Associated Press
LAS VEGAS — New Mexico Highlands University President Manny Aragon has been placed on administrative leave, and regents said Wednesday they were negotiating his role at the northern New Mexico school.
The decision to put Aragon on leave was made over the course of recent days, Regents Chairman Javier Gonzales and Regent John Loehr confirmed Wednesday evening. They declined to say what prompted the decision.
"It is a personnel issue and discussions are currently under way,'' Loehr said, adding that he expected a "fairly early resolution.''
Aragon, reached Wednesday evening at his home in Albuquerque, declined comment. He said only that he and the regents were in negotiations about his future at the university.
"Manny Aragon and the board are interested in what's in the best interests of Highlands University. As long as we stay focused on that, it's my belief we can come to some resolution,'' Gonzales said.
Highlands staff has been directed to take administrative matters to Manu Patel, vice president for finance and administrative services.
Aragon, a lawyer from Albuquerque and former state Senate president, became Highlands' president in 2004. He had no previous experience in education.
His tenure has made headlines for his aggressive leadership style. Earlier this month, a national association of university professors put Highlands on its list of censured administrations, saying it was concerned with actions taken by the university in the cases of two faculty members who were denied tenure.
Last year, nearly two dozen tenured faculty members wrote the North Central Association for Colleges and Schools, which accredits universities, alleging Aragon was fostering "an atmosphere of fear, hostility and intimidation.'' Their letter was drafted after the school's regents, on Aragon's recommendation, denied tenure to four of seven applicants.
Faculty leaders and others complained that the president excluded them from decision-making and punished those who spoke out. Some also accused the administration of discrimination because those denied tenure all were Anglos.
Aragon has denied the allegations, noting that two of the three professors awarded tenure at the time were non-Hispanics.
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