The case also has the attention of New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez, who on Monday filed an emergency motion in state district court seeking to put on hold a $1.9 million payout from Western New Mexico University to Shepard that is part of a severance package.

More members of the embattled board of regents at Western New Mexico University have resigned, a confirmation that came Tuesday during roll call at a meeting scheduled to address the departure of the university's president amid fallout from wasteful spending and lax financial oversight.

Mounting scrutiny over a multimillion-dollar exit package for an outgoing president prompted the regents to resign.

New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has asked for the immediate resignation of regents at Western New Mexico State University after revelations of wasteful spending and failures in financial oversight.

New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham enters the House Chambers to deliver her State of the State speech at the Capitol, in Santa Fe, N.M., Jan. 16, 2024.