New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez (right) and Rep. Javier Martínez (left) discuss legal against Western New Mexico University Board of Regents and outgoing President Joseph Shepard during a news conference Jan. 9, 2025.
New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez is seeking to stop outgoing Western New Mexico University President Joseph Shepard from spending a $1.9 million severance payment issued to him a week ago.
Torrez filed a supplementary restraining order Thursday and a new complaint alleging additional violations on the part of Shepard and the university board of regents.
During a news conference Thursday morning, Torrez said the department filed an emergency motion asking the court for a temporary restraining order to keep Shepard from spending his $1.9 million severance payment.
Shepard took over as WNMU president in 2011. The board of regents voted unanimously to terminate his contract in December. According to a WNMU news release, Shepard will remain president through Jan. 15, 2025, after which he will take on the title of President Emeritus and become a professor with the university’s School of Business.
The suit, filed on Jan. 6, initially requested the court stop the university from distributing the payment. However, the NM DOJ later found out that the payment was processed on Jan. 2.
“While we were asking for documents and we are being told that no one is in the university to provide responsive documents, they are simultaneously expediting the payment requests,” Torrez said, adding that it is not clear at this time who made the call to release the payment.
The new emergency motion requests the court establish a constructive trust where the funds would be kept while the case is resolved.
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The DOJ’s additional complaint alleges Shepard and the university board of regents are in breach of fiduciary duty, lack of consideration, unconscionable contract, violations of the anti-donation clause, violations of the open meetings act and unjust enrichment.
“The level of greed and self-dealing and arrogance that has been exhibited throughout this process and frankly throughout the last year and a half, has only been amplified by the actions and mismanagement of the board of regents at Western New Mexico and the actions of Dr. Shepard,” Torrez said.
The New Mexico Office of the State Auditor published a report last November detailing misuse of hundreds of thousands of public funds. The case was referred to the State Ethics Commission. Searchlight New Mexico first reported on the university leadership’s lavish spending in December 2023.
Speaker of the House Javier Martínez (D-Albuquerque) during the news conference Thursday said he and other lawmakers will be working with the DOJ this upcoming legislative session to reform oversight of public universities in New Mexico.
Martínez said they are reviewing the process by which regents and higher administrations of universities are vetted and chosen, how contracts and severance packages are awarded and the process for removing such people when they are found in breach of their institutional duties.
“At the end of the day, this is about safeguarding the money of the people of the state of New Mexico. And this is about ensuring that no one is above the law. These are public institutions funded through the tax dollars of taxpayers,” Martínez said.
WNMU’s Office of Marketing and Communications issued a statement responding to the NM DOJ news conference in response to questions from Source confirming Shepard’s effective resignation date. The statement references the Board of Regents Dec. 20 meeting terminating Shepard, and notes that part of the separation agreement approved at that meeting would be made no later than Jan. 15, 2025.
“The settlement agreement was made available to media outlets and government entities,” the statement notes. “The University was planning to make the payment on the same day the agreement was approved. However, the president asked that payment be delayed until January 2, 2025. WNMU’s holiday break was scheduled December 23, 2024, through January 1, 2025 (https://hr.wnmu.edu/holidays/). When the offices reopened on January 2, 2025, the payment was processed as a part of regular accounting processes. Western New Mexico University’s legal counsel has been in regular contact with the Attorney General’s office and has been cooperative to provide documents and insight.”
The terms of two members of the university’s board of regents expired at the end of December 2024. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced Tuesday that she had accepted the resignations of the remaining three members, and said in a statement that her office is reviewing candidates to fill positions on the board.
“The WNMU Board’s tone-deaf decision to approve a $1.9 million severance package for Dr. Shepard demonstrated an appalling disconnect from the needs of our state, where the median income of a family of four is just $61,000,” the governor said. “We must ensure that generous payouts no longer reward poor performance while maintaining our ability to attract qualified leaders.”
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