DICKINSON, N.D. — The president of Dickinson State University in North Dakota announced his resignation on Monday, days after the school’s nursing faculty quit.

In a video, Steve Easton announced his departure and acknowledged “turmoil between some in the faculty and the administration.”

Seven faculty members resigned Wednesday, KFYR-TV reported. Former Assistant Professor of Nursing Trista Keith told the station that the nursing faculty were notified their accreditation has been in jeopardy in recent years. She also cited insufficient time and resources for faculty to meet the accreditation requirements, among other reasons the faculty resigned.

Easton said the North Dakota Board of Nursing prohibited him and other administrators from looking for new nursing faculty.

“If I cannot do whatever I can for our students, including looking for faculty members so the students can continue their education, I cannot do my job because fighting for students is my job,” Easton said.

In a statement, the board said it did not force Easton’s resignation or disallow hiring but on Friday had issued a standard notice to the university “of multiple nursing program shortcomings for review” at a coming board meeting, due to the faculty departures.

Easton also said he had been told financial supporters of the school might leave if he remained. He said he will stay on through a short and orderly transition. It wasn’t clear when his last day will be.

In statements, State Board of Higher Education Chair Tim Mihalick and North Dakota University System Chancellor Mark Hagerott praised Easton’s leadership.

Easton was named president of Dickinson State in March 2020 after several months serving as interim. During the 2023 legislative session, he supported a controversial and unsuccessful tenure review bill that opponents said would infringe upon academic freedom and threaten schools’ accreditation.

Dickinson State had a fall 2023 enrollment of nearly 1,500 registered students. Fall semester classes begin Aug. 26.

MINOT — To understand what I’m about to relate to you, you must first understand just who it is that the North Dakota Republican Party sent to Milwaukee as delegates to the GOP’s national convention.

The list of delegates is a who’s-who of the NDGOP’s far-right flank. Among them is Lori Hinz, one of the NDGOP’s national committee members, who has been

outspoken in her criticism of Gov. Doug Burgum

and, specifically, the possibility that former President Donald Trump might choose Gov. Doug Burgum as his running mate. Not among the delegates (they were relegated to alternate status) are Burgum, his wife Kathryn, Congressman Kelly Armstrong, and U.S. House nominee Julie Fedorchak. Just to to put an exclamation point behind that factoid, Burgum may well be chosen as VP at this convention, but was not chosen as a delegate by the NDGOP convention.

Hinz has

lambasted Burgum on social media,

calling on Trump’s vetters to “do some on-the-ground investigation rather than jumping on the bandwagon so blindly, relying on purchased favorable articles, sycophants, and skewed internet searches.”

Also among the attendees is state Rep. Matthew Heilman, state Sen. Donna Henderson, failed U.S. House candidate Rick Becker, Jeff Hinz (husband to Lori), Paul Henderson (husband to Donna), Andrea Toman (who managed Becker’s failed campaign), District 10 legislative candidate Jared Hendrix and a laundry list of other names that anyone familiar with North Dakota politics would recognize as Burgum’s enemies.

These delegates were elected at the NDGOP’s state convention,

which was controlled by a far-right wing of the party

that is deeply out of touch with North Dakota’s larger Republican electorate.

Now, the story: These delegates may be planning a public protest against Trump’s choice of Burgum, if that is indeed the choice he makes.

That’s based on multiple sources in Republican leadership, including some traveling to Milwaukee as alternate delegates.

The concern over these potential protests is so high, one prominent Republican told me, that the North Dakota delegation has been seated at the back of the convention hall. “They’re basically seated in a hallway that’s almost kind of off the convention floor,” one in-the-know source told me. “The only view they have is forward. The only way they can look is forward, and they have two whips assigned to them.”

State Auditor Josh Gallion, who is chairing the delegation, told me he hadn’t heard anything about a potential protest. “I’m not aware of anything like that,” he said via text message while working his way through convention security.

If Burgum is chosen as VP —

and, reportedly, we may get that announcement as soon as today

— you would expect that convention organizers would want his home state delegates front and center in the crowd. It could be that they’re not because Burgum isn’t the pick. Or it could be that organizers don’t want an anti-Burgum demonstration to make the broadcast at the convention.

This sort of revolt from convention delegates against their own party leaders is rare, but not unprecedented. During the 2016 cycle,

North Dakota delegates censured then-Sen. Heidi Heitkamp

for her support of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign over that of Sen. Bernie Sanders. The rebuke was so sharp that Heitkamp

did not cast her votes

for the presidential candidate at the convention.

