WNMU's new regents discuss financial audits and president search
Western New Mexico University's new board of regents met for the first time Wednesday, setting plans for a search for a new university president and a forensic audit of university finances.
Lawmakers confirmed the four new regents during the recent legislative session in the aftermath of allegations of financial malfeasance by the previous board and university administrators.
A civil lawsuit filed by Attorney General Raúl Torrez in January against the former university leaders remains pending, with a June hearing scheduled on former President Joseph Shepard's motion to dismiss the charges against him, which include violations of fiduciary duties, the state's anti-donation clause, the Open Meetings Act and several laws involving unjust enrichment, and not fulfilling contractual obligations. Torrez filed the suit in January after the previous board voted to award Shepard a $1.9 million severance package, which Torrez called a golden parachute and a misuse of state funds.
John Wertheim, a lawyer and one of the four new regents, reiterated during the meeting that the university is undergoing a period of many changes.
'I want to express to everybody how unusual this situation is,' Wertheim said during the meeting. 'To have a university with constitutional stature like Western New Mexico to be operating for even a few months without a board of regents is pretty unprecedented.'
Steven Neville, a former state senator who represented Senate District 2 in San Juan County, said the board will research how to move forward with a search for a new president. Jack Crocker, university provost and vice president of academic affairs, has been serving as interim president, but was not officially appointed by the previous board of regents. Neville said board members want to move quickly to find someone to take over during the interim while a formal search for president is conducted.
The board also received updates on the regular and forensic audit of the school's finances. Scott Peck, an independent auditor, told regents the regular audit, which is conducted each year, came back clean with no issues found. He explained that this regular audit tests certain areas including federal funding, major transactions such as payroll and cash disbursements.
The forensic audit, which the university started voluntarily in 2023 and was later required by the New Mexico Office of the State Auditor, is still underway and involves a more in-depth analysis. Kelly Riddle, vice president of business affairs for the university, said the Jaramillo Accounting Group in Albuquerque was chosen to conduct the audit and the group is specifically investigating finances between July 1, 2027 and Dec. 31, 2024.
Scott Eliason, a representative of the accounting firm, confirmed that the forensic audit will take several more months to complete, and said the firm will deliver a report to the regents with its findings, as well as suggestions for improving the use of finances.
'We are diving deep into the details,' Eliason told the board. ' We've got stacks and stacks of travel documents, for example, in one of the conference rooms. We've got a couple of team members on site right now going through those documents, reviewing for certain attributes and conformance with the university's policies and procedures.'
Neville said all four regents called for a forensic audit during their confirmation hearings in the legislative session, to ensure any previous wrongdoing is identified and fixed moving forward.
The board of regents will meet again on April 29 to discuss the university budget.
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