At least nine administrators and other employees have been placed on leave or terminated by the university with no explanation since May 1.
Photo illustration by Justin Morrison/Inside Higher Ed | AtipatChantarak, DenisTangneyJr and klyaksun/iStock/Getty Images
Scrutiny is mounting at New Mexico Highlands University as the state auditor and higher education secretary demand answers in the aftermath of a wave of firings and claims of the board’s unethical behavior.
Since May 1, at least nine administrators and other employees have been placed on leave or terminated by the university with no explanation, though a lawsuit and a recent public statement shed some light on the situation. Amid the board’s silence, recently fired President Neil Woolf alleged in a whistleblower lawsuit that he was pushed out by the Board of Regents because he resisted the chair’s efforts to improperly divert state funds. (Woolf was put on leave in early May and then dismissed after he sued.)
Woolf accused Frank Sanchez, the chair, of directing him to steer $600,000 in state funds for a track facility at NMHU’s Las Vegas campus to a contractor, Jim Franken, who he alleged was a friend of Sanchez. Woolf’s lawsuit alleged that appeasing Sanchez and Franken could potentially result in additional appropriations for the university, since they have close ties to state senator Pete Campos who sits on the finance committee.
