Former Faculty Members Cite 'Reckless' Actions in Suit Against College of Santa Fe

Eighteen former faculty members at the College of Santa Fe are suing the New Mexico college, its president, two former presidents, and members of its Board of Trustees just three weeks after the struggling private college closed, according to The New Mexican, a local newspaper.

In the lawsuit, the faculty members say the trustees signed off on deficit spending by the college’s presidents, a “willful, wanton, and reckless” action they say ignored the “obvious ongoing financial destruction” at the college. The plaintiffs assert they were the victims of fraudulent misrepresentation, breach of contract, and related claims.

The college has struggled to find a buyer that would assume its debt for almost a year, seeking to strike deals with Laureate Education, a for-profit educator, and New Mexico Highlands University, a public institution, but ultimately failing to close them.

The college shut down last month but is still in talks with Laureate Education.

In the suit, the faculty members say Stuart Kirk, the college’s president, and the board misrepresented the college’s financial situation, telling the faculty over the course of the last year that certain deals would go through only if they surrendered tenure and accepted pay cuts.

The faculty members are seeking compensatory and punitive damages and costs, as well as money from one of the college’s remaining assets, the Christian Brothers Risk Pooling Trust, which insures the college’s directors and officers against legal action. —Erica R. Hendry