The Española City Police Department forwarded to the First Judicial District Attorney’s office a charge of simple assault against a Northern New Mexico College administrator who allegedly assaulted a college professor.
The charge stems from a Feb. 18 meeting between Northern’s Human Resource Director Bernie Padilla, Vice President for Student Advancement Ricky Serna and assistant professor James Biggs.
The following is a summary of the incident report, written by officer Michelle Talache:
Padilla and Serna called a meeting with Biggs to discuss a Rio Grande Sun article regarding a complaint Biggs filed against Northern for improper use of federal funds.
Biggs said things got out-of-hand during the meeting after administrators accused him of encouraging his students “to go elsewhere for education.”
Upon hearing this troubling accusation, Biggs told investigators he rose from his seat and placed a finger on the paperwork in front of him to point out something.
It was at this time, Biggs said Padilla abruptly got out of his seat and jumped into Biggs face yelling, “Hit me. Hit me.”
Biggs told the officer that Padilla’s aggressive behavior made him feel threatened.
“Mr. Biggs felt he (Padilla) was going to strike him at any time as Mr. Padilla raised his right fist,” the incident report states.
The District Attorney’s office has not filed formal charges.
This incident report surfaced amid a climate of dissatisfaction among students and faculty regarding the way the administration is running the school.
Biggs filed the incident report a week after Northern faculty members voted no confidence in the school’s administration and a week before the Northern New Mexico College Board of Regents approved a budget that eliminates several job-readiness programs.
Serna, who also serves as Northern’s public information officer, said the college knows about the incident but can’t comment on current investigations.
“We were made aware of the allegations, as part of the concerns expressed by the faculty that prompted the investigation that is still pending, so we can’t comment,” Serna said.
The trouble started stewing Oct. 31 when Biggs emailed the Higher Education Department expressing a belief that Northern misappropriated grant funds.
“I am notifying you of what I believe to be a misappropriation of Federal grant funds, at Northern New Mexico College,” Biggs’ email read. “I have been removed from institutional funds and placed illegally on Federal grant funds to help save money at the college.”
Biggs said the administration began paying him with Title III grant funds three years after he began work at the college in 2010.
He said he alerted federal officials because he realized how serious an infraction it is to misuse and misappropriate federal grant funds.
“It’s just unethical,” Biggs said. “It’s not an acceptable use of federal funds. If federal funds are used for illegitimate purposes, it can have serious consequences for those involved.”
Officials with the U.S. Department of Education agreed with Biggs’ assertion that the administration did supplant grant funds.
A letter addressed to Serna dated April 17, from the U.S. Department of Education, outlined where the school went wrong. The grant’s specification states the administration was allowed to use the grant money to pay staff, but only if Northern stuck to a “commitment to increasing course offering in Environmental Sciences.” The condition of the authorization was not met.
The letter emphasizes that Northern should have used the money “to supplement not supplant current funding.”
Everardo Gil, the letter’s author, ended the letter by asking Serna to notify him when the money has been reimbursed.
Gil didn’t respond to request for comments.
Serna said to date, Northern has repaid the money it used to cover Biggs’ salary.
“We reimbursed the grant funds about $40,000,” Serna said.
Biggs believes his decision to report the grant misuse cost him a tenured position.
Co-Chair of the Tenure Committee, David Barton, said the Tenure Council, the subcommittee that does first-line approval of tenure applications, unanimously approved Biggs’ application, which meant it didn’t have to seek a second approval from the parental body.
But for some reason, the administration didn’t forward Bigg’s tenure packet to the Board of Regents for approval.