New Mexico governor appoints brother as student regent

As scrutiny mounts over governing boards in New Mexico following a payout for an embattled president, Democratic governor Michelle Lujan Grisham has appointed her 64-year-old brother, Greg Lujan, as a student regent at New Mexico Highland University, The Albuquerque Journal reported. 

The governor’s office told the newspaper that her brother, who is a student at New Mexico Highlands University, went through the normal application process and was then selected by her from a list of applicants.

“I asked him to serve because I know he’ll do an outstanding job for New Mexico Highlands University,” Lujan Grisham said in a statement.

The move follows controversy at Western New Mexico University where regents signed off on a $1.9 million exit package for then-president Joseph Shepard, who was facing pressure to resign after a state report determined he spent taxpayer funds on lavish trips and costly furniture for his campus home, which he justified as efforts to recruit students and woo donors. Experts estimate the total cost of his exit package is around $3.5 million.

All of WNMU’s board—except for the student regent—resigned amid the fallout. State officials have since sought unsuccessfully to claw back the exit package, which included an immediate payment of $1.9 million and a tenured faculty job for Shepard with the option to teach remotely. On Wednesday, Shepard filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit from the state attorney general seeking to void the controversial exit agreement.

The incident has prompted discussion among state officials about the need for additional training for regents, who are nominated by the governor, and changing the selection process. Lujan Grisham has yet to appoint new board members at Western New Mexico University.