Burgum has been a popular governor. He was elected in landslides in 2016, and 2020, and, had he sought a third term, would have won reelection handily, I think. His aspirations for vice president have the vocal support of North Dakota’s congressional delegation — including Sen. Kevin Cramer, Sen. John Hoeven and Rep. Kelly Armstrong (currently campaigning to be our next governor).

But ironically, despite the effort he’s put in to

ingratiate himself with Trump and his political movement

in previous weeks, Burgum has never been popular with the NDGOP’s Trumpiest factions.

BISMARCK — North Dakota health care providers are scrambling to meet new federal standards set for long-term care facilities. Put in motion by a 2023

executive order,

the series of mandates go into effect Aug. 8 despite nationwide concerns — including a lawsuit filed in June by the American Health Care Association against the Department of Health and Human Services and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

The rule comes in response to high death rates during the COVID-19 pandemic, citing a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or CMS,

study

that links fatality rates to high turnover and chronic under-staffing in nursing homes.

Medicare- and Medicaid-certified facilities will be required to have a registered nurse on site 24/7 and increase the number of nurse aids available daily. Rural communities have a year longer to implement the standards than urban communities. Proposed last September and finalized in April, the rule received over 46,000 comments during the 60-day national comment period that closed in November.

“This rule does not only impact nursing facilities, it will impact all sectors of health care and the cost of care in our state,” Nikki Wegner, president of the North Dakota Long Term Care Association, testified in a state Health and Human Services committee meeting on Thursday, July 11.

The association is affiliated with two plaintiffs involved in the CMS lawsuit.

“This, for us and for the rest of the nation, is really an impossible staffing mandate. There are simply not enough RNs to fulfill this requirement. While the intent behind the rule is to improve care quality, it presents really significant challenges,” Wegner said.

Rep. Kathy Frelich, R-Devils Lake, responded to Wegner’s testimony, referencing her professional experience with long-term care as an outreach specialist at the

North Dakota School for the Deaf and Resource Center for Deaf and Hard of Hearing.

“I would say that quality of care generally isn’t related to your RN. It’s usually related to your CNA (Certified Nursing Assistant) on that level. So, I’m concerned that this is just adding a cost,” Frelich said. “Ultimately, that goes back to the residents.”

Long-term care residents pay an average of $403.19 per day — over

$12,000 monthly

— a rate Frelich said would “drastically” increase.

Since the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of nursing homes across the state has been in decline. Six facilities closed in just under three years.

According to the

Bureau of Labor Statistics,

North Dakota would need to add 1,313 nursing home workers to return to pre-pandemic levels.

Data

from the Payroll Based Journal indicates 79% of the state’s facilities would not comply with the registered nurse mandate and only 17% would meet nursing requirements.

The same data shows rural communities in the state would be disproportionately impacted, where 86% wouldn’t meet requirements compared to 65% in urban areas. North Dakota would have to spend a minimum of $4.5 million per year to comply.

Individuals 65 and older make up over 16% of the state population with approximately

8,220 people

receiving care every day, according to the Long Term Care Association.

Some facilities could be considered exempt from the mandates. The

final ruling

states facilities would have to prove the local workforce is 20% or more below the national average and that administrators made “good faith” efforts to hire and retain staff.

Tanya Schnabel, administrator for the Wishek Living Center, said most rural facilities would have to apply for an exemption, including hers. She said the process would add to her already full plate of managing the already “concerning” worker deficit.

“We have housing issues here. So, even if somebody wants to move to town to come work for us, there’s no place for them to live that’s affordable. We wouldn’t be able to do it without contract companies right now, because they’re moving here and giving their time to help care for our residents,” Schnabel told Forum News Service.

“This will just probably be the straw that broke the camel’s back,” she said.

Rep. Kelly Armstrong, R-N.D., and 33 other Republicans cosponsored a joint resolution of congressional disapproval introduced by Rep. Michelle Fischbach, R-Minn., in May. Additionally, Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., sought to delay the rulings by introducing the VA Report on Proposed CMS Staffing Ratios Act, which would require the Veterans Association to study the risks to elderly veterans posed by the new requirements.

North Dakota’s Long Term Care Association is affiliated with the American Health Care Association and Leading Age. Last May, both entities joined four other plaintiffs in filing a

lawsuit

against the Secretary of the United States Department of Health and Human Services and CMS. According to the filing, CMS exceeded its authority by overriding congressional directives and employing “sweeping” new mandates.

“Hopefully they realize that this will probably kill off some rural facilities. If they close, then people would have to drive to Bismarck or Fargo or Jamestown to see their loved ones. That would be devastating,” Schnabel said.