Chancellor Michael Martin has become a defendant in a long-standing feud between New Mexico State University administrators and five former and current faculty members.The plaintiffs — Yelena Bird, Robert Buckingham, Freedom Cheteni, John Moraros and Satya Rao — filed the lawsuit Thursday claiming job discrimination, deprivation of rights, equal rights and First Amendment rights violations.Along with Martin, the plaintiffs are suing NMSU’s Board of Regents, former NMSU associate dean Larry Olsen, former NMSU department chair James Robinson and NMSU Board member Robert Gallagher.Martin, who served as NMSU president before becoming LSU’s chancellor, has been accused of planning and carrying out retaliation against Bird and Moraros after their contract with NMSU was not renewed, according to the lawsuit.Martin told The Daily Reveille in a July 10 article that he asked NMSU’s senior-most professors to determine whether NMSU followed the school’s policies and procedures when considering Bird and Moraros’ contracts.Martin said when they came back with their report, they found no violations of the policy.Christopher Moody, the plaintiffs’ attorney, confirmed there was a “task force” that said the policy was followed, or “at least they couldn’t find that policy was not followed.””The commission did not consider any evidence that retaliation actually motivated these decisions,” Moody said. “The tenure and promotion committee that considered [Bird and Moraros] unanimously recommended their retention. The department unilaterally said, ‘We’re not going to do that.'”The plaintiffs said Martin tried to force other NMSU faculty members and administrators to charge Bird and Moraros with plagiarism on their master’s theses, “despite the utter lack of any evidence of plagiarism,” according to the lawsuit.Moody said Martin became personally involved with the situation and brought up plagiarism charges against Moraros and Bird, with the help of Buckingham, in an attempt to make sure their termination stuck.”Martin allegedly read their master’s theses,” Moody said. “How unusual is that for a university president to go back and read old master’s theses for students who had been awarded master’s degrees before by the university?”Kristine Calongne, LSU spokeswoman, said NMSU attorneys advised Martin not to speak to the media regarding the lawsuit.Ben Woods, NMSU senior vice president, said in an official statement that the university stands by the decisions regarding the plaintiffs.”While we never look forward to a lawsuit, we do look forward to resolution of this issue,” Woods said. “The courts are the proper venue for the facts to come out. We will let the courts do their job and make a decision based on the merits.”The plaintiffs are seeking compensation for losses, humiliation, distress and fees for the lawsuit. The plaintiffs also want Bird and Moraros’ reinstatement with full back pay, reinstatement of Cheteni as a graduate assistant with in-state tuition and the promotion of Rao to full professor.
 
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Contact J.J. Alcantara [email protected]