Days After Mysterious Absence, New Mexico State U. President Is Out

Xarissa Holdaway

Barbara Couture will be stepping down as president of New Mexico State University, after she took a mysterious leave of absence last week. The Las Cruces Sun-News reports that, under a “mutual contract separation” announced on Monday, Ms. Couture will be on administrative leave until December 31, and that an interim president will be chosen later this month.

Ms. Couture’s departure may have been sudden. A member of the university’s Board of Regents, Mike Cheney, told ABC News that the board did not know until 10 minutes before Monday’s meeting that she planned to resign. Other regents, however, have cited problems under her leadership, including enrollment drops and the loss of its football-conference affiliation.

The Sun-News reports that she took her leave “just days after the regents met behind closed doors for the second time in as many weeks to discuss ‘confidential personnel matters, and threatened or pending litigation.’”

In Monday’s news conference, the regents did not offer details on her reasons for leaving:

Regents say they will not publicly discuss reasons for Couture’s resignation

— Brian Fraga(@bfraga) October 1, 2012

Ms. Couture is expected to take a senior advisory position with the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities.