By Lynn Janes
On April 29, 2025, the board of regents held a regular meeting at Western New Mexico University. The board consisted of Steven Neville, chair (online), Joseph "Dean" Reed, John Wertheim (online) and WNMU student Keana Huerta (online).
The board approved the agenda, meeting minutes April 9, 2025. The next meeting for the board will be May 8, 2025, at 10:30 am. They will have an executive meeting at 9:00 am.
President's report
Jack Crocker, acting president, alluded to the things that had been happening on the campus, but they had been able to stay open. He had been referring to the cyber incident. Classes had continued and the athletic teams had been competing. The cultural affairs programs had also continued. The staff had made every effort to keep communication going and had figured work arounds for the time being. He felt they had been very successful in maintaining as much communication connections as possible given the cyber incident. His last item to report would be to remind everyone of commencement May 9, 2025. He invited all of the regents to attend all of the events for that day and would be sending them a schedule.
New business
Kelly Riddle, vice president of business and finance, has several items to address with the board.
She had a final fiscal year 2025 budget adjustment. The adjustment must be turned into the state by May 1, 2025, as a requirement. It solidifies the final budget for the fiscal year 2025 in both restricted and unrestricted funds. The auditor will also need this information to determine if the budget had been exceeded. She went over the documents she had provided the regents. Revenues had increased within current funds by $1,503,984 but the overall total revenues had increased $1,756,394.
The next page she pointed out to the regents was of expenditures. It showed the increases and decreases within the funds. They had an increase of $1,231,476 and that included the settlement paid out to Dr. Shepard. Total expenditures had increased $3,652,994. They did have some decreases due to salary savings.
Riddle continued with a very comprehensive presentation to the regents on all adjustments. Reed said he and Huerta has spent hours working with Riddle on these documents, the process and learning. "I am 100 percent confident in these balances and this information." He had not seen any red flags. Huerta agreed and reported she would also be confident on the numbers.
Wertheim had a question but a comment first. He wanted to commend the work of Reed, Huerta, Riddle and her finance staff. He wanted the public to understand some deadlines. In spite of everything that had happened they didn't have to ask for any extension from the Higher Education Department (HED).
Riddle confirmed along with the budget adjustments and the next item on the agenda, the operating budget for fiscal year 2026, both would be due May 1, 2025, and it would be complete and submitted. The budget had been developed and uploaded into the operating system banner, so they had been able to run reports prior to the networking incident. They still have a 200-page document to finish but it would still be submitted by the May 1, 2025, deadline.
Riddel presented the regents with the fiscal year 2026 operating budget and started with the first column, which was the original approved budget, a base budget. The next two columns were temporary adjustments. The final two columns would be the final operating budget for fiscal year 2026. She explained the process of each item on the budget and went over them.
The board approved each request from Riddle.
Restore and recover network services.
Crocker said it's common knowledge that living in the age of technology sometimes they had to experience such things as a cyber incident. He commended the IT team who had been working day and night to resolve it. The incident still is in an investigative stage and working with a forensic team. They will be making sure the website strengthens and defends against this in the future. He spoke to firewalls and backup systems. Instead of having to come to the board for each part they asked for approval to do what would be necessary to move forward. The board approved the request to authorize and direct the university to take the appropriate and necessary measures to recover and restore network services impacted by the recent cybersecurity incident including, but not limited to system repairs, data recovery, cybersecurity enhancements and related expenditures subject to compliance with applicable university and state policies and reporting requirements.
Public comment none currently.
Board closing comments
Wertheim said, "I want to reiterate that despite headwinds we're on track with our actual management of the university with the help of excellent work." The cybersecurity incident is under investigation and the board will provide further details later. He wanted to commend the IT staff and looked forward to the first WNMU commencement he would be attending.
Reed said commencement would be in two weeks and it would be an exciting time and a time for sharing successes.
Huerta wanted to sincerely thank everyone for coming to the meeting. "Your time and presence are truly appreciated." She has been meeting with departments across the campus to connect with as many as possible and wants to keep the conversations going. She gave a special thanks to the IT team and the work behind the scenes had not gone unnoticed.
Neville also wanted to commend the staff. "You've jumped in from the beginning and taken charge and kept the ship sailing."
Crocker wanted to thank the board for all of their support through this. It had not been the intended reception for them.
Meeting adjourned.
