More members of the embattled board of regents at Western New Mexico University have resigned, a confirmation that came Tuesday during roll call at a meeting scheduled to address the departure of the university's president amid fallout from wasteful spending and lax financial oversight.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham in a year-end letter to the regents had asked for their immediate resignations, saying new leadership was needed to ensure the Silver City-based university can regain its “equilibrium and once again serve its students first and foremost.”.
Only the student regent and university President Joseph Shepard were present for Tuesday’s meeting, leaving too few board members to conduct business. The chairwoman of the five-member board resigned last week. It wasn't immediately unclear when the other three regents submitted their resignations.
The shakeup on the board follows the announcement that Shepard would resign as university president after an investigation by the state auditor’s office found more than $363,000 in wasteful spending and improper use of public funds. Top state officials have said that university officials and regents failed to uphold their fiduciary responsibilities.
The case has the attention of New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez, who on Monday filed an emergency motion in state district court seeking to put on hold a $1.9 million payout from Western New Mexico University to Shepard that is part of a severance package.
