The president of New Mexico State University’s Board of Regents has raised a number of allegations about two dismissed professors who say they were denied tenure because they are members of ethnic minority groups, but a newspaper’s review of university records failed to substantiate many of the regent’s claims.

Among other allegations against the professors — John Moraros and Yelena Bird, who are a married couple — the regent, Bob Gallagher, told the Las Cruces Sun-News that the two had been hired in 2004 against the recommendation of faculty members and the head of the department of health science, and that a note in their files warned they would be likely to sue the university for discrimination.

The newspaper examined academic and personnel paperwork provided to the couple by the university and found that their hiring appeared to have proceeded normally. Told that the documents did not support his allegations, Mr. Gallagher said that was because the university was not prepared to show its full hand.

Mr. Moraros, who is Greek and of Hispanic descent, and Ms. Bird, who is British and black, say they were dismissed after warning that they would be filing complaints alleging racist and sexist behavior. In other odd twists in the saga, they and two other university employees complained of finding racist letters in their offices last month, and a former associate dean resigned from his administrative post after admitting that he had inappropriately e-mailed offensive content to Mr. Moraros. —Charles Huckabee