Two South Texas College grievances against president prompted vote for corrective action 

Earlier STC Solis-involved complaints involved law enforcement

 

 

Maria “Mary” G. Del Paz has worked for South Texas College almost as long as there’s been a South Texas College to work for.

 

The college’s vice president for finance and administrative services, Del Paz has been employed by STC for almost 32 years — almost since its foundation — and serves in a crucial role.

 

She’s one of the college’s five vice presidents — who report directly to President Ricardo Solis — and she oversees important departments that include STC’s police department, human resources, facilities and finance.

 

According to Del Paz, she had never filed a grievance and never been the subject of one — a track record unchanged, she claimed, until Solis’ conduct last year prompted her to file a grievance and complain to the board because she was obligated “to uphold compliance, ethical standards, and fostering a College culture in which employees are protected from retaliation.”

 

Del Paz’s grievance was one of two the board discussed behind closed doors in executive session for almost three and a half hours in February before voting to acknowledge them and take corrective action in relation to them.

 

Both of those grievances allege Solis, who became the college’s president in 2021, engaged in retaliation and overstepped his bounds to the detriment of the college last year, describing him losing his temper, shouting at employees and pounding his fist on a table.

 

They alleged his conduct violated the college’s policies and procedures and criticized the way Solis and the college handled complaints — particularly complaints involving Solis.

 

Del Paz — the more senior employee who filed a grievance — also referenced two other complaints filed in 2025 that involve Solis and were investigated by law enforcement: one a complaint about potential misuse of taxpayer funds involving Solis’ private residence and another an anonymous complaint regarding the conduct of Solis and a woman who worked for STC.

 

The grievances likely represent the most significant administrative turmoil since the college’s foundation and describe higher-level allegations novel in the college’s history.

 

It’s not clear exactly what corrective action the board voted to take on the grievances.

 

The Progress Times filed an open records request for the two grievances and related documents not long after the board discussed them, and STC sought to withhold those documents, but the Texas Attorney General’s office compelled the college to release 47 partially or fully redacted pages of documents last month.

 

Solis and the college referred requests for comment on the grievances and the corrective action to Board Chair Paul Rodriguez, who largely declined to elaborate, describing those issues as personnel matters.

 

Rodriguez did say that the college was as of last week in the final steps of addressing those grievances with human resources.

 

“As far as tying up the loose ends, we’re at that point now,” he said.

 

Rodriguez said he felt the college has taken appropriate action related to the grievances.

 

“I would say we have been. In fact, we’ve been doing some things since then that I think will enable us to move in the right direction,” he said.

 

 

DEL PAZ GRIEVANCE

In her grievance, Del Paz acknowledged it wasn’t her role to oversee the college’s president, but she said things had reached a boiling point she couldn’t ignore.

 

She said her relationship with Solis soured significantly after late last July, when the college received an anonymous complaint regarding Solis and an unnamed woman who worked for the college.

 

Del Paz’s grievance does not elaborate on the specific nature of that complaint, but the allegations were significant enough to involve law enforcement and the college’s board.

 

Del Paz wrote that the college’s internal auditor shared the complaint with then-Board Chair Alejo Salinas a few days later and that Del Paz and he discussed it that day.

 

Late that August, the board discussed the complaint as “potential litigation” behind closed doors in executive session, Del Paz wrote, claiming that Solis was told of the anonymous complaint the next day by some members of the board.

 

Del Paz wrote that Solis called her — irate — that day, yelling at her and “demanding to know why he had not been personally notified of the report.”

 

“Dr. Solis wanted this instance to be managed as a former occurrence where a grievance was filed by a maintenance worker against a maintenance supervisor for requiring him to go work at Dr. Solis’ home during working hours in assembling personal furniture,” Del Paz wrote. “That case was directed to Dr. Solis and ultimately closed by H.R. without investigation at the President’s instruction.”

 

Later that day Del Paz says she received a call from an employee who overheard Solis talking on the phone and saying he was removing the office of human resources from her purview, although that doesn’t appear to have happened.

 

Solis, according to Del Paz, is not fond of written documentation.

 

“The statements I have attributed to Dr. Solis were largely communicated verbally, as he does not customarily provide written communication,” she wrote, summing up her grievance. “Last week, he questioned my practice of documenting updates in writing, despite the fact that such documentation is consistent with recognized best practices for clarity, accountability, record-keeping, and issue tracking.”

 

The week after Solis became aware of the anonymous complaint and the board discussed it, Del Paz says she asked to meet with Solis to clarify how anonymous reports should be handled.

 

Del Paz wrote that at that meeting Solis said the case had been mishandled, and asserted through that month that she and human resources director Claudia Olivares had “grossly mishandled” the anonymous complaint.

 

“At no point did we violate any established College policies, procedures, or practices in handling these matters,” Del Paz wrote. “Our actions were grounded in integrity, compliance and commitment in protecting both the College and the employees involved in the report.”

 

Later that month, Del Paz wrote, Solis said complaints should be directed to legal counsel, which Del Paz said she was troubled by.

