English department chairman David Jones resigned Wednesday after battling turmoil within the department for nearly a year.
The department is looking for one of its full-time faculty members to replace Jones by the end of this week.
Jones, who presided over the English department for the past three years, was chairman during the controversy surrounding creative writing associate professor Lisa Chavez, who posed in sexually suggestive photos with a student.
Jones announced in a letter to the English faculty that he would be transferring to a new position as special assistant to the dean for international programs but would "remain on duty to handle department business until that time."
In the letter, Jones said his resignation will "give the department a chance for a progressive year ahead."
He said his decision to resign came after a series of discussions with Dean of Arts and Sciences Brenda Claiborne.
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Claiborne declined to comment.
Jones said he refused to discuss his resignation further, publicly or privately.
Some faculty members - who wish to remain anonymous for fear of recourse from the department - said Jones is being removed from his position and transferred to another in an effort to put a new face on the department.
UNM is conducting facilitated meetings in an attempt to quell disputes over the retention of Chavez as a University employee.
Some faculty members expressed outrage after Jones sent an e-mail Tuesday that lists "ground rules" to abide by during the meetings.
The e-mail asks members of the department to maintain confidentiality, "not discussing specific comments/events in the department with the press or in a legal context."
One tenured faculty member said she and other faculty find the confidentiality clause appalling.
"The 'facilitated discussions' are a facilitated muzzling or gagging," she said.
She said the rule violates faculty members' First Amendment rights.
Susan McKinsey, spokeswoman for the University, said the confidentiality request is simply an in-department agreement on how people are to conduct themselves and interact with each other during the meetings.
"Basically, those are ground rules," McKinsey said. "They're not legally binding."
Julie Shigekuni, director of the creative writing department, said she will not be able gauge the impact of Jones' resignation on her department until a new chairperson is selected to take his place, which will happen Thursday.
"Once I know who that person is, I'll have a much clearer idea of how the change will impact creative writing - but right now I don't know," Shigekuni said.
