{"id":4541,"date":"2009-05-07T11:41:00","date_gmt":"2009-05-07T17:41:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2009\/05\/waded-cruzado-out-as-nmsu-interim-president\/"},"modified":"2009-05-07T11:41:00","modified_gmt":"2009-05-07T17:41:00","slug":"waded-cruzado-out-as-nmsu-interim-president","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2009\/05\/waded-cruzado-out-as-nmsu-interim-president\/","title":{"rendered":"Waded Cruzado out as NMSU interim president"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Some legislators see administration\u2019s fingerprints on the situation, say a vote of no confidence in the NMSU regents is possible<\/span><\/p>\n

The resignation of New Mexico State University Interim President Waded Cruzado<\/a> is in the works, a move that has angered some powerful state legislators who believe the Board of Regents<\/a> and the Richardson administration are forcing the change.<\/p>\n

Cruzado is going to return to the job she previously held, executive vice president and provost, a number of sources with direct knowledge of the situation confirmed. Three powerful legislators — Senate Finance Committee Chairman John Arthur Smith<\/a>, President Pro Tem Tim Jennings<\/a> and Finance Committee member Mary Kay Papen<\/a> — are all upset by the move, saying they believe the Richardson administration is behind it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a fan of hers,\u201d Smith said of Cruzado. \u201cI think she\u2019s tried to do what is right, and I will certainly lead a charge in the New Mexico Legislature on a vote of no confidence on the entire board of regents and whoever else is involved.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cruzado and most members of the NMSU regents could not immediately be reached for comment. Student Regent Chris Anaya referred questions to Regents Chairman Blake Curtis, who was not available.<\/p>\n

Jennings said, in dealing with Cruzado in this year\u2019s legislative session, he found her to be \u201csomebody who was up front and wasn\u2019t going to tell you what you wanted to hear. She was going to do what was in the best interest of New Mexico State University and the students, and that\u2019s what I want.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need stability. We don\u2019t need to create more confusion and suspicion about what\u2019s going on,\u201d Jennings said. \u201cHere\u2019s a lady who was up front, she was doing what was right, and now she\u2019s going to get dumped. I hate to see her get dumped.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not immediately clear when Cruzado\u2019s resignation will be announced or who will replace her. The regents plan to meet in executive session this afternoon and hold a public meeting on Friday.<\/p>\n

The history<\/span><\/p>\n

Cruzado was named interim president last summer after Michael Martin left to be chancellor at Louisiana State University\u2019s main campus in Baton Rouge. After spending $90,000 on the search to replace Martin, the regents scrapped the process late last year, saying a state law that required them to publicly name five finalists hampered the process.<\/p>\n

Gov. Bill Richardson<\/a> responded by replacing three of five regents<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The new board has said it plans to restart the search later this year. Though she was interim president, the regents have said Cruzado could apply for the permanent job, a move that angered some who didn\u2019t want the appearance of a done deal. Cruzado hasn\u2019t said whether she plans to apply for the permanent position.<\/p>\n

But Cruzado is popular among students and faculty, and there has been a movement on campus to make her the permanent president. That popularity was one of many positives about Cruzado cited by Papen.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s a double minority. She\u2019s a woman and a Hispanic. She is like a bulldog for the university, and the legislators have been very pleased with her. The faculty I\u2019ve talked to and the students I\u2019ve talked to have all been extremely pleased with her,\u201d Papen said.<\/p>\n

\u2018Fed up with this administration\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

Smith agreed with Papen\u2019s praise for Cruzado, and said he\u2019s upset by the administration\u2019s meddling in the higher education system.<\/p>\n

\u201cQuite frankly, I am fed up with this administration. Even though they deny the fact that they get involved, our higher education system, everywhere you turn, has the indication of the executive branch micromanaging,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n

The governor\u2019s office said it had no involvement in Cruzado\u2019s resignation from the interim president job.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf that\u2019s the decision (the regents) are going to make, then they\u2019re making it without any input from the governor\u2019s office or, my understanding, the higher education department,\u201d said Richardson spokeswoman Alarie Ray-Garcia.<\/p>\n

Smith said a vote of no confidence in the regents would be \u201cvery embarrassing\u201d for the university and might also affect its credibility.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they\u2019re whimsical on personnel, then the finance committees have to assume they\u2019re whimsical on the budget,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to do what\u2019s right because the concern is the students.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jennings said he also believes the Richardson administration is directing the regents. If a no-confidence resolution is introduced, he said, \u201cit would probably have a good chance of passing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some legislators see administration\u2019s fingerprints on the situation, say a vote of no confidence in the NMSU regents is possible The resignation of New Mexico State University Interim President Waded Cruzado is in the works, a move that has angered some powerful state legislators who believe the Board of Regents and the Richardson administration are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4541","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4541"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4541\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}