The controversial president of Adams State University has resigned, ending a tumultuous tenure marked by accusations she bullied faculty and staff, failed to stem financial and enrollment problems, and for wearing a Halloween costume that appeared to mock working people.
The school’s Board of Trustees accepted the resignation of Beverlee McClure, effective March 31, according to a press release issued Thursday morning. McClure was appointed president of Adams State on July 1, 2015, and over the past two-and-a-half years guided the university through a period of transition with its distance-learning programs and helped forged new partnerships in the San Luis Valley, the university said.
But in February the trustees placed McClure on a leave of absence after determining her priorities were not aligned with the governing board, the statement said.
“After discussions with Dr. McClure and her representatives, the Board of Trustees for ASU have agreed to a resolution and acceptance of Dr. McClure’s resignation,” board chairman Cleave Simpson said in the statement. “The resolution is both respectful of Dr. McClure and responsible to ASU.”
Besides finding a new leader for Adams State, the school also faces making $2.7 million in budget cuts and appealing to the Higher Learning Commission, which accredits roughly 1,000 institutions of higher education. In 2016, the commission placed Adams State on probation due largely to problems with its online course management, including high faculty teaching loads and poor faculty-student interaction.
State auditors last year cited $98.7 million in capital constructions costs for saddling the university with debt service of more than $4 million a year. Enrollment has also been a problem, sliding 12 percent to 1,577 undergraduates this year from 1,770 in 2015.
McClure, formerly president and CEO of New Mexico Association of Commerce and Industry, was brought on to build enrollment and cut costs. She was paid $205,000 annually, not including benefits.
But her confrontational style alienated many faculty and staff members. McClure banned former faculty member Danny Ledonne in 2015, declaring him a security threat. The ACLU sued the university, which rescinded Ledonne’s banishment in July 2016 and paid $100,000 to settle the claim.
Ledonne launched Watching Adams, a website that frequently criticized McClure.
McClure became an even bigger lighting rod earlier this year, when photos of her at a Oct. 26, 2016, Halloween party were widely distributed. McClure attended dressed as an obese plumber and outfitted in a prosthetic fat suit and rotting buck teeth.
Ledonne said her costume just showed her “contempt for the working people in the community in Alamosa, which is very blue-collar and working class.” McClure, he said, cultivated a campus culture of bullying and backstabbing and anyone who did not agree with her or her allies were thrown under the bus.
Ledonne said on Thursday said he was relieved to see her go. “She has unquestionably left the university in much worse condition than she found it; now many of my colleagues at ASU are being terminated due to dire financial conditions and ongoing declines in enrollment.”
McClure, the first female president at ASU, denied she bullied anyone and said she was a victim of cyber-bullying and sexism. She also said she helped boost minority enrollment and closed the attainment gap between Hispanic and Anglo students.
McClure told the trustees that she was proud of her accomplishments at the school, according to the statement.
“I believe this current board is poised to make courageous decisions about the future of Adams State University and to build on the many successes since 2015,” McClure said. “I wish Adams State University and the San Luis Valley the very best.”
Simpson said the board will start looking for a new president for the school, which is currently under the direction of acting president Matt Nehring.
