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NMSU President announces he will be stepping down

Office of the President
/
New Mexico State University

New Mexico State University President John Floros announced Friday that he will be stepping down from his office, and Chancellor Dan Arvizu will become the leader of both the main campus and the NMSU system.

In a letter to the university community, it was stated that Arvizu has decided to combine the two positions of chancellor and president into one seat uptop the university leadership flowchart.

Floros was hired by the NMSU Board of Regents in 2018, alongside Arvizu to replace Chancellor Garrey Carruthers.

Floros has an embattled tenure as President, that included a vote of no confidence by the NMSU Faculty Senate in April of last year. That was quickly followed by another vote of no confidence by the Senate of the Associated Students of NMSU.

In the 18-page resolution filed by the Faculty Senate, they accused Floros and Provost Carol Parker of misappropriation of university funds, including state and tuition monies.

Unethical hiring and promotion practices, such as hiring individuals to positions that were never advertised or conducting appropriate searches. 

Deliberate circumvention of due process, rejection of principles and practices of shared governance, and broader impacts of systemic failure of leadership.

Floros was also a central figure in the battle for graduate students to unionize at NMSU.

In a report by Source New Mexico, graduate workers said NMSU did not reimburse tuition for their graduate workers and offered a pay stipend that was below a living wage in Doña Ana County. 

The university also failed to offer health care to their graduate workers, and those international students that NMSU was federally obligated to provide health care for found plans with a revolving door of coverages and high premiums and deductibles.

Meanwhile, the university’s president, chancellor, vice chancellor, and provost were making a combined salary of $1,567,000.

According to a report by the Las Cruces Sun News, Floros and Arvizu came into their respective positions with base salaries of $450,000 and $500,000. They were both also eligible for bonuses and other benefits.

Floros said in his letter that in the weeks ahead, he will be helping Arvizu with the transition, before moving on to take a year long sabbatical.