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A New Mexico judge scheduled a jury trial for next summer in the State Ethics Commission’s lawsuit against former Western New Mexico University President Joseph Shepard.

The Commission and accused him of taking money intended for Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant construction projects and instead using it to build a patio near his on-campus house where he could host a welcome event for his daughter’s wedding. Shepard resigned from his post as university president in late 2024 after and the Office of the State Auditor how he and other university officials used taxpayer money on international trips and luxury furniture.

First Judicial District Court Judge Francis Mathew last week ordered both sides to participate in mediation or settlement talks by Dec. 28. If that does not resolve the dispute, a trial will begin on June 28, 2027, court records show.

Lawyers for the commission and for Shepard did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Shepard also faces a legal challenge from the New Mexico Department of Justice and Attorney General Raúl Torrez. Source NM that the attorney general’s case against Shepard and the university, which was filed in January of 2025, would begin mediation early this year. Court records show, though, that such talks have apparently been slow going.

A joint status report filed earlier this month said that a full-day mediation session with Judith Nakamura, a former chief justice of the New Mexico Supreme Court, and Kent Walz, a former editor of the Silver City Daily Press and the sa���ʴ�ý������ҳ���, “produced no resolution.”

The university’s Board of Regents last month . J. Dean Reed, the board’s treasurer, at the time told Source NM that university officials had to “earn back the trust of everyone.”