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The ousted president of New Mexico Highlands University has filed a lawsuit against the school, alleging he was terminated as retaliation for refusing to comply with what he said were 鈥渋llegal orders鈥� from the Board of Regents.

Neil Woolf, who was placed on administrative leave at NMHU at the beginning of May, claimed in the suit he received a directive from Board of Regents Chair Frank Sanchez to direct more than $600,000 in state funds to a local contractor who is a 鈥渇riend and ally鈥� of Sanchez and his brother-in-law, Sen. Pete Campos, D-Las Vegas.

In the lawsuit, filed Thursday in the Fourth Judicial Court of San Miguel County, Woolf is requesting a jury trial and is seeking damages and attorney鈥檚 fees under the New Mexico Whistleblower Protection Act, a state law that protects public employers from retaliation after reporting unlawful or improper conduct.

Woolf and several members of the NMHU administration were put on leave without explanation by the Board of Regents at the beginning of May, including Provost Dann Brown and men鈥檚 basketball coach Zach Settembre, according to NMHU鈥檚 interim council Doajo Hicks.

Administrators Paul Grindstaff, David Lepre and Johnny Montoya were terminated, Hicks said.

Kimberly Blea, who most recently served as vice president of student affairs at NMHU, has been appointed interim president.

The lawsuit claims Deanne Todd, executive assistant to the president; staffers Jessi Breitenstein and Vanessa Tenorio; Chad Mano, interim director of the graduate computer science program; and Chief of Police Clarence Romero were also terminated.

In the complaint, Woolf said the board plans to meet Tuesday to consider terminating his employment.

Last year, NMHU received $1.2 million from the Legislature for the construction of a new track facility at the university鈥檚 Las Vegas campus. The complaint alleges Woolf received a request from Sanchez to award a construction contract to Franken Construction, a company with offices in Las Vegas operated by a friend of Sanchez and Campos.

Woolf claims in the complaint that he refused to comply, telling Sanchez the contract would go through the competitive bidding process. Woolf awarded the contract to Ampere, a Missouri-based construction firm specializing in sports design.

When reached by phone on Monday, Campos declined to comment. Sanchez did not respond to an email from the Journal.

In a meeting with university officials in March, Woolf alleges he was directed by Sanchez to cancel Ampere鈥檚 contract, and to steer any money remaining from the $1.2 million appropriation 鈥� approximately $600,000 鈥� to Franken Construction.

During the meeting, the complaint claims that Sanchez told Woolf the money would 鈥済o a long way鈥� to curry favor with Campos for further appropriations. Woolf said he refused, and received notice that he would be put on leave about a month and a half later.

Woolf claims the university violated state law and breached the terms of his contract by removing him from his post.

鈥淲hen I was asked to set aside the law and steer public money to a hand-picked contractor, I said no, because that is not how you spend taxpayer dollars or run a university,鈥� Woolf said in a statement. 鈥淚 never imagined doing the right thing would cost me my job. I'm bringing this case to clear my name and to make sure the people of New Mexico get an honest accounting of what happened here."

A statement from the Board of Regents said the allegations in the suit are 鈥渨ithout merit,鈥� 鈥渇actually inaccurate鈥� and 鈥渨ithout legal basis.鈥�

鈥淭he university categorically denies that any university official, including Board of Regents Chair Dr. Frank Sanchez, pressured Dr. Woolf or any other university employee to redirect, steer or improperly award any construction contract,鈥� the statement said.

NMHU officials maintain that no contract was improperly awarded or canceled, and that the contract in requisition did not require a formal request for proposal.

鈥淣o contract award was directed to Franken Construction through any improper means, and no public funds were misappropriated or misused,鈥� the Regents said. 鈥淔ranken Construction is a duly approved New Mexico contractor and is fully qualified to perform work for public institutions in this state.

鈥淭he university and the Board of Regents are confident that the facts, when fully examined through the appropriate legal process, will fully vindicate the university's actions. NMHU will vigorously defend against this litigation.鈥�

NMHU faculty union President Kathy Jenkins told the Journal in May that university employees had problems with Woolf since he was appointed in 2024.

鈥淲e鈥檝e had union issues. They鈥檙e not following our (collective bargaining agreements),鈥� Jenkins said. 鈥淲e wrote the Board of Regents two months ago expressing our concern, and they told us to basically stay in our lane and that they supported the president. And then all of a sudden this happened.鈥�

Jenkins said discontent worsened after faculty and staff raised workplace safety issues at the university鈥檚 Ivan Hilton Science Building, which closed for several months starting Sept. 3, 2024, after reports of a chemical spill, the Las Vegas Optic reported.

Marty Lujan, a custodian at NMHU who worked in the building, died 11 days later. An autopsy report obtained by the Optic found Lujan died of complications from diabetes, though union officials said he showed signs of chemical exposure.

鈥淲e鈥檝e been really upset,鈥� Jenkins said. 鈥淭hat was awful, with the storage of chemicals being so bad.鈥�

NMHU has just over 2,800 students. The public, state-run university鈥檚 flagship campus is in Las Vegas, with satellite locations in sa国际传媒官网网页入口, Rio Rancho, Farmington and Santa Fe.

Natalie Robbins covers education for the Journal. You can reach her at nrobbins@abqjournal.com.