The Northern New Mexico College Administration unveiled its plan to close NNMC at El Rito--the seat of the college as defined by the New Mexico Constitution and as defined by New Mexico State Statutes.
Media, including The Albuquerque Journal, The Rio Grande Sun, and The Santa Fe New Mexican have covered the illegal plans for closure of all classes at El Rito. The move to close El Rito is currently under investigation by several New Mexico State authorities.
Click on the stories (below) for the full text of the coverage. The NNMC Board of Regents voted on the El Rito closure at the Thursday, April 23rd meeting.
Media, including The Albuquerque Journal, The Rio Grande Sun, and The Santa Fe New Mexican have covered the illegal plans for closure of all classes at El Rito. The move to close El Rito is currently under investigation by several New Mexico State authorities.
Click on the stories (below) for the full text of the coverage. The NNMC Board of Regents voted on the El Rito closure at the Thursday, April 23rd meeting.
Media coverage of the unauthorized, costly and misleading name change from Northern New Mexico College to Northern New Mexico University has been extensive. The Santa Fe New Mexican feature article [left] was followed by articles in Inside Higher Ed, The Arizona Daily Star, and The Houston Chronicle among others. New Mexico news stations also featured the story on evening news broadcasts as well as on their websites. See more at: http://www.nnmcstudygroup.org/blog/extensive-and-national-coverage-critical-of-nnmc-name-change |
|
federal civil rights gender discrimination lawsuit settled
Some details are emerging on the settlement in the federal civil rights case against Northern New Mexico College for its discrimination against women. The anti-woman practices of President Nancy "Rusty" Barcelo's Administration are widely known in New Mexico: Barcelo has the only all male "Executive Team" in New Mexico higher education. Shortly after her arrival, Barcelo removed high-ranking female Administrators, and appointed a male Interim Provost, who would be replaced by another male Provost. In fact, the Provost candidate interviews and campus visits in 2013 would not include a single woman.
|
Click on image above for full text.
Regent Rosario "Chayo" Garcia Calls for Resignation of Regent Donald Martinez
NNMC Regents Garcia and Branch have called for Regent Donald Martinez's resignation for sharing public records (of a new Board Sub-Committee formed by Branch) and for soliciting feedback from the community.
The Rio Grande Sun writes, "According to the Inspection of Public Records Act, there is 'no exception in the Act that allows a public body to deny inspection of a record simply because it is a draft.' So, the draft charter is a public document." The community has rallied around Regent Martinez--a native of El Rito, a rancher and the only educator on the NNMC Board of Regents. For more on the call for resignation, see: http://www.nnmcstudygroup.org/blog/nnmc-regent-branch-attempts-coup Click article at left for full story. |
2014 Audit findings
The 2014 NNMC Audit shows the college "has overspent its budget for six consecutive years.” In addition, the Barcelo Administration violated New Mexico State Statutes by funding capital projects without approval--overspending by $766,000. See: Monuments LLC, Blue Sky Builders and the Administration's failed dormitory project at:
http://www.nnmcstudygroup.org/monument-llc.html and http://www.nnmcstudygroup.org/blog/nnmc-students-scrooged-as-administrators-raise-tuition-to-line-their-own-pockets The audit also documented the over $317,00 in bounced checks that included short-paying adjunct instructors and late paying full-time faculty and staff. |
Click on image above for full text.
Other findings included unreconciled physical inventory, inaccurate deprecation of equipment, and insufficient IT financial controls, supporting the claims of the Whistleblower lawsuit filed by prior IT Director Angelo Jacques (see multiple stories below).
|

Between fall 2011 and fall, 2014 NNMC's Administration and Board of Regents have passed massive increases to fees and tuition, while cutting academic, heritage arts and career tech programs, student services, the Child Development Center. In addition, President Barceló's Administration has removed numerous critical full-time faculty and staff. Numbers released by the NNMC Administration show these practices have now caused over two-thirds loss of full-time equivalent (FTE) students at NNMC.
2011's FTE fall enrollment was 1,254. 2014's FTE fall enrollment is 400. Under the leadership is President Nancy "Rusty" Barceló, Northern New Mexico College has dropped from over 1,200 to just 400 in three years.
2011's FTE fall enrollment was 1,254. 2014's FTE fall enrollment is 400. Under the leadership is President Nancy "Rusty" Barceló, Northern New Mexico College has dropped from over 1,200 to just 400 in three years.
Academe, published by the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) has covered the crisis at NNMC extensively. Inside Higher Ed has also covered the issues at Northern. Click the images above for their coverage in full. The Albuquerque Journal reported on NNMC Administrators' claims they are "overburdened" by public records requests.
Click images below for full text.
Click images below for full text.
Click images above for full text:
"Former Student Headed to Highlands," "Adjunct Staffer Loses Contract," and "Ex-Teacher, Union to File Grievance"
"Former Student Headed to Highlands," "Adjunct Staffer Loses Contract," and "Ex-Teacher, Union to File Grievance"
Click image above for full story, "Faculty Senate: Northern Violates Academic Freedom"
below: click grey links for full TEXT
Petition to Urge the New Mexico Department of Higher Education to REJECT the 2014-2015 budget submitted by the Northern New Mexico College Administration and Board of Regents here: