Northern New Mexico College misses July deadline to hire president; new goal is end of October

Aug. 5—It's been seven months since Northern New Mexico College had a permanent president, raising questions for some advocates about the future of the Española-based institution.

The college had set a July 1 deadline to find a successor for former President Rick Bailey, who left in mid-January hoping the school, which he had helped lift from financial turmoil and led through the coronavirus pandemic, would "thrive through the transition."

Michael Martin, president of Northern's board of regents, said the school received 50 applications for the position when it was announced, but the selection process was upended when several college employees leading the search left for new jobs. The college then hired AGB Presidential Search to relaunch the effort, and previous candidates still have the opportunity to be considered, Martin said.

A 26-member committee of students, faculty, staff and community members are guiding the new search. Martin said information about the search will be printed in higher education magazines to get the word out. Applications will close by Sept. 9, and the school expects to make a permanent hire by the end of October.

Jacob Arnold, leader of the El Rito-based advocacy group La Sociedad Venceslao Jaramillo, said he and members of the group are concerned about the college's ability to address issues at its smaller, historic El Rito campus without a permanent president.

One issue he said his group is "exhausted by" is figuring out how funds from a mill levy, which brings in $1.5 million of the approximately $2 million Branch Community College budget, can be allocated.

"Can the mill levy dollars be used for general issues with the campus, such as fixing the heating system or repaving roads?" Arnold said. "That's an issue that's not resolved, and for people working on this for such a long time, it's like same song, different verse. We feel we can't address that without a new president in place."

Arnold also said he and others in the community are concerned about how the firm is handling the search for a new president. He believes AGB Presidential Search is taking a sweeping approach and making decisions without input from the community.

"If you look and see who was on the search committee before, it feels like it's always changing," Arnold said. "You have to ask, what are they really doing? Or has the process been seized by the search consultant?"

Martin defended the process, saying the departures of staff involved with the search were unexpected and that the board is keeping faculty and staff informed.

"[Interim President Bárbara Medina] is doing an excellent job as interim," Martin added. "President Bailey left in January, and we had no inclination that was going to happen. He was working on about 15 projects that Dr. Medina stepped in for."

The college is still facing the aftermath of several complaints alleging mismanagement of funds and corruption in campus leadership.

Bailey stepped up as president at a time when New Mexico's smallest college was embattled by two whistleblower lawsuits that alleged mismanagement of funds and retaliation from the previous administration helmed by former President Nancy "Rusty" Barceló in 2016.

The college landed on the U.S. Department of Education's watch list and was in jeopardy of losing federal funds due to its financial mismanagement.

Bailey ordered an audit from the state, which led to embezzlement charges against the college's former financial director, Henrietta Trujillo.

Under Bailey's leadership, the school defied a pandemic-era trend of decreasing enrollment numbers at colleges and universities. The college experienced an 11 percent increase in enrollment for its fall 2020 semester.

The college is not likely to face consequences for delays in its search for a new president, but the New Mexico Higher Education Department said it was invested in seeing the position filled.

"We've been in ongoing communication with the college to ensure they continue to meet state requirements for things such as budget submissions and they are in compliance," Education Department spokeswoman Stephanie Montoya said. "We are certainly invested in seeing strong leadership at all our institutions of higher education."

Martin encouraged the community to submit feedback as the college narrows its candidates next month.

"We had a lot of great feedback when we were picking an interim president, and we want to encourage people do the same for this," Martin said. "We want the community to help us make that decision."