducci has said “You either say the pledge, or you don’t. You can’t re-write it.”
This is a reason they give to remove accreditation!
Covid 19 Response
Another reason the letter cites as grounds for the removal of accreditation is the conservative Trustee’s response to the pandemic.
“One of the latest troubling developments from the new board has been a discussion on whether to overrule the NIC president’s” unilateral “mandate that everyone must wear a mask on campus.”
So, the Task Force on Human Relations wants us to believe that accreditation should be denied because the board of trustees wanted students to have the freedom to choose wheather or not they wanted to wear face masks on campus?
Academic Freedom
Another allegation in the March 12th complaint is that Trustee Banducci violated a student’s “academic freedom” during his tenure on the board.
The “documentation” attached to the complaint which supposedly “corroborates” the claims made by Christie Wood’s Task Force actually proves just the opposite.
One e-mail included in the 13 page complaint supplement, was written by a student at NIC and sent to the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ). This is the email that the Task Force cites as “proof of infringement of academic freedom.”
The e-mail details how that student was prohibited by professors and faculty from pursuing a line of comparative analysis between abortion and slavery.
The student was being academically stifled and reached out to the dean, who offered no assistance.
The student then reached out to the Board of Trustees and found that most trustees agreed with the student being censored.
The student writes:
“There was only one board member who said it was wrong, yet he was always outvoted on any policy the board took up. As of November 2020, the board got two more members who sympathize with my situation and stand for freedom of speech and academic inquiry.”
During the period of time the student referenced in his letter, the board was comprised of Christie Wood (Chair), Brad Murray (Vice-Chair), Joe Dunlap, Ken Howard and Todd Banducci.
Conservatives Greg McKenzie and Michael Barnes were elected in November of 2020 so, based on the letter, Banducci was the ONLY trustee standing for academic freedom before McKenzie and Barnes joined him on the board.
The very material provided as evidence in the complaint, actually exonerates Banducci from the allegations that he infringed on student’s academic freedom.
Bad Blood: The Heart Of The Matter
Finally, as “proof” that Banducci is the worst human being ever to have lived and served on the board of trustees, we have the bogus allegations that Banducci had “threatened” Christie Wood.
According to the “evidence” attached to the letter of complaint from the Task Force, these allegations were brought before the board on January 18, 2021.
In the email, Wood alleges that she has “experienced physically threatening and verbally abusive behavior from trustee Banducci.” …In 2012…
If this was truly the case, why did it take a DECADE to bring this allegation before the board? To the best of our knowledge, no police report was ever filed, and people familiar with the matter have told the Tribune that Banducci may have actually said “If you were a man, I’d take you outside right now and kick your ass.”
Ok. So what? He said mean words to Christie Wood, a vicious left-wing liar, way back in 2012. Ten years ago. Both of them come from either a law enforcement or military background, where that kind of talk is commonplace. Since that time, they both continued to serve on the board of trustees, and Banducci never laid a finger on her.
For a woman that spent 26 years as a cop working with criminals, Christie Wood has awfully thin skin.
That same day, on January 18th, 2021, former president Rick MacLennan alleged that Banducci physically assaulted a “female college employee at a college sponsored event.”
Is this actually TRUE?
In short, the answer is a resounding NO.
There was no police report of the incident filed. In fact, no charges were ever filed against Trustee Banducci. According to a records request, former NIC attorney Marc Lyons even said that “there are no such complaints or claims against Trustee Banducci” and that the the incident mentioned in the complaint was “not an assault and that it’s misleading to describe the incident with that pejorative term.”
These allegations were used to gin up a censure of Trustee Banducci, even though there was no evidence that he assaulted an employee, and that it “was determined that [Banducci’s] conduct was not a Title IX violation.” The letter did say that Banducci was “insensitive,” though. What a “monster!”
To this day, Banducci has not been charged with a single crime.
However, in the court of public opinion, due to the lies that have been ginned up by Christie Wood and her activist friends, his life has been made a living hell. Teresa Borrenpohl even said so at the recent “Hijacking Democracy” conference.
NIC Remains In Jeopardy
To reiterate, the reasons why NIC should lose accreditation given by the Human Relations Task Force include:
Banducci said mean things.
Legislators criticized the college for supporting BLM.
Banducci insisted that the Pledge of Allegiance not be bastardized.
The board objected to a mask mandate.
The board supported academic freedom.
There is a good reason for all the gaslighting, shouting, heckling and lawyering.
Like the magician using a bang and a flash to draw your attention so you will miss his sleight of hand, those trying to overturn the election don’t want you to read the actual complaint because if you did you would find how ridiculous, petty and unsubstantial it truly is.
Don’t be fooled by the lies and propaganda.
Read the original documentation and see for yourself. Click Below.