Regents mum on Frank meeting
Group will meet again next week; no word on topic of discussion
After two hours behind closed doors, the University of New Mexico’s regents on Thursday shared no details about President Bob Frank in connection with a new critical report on the school’s leader.
All seven members of the Board of Regents attended the meeting that lasted from 2 to 4 p.m. Frank did not attend.
The Journal reported Thursday that the regents were expected to discuss a sharp review of Frank by an outside investigator.
Board President Rob Doughty said the regents didn’t take any action in the closed session. He said they will meet next week, but the specifics of what they will discuss is not clear.
Meanwhile, Frank’s attorney, Jaymeson Pegue, said that as of Thursday afternoon, neither she nor Frank had received a copy of the report obtained by the Journal.
Pegue said her calls to Doughty and the outside attorney who wrote the report have not been returned.
“The regents have offered no explanation to President Frank” regarding how the
Journal obtained a copy of the report.
Pegue said Frank has been provided with “no information about the meeting. He has received no contact whatsoever from any of the regents or their counsel concerning this matter.”
The report by attorney Alice Kilborn found some staff members said Frank at times displayed a temper, and could be condescending and sarcastic. It described his behavior at times as “bullying.”
Other people interviewed said Frank cared about his staff, was “generally affable” and the bulk of their interactions “are pleasant.” Kilborn wrote that she saw evidence of “shades of a hostile working environment.”
Frank said Wednesday night that work in the president’s office at times has been
“intense and stressful,” but it would be “inaccurate to describe it as a hostile work environment.”
The Journal obtained the 10-page report Wednesday.
Frank, whose salary is $362,136, announced in September that he would not seek to renew his contract as the university’s president. His contract ends May 31.
At the time, Frank did not give a reason. He and the regents signed an exit agreement that gives him the option of taking a tenured faculty position in the Health Sciences Center with a salary of $350,000.