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Resignation From the School of Business Dean Search Committee

To: Dr. Carmen Vidal-Lieberman, Chair, School of Business Dean Search Committee
From: Dr. David West, Search Committee Member
Subject: Resignation from the search committee
Date: 3/17/2005
CC: Dr. Janice Chavez, Andy Vasquez, NMHU Faculty Senate Executive Committee, Dr. Tom Ward, NMHU Global

It is imperative that I resign from the search committee. I have serious concerns about violations of procedure and the possibility of incurring personal legal liability for participating in a process that I believe violates both internal process and equal opportunity law.

A brief chronology exposes my concerns:

  • Last fall (October-November, 2004) I was told by three independent sources that President Aragon intended to appoint PersonX (I will conceal this individual's identity at this time) as the Dean of the School of Business.
  • The administration wrote an advertisement (which we have been told numerous times constitutes a binding contract) for the position of Dean of the School of Business.
  • Very few applications were received so the Provost arbitrarily added applications from a previous search conducted approximately a year ago. This is a violation of procedure.
  • The committee unanimously adopted a set of screening questions based on the criteria set forth in the advertisement and a set of rating criteria that could be applied to those passing the screening criteria.
  • Ron Maestes, the community representative to the committee and I were designated a sub-committee with the charge of screening the candidates. Mr. Maestes identified three that met the screening criteria, two for whom an exception might be made, and the rest failed the screening criteria. Subsequently I screened all candidates and concurred with Mr. Maestes' judgments.
  • PersonX did have an application in the pool. He did not pass the screening criteria and was not one of the two "maybes."
  • You (as chair) informed the Provost of the results of the screening and she directed you to have the committee rate all applicants. This is a violation of the process outlined by Mr. Vasquez when charging the committee with the search. We were told to rate only those that passed the screening criteria.
  • At the February 22nd meeting of the Academic Affairs Subcommittee, Regent Messina expressed concerns about the pool of candidates for the Dean positions. Both Provost Chavez and VP Clarence Sanchez told Regent Messina, "applications can and will be accepted until a selection was made" and urged the committee to conduct outreach to improve the pool.
  • Approximately February 26, a viable Hispanic candidate submitted an application but, as directed by the Provost in her email of March 3, to you as chair of the committee, you rejected the application. At that time the committee had not yet selected candidates for phone interviews, let alone selections for submittal to the administration. This is another violation of procedure, the contract implied by the advertisement, and the express statements of senior administration members with regard broadening the pool of candidates.
  • On Wednesday, March 16th - PersonX underwent a miraculous transformation from non-qualified to the number one ranked candidate. I missed the meeting of Wednesday March 9 so I do not know what other guidance was provided the committee regarding the ranking of candidates. At least one candidate that passed the selection criteria was excluded from the top three ranking. This appears to be a blatant violation of fair employment law.
  • On Thursday, March 17th I was informed of at least one case where members of a screening committee were held liable for actions that violated procedure and law even though the administration made the final hiring decision. I am not willing to assume that kind of liability when I am sure, in my own mind and opinion, that this search is violating procedure and law.

Accordingly, I ask you to accept my resignation from the committee. Making this request is a personal disappointment as I have been enjoying the opportunity to work with you and the committee in this important task.

Sincerely;

Dr. David West
Professor, School of Business