The mess at New Mexico Highlands University keeps getting bigger.
In a letter sent May 27 to the New Mexico Office of the State Auditor, regents at the state-owned school in Las Vegas, N.M., accuse former President Neil Woolf of improper hiring and procurement practices, financial mismanagement and retaliation against university employees, among other misconduct — claims an attorney for Woolf disputed Tuesday evening.
The letter, obtained by The New Mexican earlier Tuesday through a public records request, offers the first public explanation for the regents’ decision in May to place Woolf on paid administrative leave before officially firing him earlier this month.
Courtesy New Mexico Highlands University
Woolf’s departure was the first in a wave of high-level dismissals. The university also removed its provost, several vice presidents and the men’s basketball coach — creating an administrative upheaval that prompted a special audit from the state auditor and a mandatory corrective action plan from the New Mexico Higher Education Department.
The board of regents has since acknowledged it ousted Woolf without cause and will comply with the terms of his contract, including “separation pay.”
The board’s letter to State Auditor Joseph Maestas says the regents weren’t previously aware of the alleged misconduct by Woolf.
“President Woolf systematically and deliberately prevented that awareness by restricting and denying administrators and employees the ability to communicate material concerns, compliance issues, and financial irregularities to the Board through ordinary governance channels,” the letter stated.
“The suppression of reporting was not inadvertent,” the letter adds, “it was a calculated effort by President Woolf to insulate his conduct from Board oversight.”
Shortly before his termination, the former president filed a lawsuit accusing the university of violating his contract and retaliating against him after he refused to follow an order to redirect a construction contract to a local firm with ties to a regent and a local politician. The university disputed the claims in the lawsuit and said it planned to “vigorously defend” itself against the litigation in court.
Nicholas Hart, an attorney representing Woolf, argued the regents’ letter was erroneous and retaliatory — a claim Woolf intends to add to his lawsuit against the university.
“It is not a shock that a letter sent in retaliation for Dr. Woolf’s lawsuit is full of inaccuracies and misrepresentations,” Hart wrote in an email to The New Mexican. “To be absolutely clear, the allegations against Dr. Woolf are false.”
The regents’ letter to Maestas slings a series of accusations at Woolf.
It alleges he retaliated against employees who raised concerns about school conduct, framing them as disloyal and delaying the board’s access to “accurate, complete, and timely information.”
“The Board does not offer this explanation to minimize institutional responsibility,” the letter states. “To the contrary, the Board recognizes the seriousness of the failures described in this letter and is taking corrective action.”
The regents also claim in the letter that Woolf, a self-identified member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, created new positions for and preferentially hired people associated with the Mormon Church, including former Vice President of Advancement Paul Grindstaff and men’s basketball coach Zach Settembre — both of whom were fired as part of the administrative shakeup in May.
In addition to another claim of retaliation, Hart said, Woolf plans to add a religious discrimination claim “for the letter’s disgusting attack on his faith.”
The letter goes on to accuse Woolf of failing to follow up on complaints of sexual harassment and aggressive conduct; making unauthorized financial commitments and sports recruiting expenditures; destroying university records; falsifying documents; and entering unauthorized contracts, including one to outsource the university’s facilities management employees.
In the letter, the regents outline 18 actions they have already taken to meet financial and legal obligations, including ordering an independent internal audit, improving reporting protocols and mandating additional training for regents.
The letter also indicates the university plans to hire independent investigators to look into Highlands’ governance issues and whether any of them merit reporting to law enforcement, accreditors, the New Mexico Higher Education Department, the Office of the State Auditor or other authorities.
“The Board recognizes that NMHU is a public institution supported by public funds and public trust,” the letter concludes. “The Board’s objective is not merely to identify past misconduct, but to restore confidence in the University’s governance, financial stewardship, employment practices, procurement controls, and compliance culture.”
