AG tells UNM to help more on inquiry
Letter cites problems with release of documents
New Mexico’s attorney general is asking University of New Mexico leadership to improve the “tone at the top,” alleging in a new letter to officials that an institutional lack of transparency is hurting students and taxpayers.
In Hector Balderas’ Monday letter to UNM President Garnett Stokes and the UNM regents, he also threatens possible legal action if the state’s largest university does not better cooperate with his office’s current multifaceted investigation of the institution.
The letter is intended “to engage UNM Regents and the new administration of President Stokes in a dialogue aimed at
implementing immediate cultural changes at UNM and to cooperate with our investigation,” Balderas spokesman James Hallinan said in an emailed statement to the Journal on Tuesday.
He said the office has now scheduled a meeting with Stokes.
UNM, meanwhile, says it has provided about 12,000 pages of documents to Balderas’ office since January.
“We will continue to cooperate and welcome any additional input from the OAG regarding our responses so that any deficiencies or misunderstandings can be corrected,” spokesman Dan Jiron said in a written statement.
He confirmed that Stokes, who took over at UNM on March 1, has a meeting with the office set for Monday.
The attorney general’s UNM investigation began last May following media reports that the university had spent about $25,000 in public funds to pay private donors’ expenses on a golf junket to Scotland. The scope of the investigation has broadened, however, and now includes how UNM handles cases of illegal discrimination and retaliation against those who report sexual misconduct. Balderas announced the expansion in February following UNM’s inside and outside investigations into head football coach Bob Davie.
Balderas writes that his office has “encountered numerous deficiencies, omissions and delays in our requests for documents and apparent misrepresentations” in its investigation. In one case, the letter says, UNM did not furnish emails that Balderas said should have been turned over in response to a request until his office told UNM it knew from another source that such emails existed.
His letter expresses concern that “the pervasive culture of silence engrained (sic) within the University is harming the interests of students and taxpayers” and asks Stokes and regents to reshape the culture.
“The Regents are aware of the concerns and trust that President Stokes and her staff will continue to work with any oversight entity to ensure their requests are fulfilled,” Regent President Rob Doughty told the Journal in a written statement.
He did not answer a specific Journal question about whether he knew of instances in which UNM had failed to give Balderas’ office requested documents.
Balderas’ letter also condemns what he calls UNM’s “failure to disclose instances of internal misconduct to all proper authorities” and decries the university’s internal handling of “investigations” that involve potential criminal activity by employees.
The letter provides no specific examples; however, Hallinan said in his email that it has been “widely reported” that UNM engaged private law firms to look into alleged inappropriate conduct by university staff.
“Any potential criminal allegations involving university staff should always be referred to the appropriate independent agency for conflict free investigation,” he wrote.
UNM commissioned two private entities to investigate Davie, while UNM’s own Office of Equal Opportunity handled a third investigation related to Davie. Allegations included whether the coach or his staff interfered with investigations involving players and whether he discriminated against others based on race.
One Davie inquiry did not “conclude” the football staff inappropriately interfered with investigations; another never yielded a written report. The OEO investigation found Davie’s race-related comments did not violate the university’s policy on harassment and hostile environment, but did find “significant environment concerns and failure to follow civil rights reporting and protocol.”
UNM’s Internal Audit Department and the UNM Police Department also investigated former men’s basketball staffer Cody Hopkins for alleged embezzlement. Hopkins was indicted last month, about two years after that audit.
The Journal has also reported that UNM regents in 2016 hired a private law firm to provide counsel on UNM’s compliance with fetal tissue transfer laws. UNM paid nearly $43,000 for the work, but the firm never produced a written report.