New Mexico Highlands Board Says Ex-President Rigged Hiring

New Mexico Highlands College and its Board of Regents say just lately fired president Neil Woolf deployed improper hiring and procurement practices, mismanaged college funds, and retaliated towards his staff, The New Mexican reported Tuesday. 

“President Woolf systematically and intentionally prevented that consciousness by proscribing and denying directors and staff the power to speak materials issues, compliance points, and monetary irregularities to the Board by way of strange governance channels,” the board wrote in a Might 27 letter to New Mexico state auditor Joseph M. Maestas, in accordance with The New Mexican, which obtained a duplicate of the letter by way of a public information request and printed it on-line earlier this week. 

Amongst different accusations, the college alleges that Woolf, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, created new positions for and preferentially employed individuals related to the church, failed to research complaints of sexual harassment and aggressive conduct, made unauthorized monetary commitments and sports-recruiting expenditures, destroyed college information, falsified paperwork, and signed unauthorized contracts—together with one to outsource the college’s services administration staff. 

“The suppression of reporting was not inadvertent, it was a calculated effort by President Woolf to insulate his conduct from Board oversight,” the 32-page letter says.

The newly publicized claims come amid an ongoing dispute between Woolf and the college.

The board despatched the letter weeks after regents first positioned Woolf on administrative go away with no clarification in early Might. The board formally dismissed him with out trigger earlier this month, quickly after Woolf filed a lawsuit towards the board and the college, alleging that Chair Frank Sanchez directed him to steer $600,000 in state funds to a contractor who can also be a good friend. Along with Woolf, the college has positioned on go away or terminated not less than 9 different staff since Might 1, with out clarification. 

Woolf’s legal professional, Nicholas Hart, described the regents’ letter as faulty and retaliatory and stated that Woolf intends so as to add it to his lawsuit towards the college. In the meantime, in accordance with the Might 27 letter, the college plans to launch an unbiased investigation of its governance points partially to assist decide in the event that they warrant a report back to authorities, together with the police, accreditors, the New Mexico Larger Schooling Division or the Workplace of the State Auditor.