Add the New Mexico Department of Justice to the agencies that are investigating Western New Mexico University.
In a press release issued Saturday, N.M. Attorney General Raul Torrez said the department will conduct an inquiry into the separation agreement between WNMU President Joseph Shepard and the Board of Regents.
The agreement was approved Friday in a special virtual meeting of the regents, and includes a $1.9 million severance payment. It terminates the president’s contract as of Jan. 15, and replaces it with an employment contract for Shepard as a tenured professor at $200,000 per year for at least five years, starting with an eight-month sabbatical.
“The decision to offer Joseph Shepard a $1.9 million golden parachute is extremely concerning in light of the state auditor’s comprehensive report documenting excessive travel and personal expenditures during his tenure as president of Western New Mexico University,” Torrez said in the press release.
In a Nov. 19 letter of concern, State Auditor Joseph Maestas outlined an investigation by his office that found 402 instances of domestic and international travel and 91 purchases to be noncompliant with university policies. The state auditor then filed a complaint with the New Mexico State Ethics Commission, which has opened its own investigation.
“While we await a final determination by the Ethics Commission into the conduct set forth in the auditor’s report, the New Mexico Department of Justice will be conducting a separate inquiry into this process and will specifically examine whether the Board of Regents has satisfied its fiduciary duty to the university and the taxpayers of New Mexico,” Torrez said.
In a statement during the regents’ meeting Friday, Shepard said the state auditor has not shared specific findings with the university, never had any conversation with the university about the spending at issue nor offered any due process.
“We know only what was in his letter of concern, but do not know any further details,” Shepard said.
