By Lynn Janes
(Author's note: This had been set as a virtual meeting. At the time of the meeting, they didn't have any audio and hoping they had been able to adjust the problem with the video put up after the meeting didn't happen. The recording is useless, and video didn't work either. The author did find a way to obtain the transcript, so this article has been written with only a transcript.)
On September 11, 2025, the board of regents held a virtual regular meeting at Western New Mexico University. The board consisted of Steven Neville, chair, Joseph "Dean" Reed, John Wertheim and WNMU student Keana Huerta. Dr. Chris Maples, interim president, also attended.
The board had a closed session before this meeting started and said they had only discussed the pending litigation concerning Dr. Shepard and no action had taken place.
The board approved the agenda and minutes.
The board discussed a fourth quarter in-person meeting but didn't set a date at this time.
Maples said a lot had been happening,, but the immediate challenge will be the loss of 355 students for the fall term. It translated into about 3,300 credit hours and a ten percent decline. This further translated into a $3.3 million dollar loss for the year. He cited the cause being a decrease in web traffic due to the cyber-attack. The amount of traffic had not bounced back to full use. The university had a time with absolutely no web presence. Maples cited the decrease had come in the first time freshmen.
The university has requested supplemental funding from the state. A number of institutions have been challenged with this issue. They will be working on removing barriers to enrollment and went over some of those that would be changed. Maples continued that they would be looking at ways to support students better and financial aid.
Maples spoke to a time when people didn't buy shoes online because you could not try them on and eventually a company had been able to sell shoes online very successfully and did it with excellent customer service. "That is a place I think we can shine."
A third thing stated the university has had help from the secretary of higher education, and they will be directing students in the direction of Western New Mexico University (WNMU) for additional online students. He continued with a few other things they have done to try and increase enrollment.
Fifteen minutes into the meeting they became aware they didn't have any audio to the viewers. They discussed the problem for some time and managed to provide a transcript of the meeting in real time. The board decided to pause the meeting in hopes the audio could be fixed. The question came up that captioning alone would not be sufficient for the open meetings act and tried to contact legal counsel. They continued with the assumption an audio recording would be available later.
Maples went over some of the information before captioning had been made available.
The board restated their approval of the agenda and minutes. The also restated that no action had taken place in the executive session. They had only discussed the legal actions concerning Dr. Shepard.
Maples continued his report and said they had a lot of rapid changes coming because of the federal department of education. The secretary of higher education had been sending online students to WNMU that had not been able to enroll in New Mexico State University. He hoped all of the actions they have been taking will result in a higher number of students enrolled in the spring. Maples add, "This is a remarkable university, and I get to say that from the outside coming in." He expressed a deep admiration for the staff, faculty and students. The university had a president resign, a whole board resign and a cyber-attack. "Any one of those things would bring most universities down."
Carlos Carranza, student government president, said they had recently held their first meeting and have been working to put together a Hispanic Heritage Unity Wall. The ceremony would happen the next day and event awards would be given out.
Carranza said he wouldl be meeting with maintenance concerning the plan and installation of outdoor charging stations around campus. Because of the cyber-attack they had lost everything and had to start from the beginning, so it has slowed the project down.
Gregory Robinson Guerra, faculty senate president, reported on the challenges they have been having and what they have been doing to answer questions and ease the faculty.
Bartholomew Brown, staff president senate, said he had a brief report and said the staff has been generally excited about the semester. He commended the IT staff for having them all up and running. They have been meeting and will continue. Currently they have proposed changes for the handbook, constitution, etc. that will be brought to the board in the future. Brown wanted to also thank the maintenance staff for keeping the campus beautiful.
New business
Reed said he's excited to announce they have started working with Anthem on the permanent presidential search. They had their first meeting with the committee of fourteen people, and it included Reed and Wertheim.
Anthem would be doing town hall meetings and had put out a survey that received 258 responses. Seventy nine percent had come from faculty, students, administrators and alumni of WNMU. The rest had been general public.
The key points and concerns had been very clearly expressed which would help shape the search for president and the process would start in October. Julie Morales wouldl be releasing the committee members in a press release and would be posted on the WNMU website.
Wertheim said he and Reed had already received concerns from the public about certain people that might be applying for the position. The public that will be on this committee will be signing confidentiality agreements. "We need to keep the process private so that people are not embarrassed by the process or discouraged by it." He did add that he and Reed would continue to be open to any contact and encourage anyone with any concerns. He asked that people not push committee members out of respect for the process. Confidentiality would be extremely critical. If a person applying becomes known by the public, it could jeopardize their current job. The board wouldl not be announcing anyone until they come down to the last 4-5 candidates.
Kelly Riddle, vice president of business and finance, had two items that needed to be turned into the higher education department by September 15, 2025. The first would be the research and public service projects report (RPSP). This would be funding requested from the state. The board had a list of projects and the increases requested by each department. The board approved the report.
Riddle presented the fiscal year 2025 report for approval. The board approved the report.
Riddle presented the policy changes for approval. The changes had been made addressing discrimination and harassment and had come from the changes made by the FBI updating their manual. The board approved the changes.
Meeting adjourned.
