NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – New Mexico Tech is accused of mismanaging millions of dollars and unjustly firing its former president in a new lawsuit. “As with any president of a university, his job was, in essence, to be the CEO and to do what’s best for the school, and that he did,” said attorney Joleen Wells, who is representing Stephen Wells.
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Former New Mexico Tech president Stephen Wells served at the university from 2016 until 2023. Under Wells’s leadership, he began looking into the university’s finances. He noticed that they were stored at a small local bank in Socorro. According to the suit, in the bank, the school had over $46 million but could only insured for up to $250,000. “I mean, those are public funds, and they have to be protected for the use of the school and for the use of its students,” said Youngers.
When Wells brought this up to the board of regents, they frowned upon it, but let it be. However, according to the lawsuit, Wells was asked to resign from the university in 2023 without any justification “He was asked to resign in 2023, approximately a month after the bank’s attorney became chair of the board of regents, and then obtained other new regents on the board, and then there were votes to force him out,” Youngers said.
His attorney said the money that was stored in that bank wasn’t even accruing interest thus causing the university to lose money that could’ve been used for students or the university. “I mean, those are public funds, and they have to be protected for the use of the school and for the use of its students, and they also should be growing,” said Youngers.
Wells’s attorney said they hope the lawsuit holds the university accountable and that higher education in New Mexico takes a closer look at their finances and business practices. “We’re a small state, and we have a lot of institutions of higher learning to try to provide education to all the citizens in the state. We don’t have money to squander,” said Youngers.
KRQE News 13 reached out to New Mexico Tech for comment. They said that “[New Mexico Tech] does not comment on pending litigation.”