SANTA FE, N.M. (KRQE) – A controversial multi-million dollar payout at Western New Mexico University was blasted by a chorus of top state leaders while lawmakers heeded calls for reform, and now they’ve tabled a bill aimed at doing that. Attorney General Raul Torrez backed a reform package after the WNMU spending scandal, but today, opponents are saying the changes go too far.
“I mean we’re talking about one incident but they continue to happen and continue to happen,” said Senator George Muñoz, (D- Gallup).
That feeling from one lawmaker is about what happened at Western New Mexico University. That university’s president stepped down late last year after the state auditor found misspending. However, before he left, the board also approved a buyout.
“The board of regents for Western New Mexico took the opportunity to negotiate the severance agreement which gave Dr. Shepard $1.9 million in severance compensation, full tenured-track professorship, and a sabbatical,” said Billy J. Jimenez, Deputy Attorney General, New Mexico.
Aiming to stop that in the future, the Attorney General has proposed a series of reforms, under Senate Bill 266. The bill would, in part, empower the state’s Board of Finance and the A.G. to review contracts for high-level university administrators before they’re approved, but that idea is raising opposition.
“We are not going to have that ability if we have to tell a candidate, ‘You have thirty days, and guess what? This contract may not be upheld by the attorney general or the board of finance,” said James Chavez with Central New Mexico Community College.
Others think the proposal would affect university accreditation, saying higher education institutes must have independent governing boards. “It threatens institution’s ability to obtain institutional accreditation as the board will have outside influence placed on it, in the hiring of the president,” said Vanessa Hawker, Executive Director for New Mexico Independent Community Colleges.
Before tabling the bill on Monday, some lawmakers claimed the changes could scare away potential candidates for New Mexico University leadership positions.
“It is not just review, it is oversight and the ability to stop those. This bill, in my opinion, has already caused huge damage and harm to higher education, particularly those universities that are looking to hire new leaders,” said Senator William Soules (D- Doña Ana).
Lawmakers tabled that bill unanimously in a committee hearing today, meaning it’s unlikely to go any further this session. Responding to the decision, the New Mexico Department of Justice said in a statement they are quote “profoundly disappointed” with lawmakers choice.