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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A veteran New Mexico State University economics professor says he’s leaving a job he loves because he doesn’t want to serve under the school’s current Board of Regents, calling the five-member governing panel the most “incompetent” he’s ever seen.

James Peach leveled the criticism in his April 23 resignation letter, writing that the regents have “trashed the university publicly and repeatedly” when their role should be to support it. He said he does not want to work under the next chancellor and provost they appoint.

“The regents have attempted to micromanage the university but lack the knowledge and expertise to do so,” Peach wrote Christopher Erickson, interim head of NMSU’s economics, applied statistics and international business department, in a letter first made public by the student-run NMSU Round Up. “At best, the regents are numerically and logically challenged.

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“The regents claim they want a change agent as chancellor but they had one in hand.”

The regents are soon to select a successor for Chancellor Garrey Carruthers, whom they decided not to retain beyond his current contract term – a move that has sparked some criticism from around the state. They recently named five finalists for the job, which Carruthers vacates this summer.

NMSU Regent Chairwoman Debra Hicks declined a Journal request for comment on Peach’s letter.

Peach told the Journal on Wednesday that he greatly respects Carruthers, but his concerns go beyond the regents’ handling of the chancellor situation. He declined to provide specific examples of their micromanaging or trashing NMSU, saying “I’d rather not try to blow this up beyond what it is.”

He said he wrote of his regent concerns “to make it clear what I was doing” in a letter meant for his department head and dean. He said he did not send his letter to the student newspaper and did not try to make a story of it.

While he terms it a “resignation” letter, he notes that he is “technically” retiring effective June 30. He has been at NMSU for 38 years. He said he plans to write, remain active in academic organizations and continue to speak about the economy around the state.

Peach is a familiar name around New Mexico; he has frequently testified before legislative committees and been cited in many media reports on the state’s economy.

He holds the title of “regents professor,” a distinction bestowed upon certain faculty for their contributions to the university and larger society. He has had the title since the early 2000s, before any of the current regents joined the board.