Western New Mexico University

New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez is taking outgoing Western New Mexico University President Joseph Shepard and all five members of the Board of Regents to court over a $1.9 million buyout payment they awarded to Shepard, who state investigators say has routinely engaged in “wasteful” and “improper” spending of taxpayer dollars.

After nearly a year of investigating the Western New Mexico University's books, the New Mexico State Auditor shared his office’s findings with the governor’s office, the State Ethics Commission and the New Mexico Higher Education Department. Examiners focused on the last five years of spending at WNMU and found that the university spent more than $214,000 on 402 domestic and international trips that violated its own policies, along with nearly $150,000 on university credit card transactions that also broke policy.