Former Western New Mexico College president Joseph Shepard acquired an exit bundle that included severance pay of $1.9 million, and a tenured school job, with perks including as much as an estimated $3.5 million.
Photograph illustration by Justin Morrison/Inside Increased Ed | skodonnell/iStock/Getty Photographs | rawpixel
The controversial exit bundle for former Western New Mexico College president Joseph Shepard might have funded a number of scholarships, in line with one evaluation, whereas the state’s governor says that the cash might have helped feed hungry college students on the college for a 12 months.
Judith Wilde, a analysis professor at George Mason College who research presidential compensation and contracts, beforehand instructed Inside Increased Ed that Shepard’s exit bundle might have funded 90 scholarships for undergraduate college students at Western New Mexico.
To Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, a Democrat, the choice to green-light a $1.9 million severance cost to the departing president “demonstrated an appalling disconnect from the wants of our state, the place the median earnings of a household of 4 is simply $61,000.”
“The sum of money contained in Dr. Shepard’s separation settlement might have addressed meals insecurity throughout your complete WNMU scholar physique for a full 12 months,” Lujan Grisham stated in a information launch final week.
The estimated $3.5 million bundle—together with advantages—for a president accused of improperly spending taxpayer {dollars} has infuriated state lawmakers and led to the resignations of a number of regents. Extra fallout is predicted because the state legal professional normal seeks to claw again the severance cost.
Shepard’s final day as president was Wednesday.
Shepard, who led the college for 13 years, made a base wage of $365,000 a 12 months. He’s not the one faculty president to get a beneficiant severance on his means out the door, however in comparison with offers at different establishments, the settlement is unusually profitable and can price the college greater than a number of line gadgets in its finances. For instance, when Ben Sasse stepped down as president of the College of Florida, he struck a deal to maintain his $1 million annual wage by means of 2028 regardless of exiting the highest job. However UF’s annual finances is simply over $5 billion, which means Sasse’s exit bundle includes a tiny fraction of college bills.
Comparatively, Shepard’s exit bundle far exceeds these of different former presidents in his state. Former New Mexico State College system chancellor Dan Arvizu acquired an exit bundle valued at between $500,000 and $650,000 when he introduced his early departure in 2023, a transfer each events known as a “mutual separation” amid tensions. In 2016, Bob Frank left the College of New Mexico presidency early amid allegations of bullying, placing a deal for a $190,000-a-year tenured school job—down from the $350,000 annual wage initially thought-about.
At WNMU, a college that enrolled 3,570 college students in fall 2023, Shepard’s whole exit bundle provides as much as virtually 5 p.c of its $74.2 million fiscal 12 months 2024 finances, an Inside Increased Ed evaluation discovered.
In one of many poorest states within the union, greater than half of WNMU’s college students obtain Pell Grants. A 2023 survey additionally discovered practically 60 p.c of school college students in New Mexico have been meals insecure, prompting efforts at Western New Mexico and different faculties to deal with the difficulty.
Shepard’s exit bundle has roiled lawmakers, notably in gentle of the financial challenges within the state and a state investigation that discovered the outgoing president improperly spent $360,000 in taxpayer cash on worldwide journey, splashy resorts and costly furnishings. Had the board elected to fireplace Shepard with out trigger, it might have spent roughly $600,000 to chop ties with him. Or the board might have waited for the conclusion of one other state investigation, which could have given them trigger to fireplace him with out spending any further cash, relying on the findings.
As a substitute, regents minimize him a $1.9 million verify and gave him a tenured school job instructing two programs a 12 months with a distant possibility. Altogether these perks add as much as a $3.5 million, Wilde estimated. (WNMU officers stated the cash was paid for out of reserves.)
4 out of 5 WNMU regents have since resigned beneath scrutiny from lawmakers, together with the governor. Lawyer Basic Raúl Torrez additionally demanded an investigation into Shepard’s “golden parachute” and sought a restraining order to forestall him from accessing the $1.9 million severance cost because the state challenges the contract. Nonetheless, a decide shot down the request to position a maintain on these funds Monday. A authorized problem to the contract is pending.
ButJohn C. Anderson, an legal professional for Shepard, defended the cost as “acceptable” and stated that the previous president had “labored tirelessly on behalf of Western New Mexico College for practically 14 years to extend commencement charges, modernize the campus by means of main renovations and the development of latest amenities, and broaden the college’s applications,” amongst different accomplishments. (Shepard’s authorized staff additionally disputed the estimate of $3.5 million however didn’t present their very own determine.)
Because the authorized wrangling continues, Inside Increased Ed took a have a look at WNMU’s finances to find out how Shepard’s controversial exit bundle stacks as much as spending on athletics, tutorial assist, school salaries and different line gadgets within the fiscal 12 months 2024 finances, which was final up to date in December. Whereas Shepard has already acquired an almost $2 million severance cost, the rest of his deal shall be paid out to him as a tenured school member the place he’ll initially make $200,000 a 12 months. His wage shall be paid for by the enterprise college.
- WNMU athletics groups—often known as the Mustangs—compete on the NCAA Division II degree. Western New Mexico College sponsors 13 sports activities with an athletics finances of $5.4 million.
- The scholar providers finances at WNMU is $4.5 million. That cash is unfold throughout a variety of choices from incapacity providers to funding for particular occasions and scholar well being and well-being.
- WNMU budgeted $4.4 million for the operation and upkeep of campus.
- WNMU budgeted $3.9 million in tutorial assist.
- The scholar monetary assist finances at WNMU was $1.2 million.
- Shepard’s exit bundle additionally surpasses the overall school salaries for any division at WNMU. The nursing division has 19 full-time school members, incomes a mixed wage of $1.4 million, in line with finances paperwork. Nursing seems to be the biggest program at WNMU based mostly on the variety of full-time workers listed. Social work can also be among the many college’s largest applications, with 17.2 full-time school members listed incomes simply over $1 million.