 

“I am concerned not only for myself, but also for the message this sends to others in the institution who may hesitate to uphold accountability for fear of retaliation,” she wrote.

 

After the anonymous complaint, Del Paz said she started a search committee to look for someone to serve as executive director of human resources and talent development.

 

Solis said he wanted to be on that committee, Del Paz wrote, which was unusual.

 

While interviewing a candidate in October, Del Paz alleged Solis said “he wanted authority to hire and compensate whomever he wanted without interference and influence” while banging his fist on a table.

 

Del Paz claims that during the interview Solis said he wanted human resources to operate independently, encouraged the committee to criticize human resources and asked the candidate — who would fall under Del Paz — how they would respond to a different vice president.

 

The candidate, a current employee, was made “visibly uncomfortable” by Solis’ behavior, according to Del Paz. She said Solis’ comments undermined her role as vice president over the department.

 

Del Paz also alleged Solis pressured her to retire, encouraging her to consider voluntary early retirement. In front of one of her employees, she wrote, Solis asked when she planned to retire and discussed her financial readiness for retirement in front of another employee.

 

“These conversations were unsolicited and inappropriate,” Del Paz wrote. “Taken together, this conduct raises serious concerns regarding age-based assumptions, retaliation, and compliance with established employment practices.”

 

In sum, Del Paz was not nitpicking with her complaints, she argued.

 

Instead, she said, she was arguing for a level of accountability the college traditionally adhered to and Solis appeared to resist.

 

“Internal controls are not red tape or bureaucracy, as often characterized by Dr. Solis, they are essential safeguards that ensure accountability, transparency, regulatory compliance, and the responsible stewardship of institutional resources,” she wrote.

 

Del Paz’s grievance is dated Feb. 6 of this year, though in it she says she initially filed a grievance with human resources in October that went nowhere for months.

 

According to Del Paz, the college explained the delay by saying that STC’s policy didn’t account for grievances that go straight to the board, which Del Paz argued raised “serious concerns regarding fairness, transparency, and the uniform application of grievance procedures.”

 

 

DE LEON GRIEVANCE

Rebecca De Leon also complained about the way her grievance — the other the board took action on — was handled.

 

De Leon is the college’s associate vice president for dual credit programs and school district partnerships.

 

She’s responsible for liasoning with the dozens of school districts in the Rio Grande Valley who have partnerships with STC, and she’d worked for the college for about eight years.

 

According to De Leon, Solis began insisting on such a degree of control of her department that it ultimately started backfiring.

 

De Leon claimed Solis noted he and other vice presidents hadn’t been included in photos from a recent event, and “emphasized the importance of their presence to say a few words and take pictures to maintain partnerships.”

 

She describes Solis as being concerned about her reporting back to him on developments at local districts like McAllen ISD’s bond and being particularly concerned about Texas Southmost College snipping away some of STC’s partnerships.

 

The heavy-handed approach, De Leon argued, wound up hurting STC’s relations rather than helping them.

 

De Leon gave the example of La Joya ISD.

 

The college had become aware of rumors that that district might partner with Texas Southmost College, which De Leon says resulted in Solis calling La Joya ISD Board President Julian Alvarez and instructing De Leon to repeatedly contact Superintendent Marcey Sorensen.

 

At some point, according to De Leon, Sorensen sent back correspondence that said bluntly her district would pursue programming that was best for its students and also seemed exasperated at STC’s repeated enquiries about jumping ship for TSC.

 

“But knowing that this is the third time we have been brought this information, thus far unfounded, is beginning to feel like a bit of conjecture and a rumor mill being spread just to be spread,” De Leon said Sorensen wrote. “From where and why this is coming, I do not know, but nonetheless here we are.”

 

De Leon said in her grievance that she’d worked hard to build a relationship with La Joya but that Solis’ tactics were hurting that relationship.

 

That was one of multiple times Solis directed her to contact districts he felt may be consorting with TSC, De Leon wrote.

 

De Leon alleged Solis had said — to her and others — that she was difficult to work with or inflexible.

 

“His approach has begun to damage my professional reputation both within the College and with external partners, including school districts and Region One,” she wrote. “If these comments are being made internally, I can only imagine what is being said to external partners, which is further harming my reputation. At all times, my first priority is protecting the institution and student access and success.”

 

De Leon said she felt Solis was harassing her and had violated STC policies, and filed a grievance in November.

 

That grievance didn’t go directly to the college’s board, according to an email De Leon sent to the college’s human resources department in December.

 

Instead, she claimed, Solis sought an opinion from the college’s legal counsel that allowed a meeting between the two of them to resolve the complaints.

 

She wrote that she was being pressured to pursue a resolution that didn’t involve the board.

 

“Additionally, I am concerned by Dr. Solis [sic] comments to my supervisor on December 11, 2025, suggesting that it would be in my best interest to pursue an informal resolution because, in defending himself, he would gather information from other individuals that could reflect negatively on me,” she wrote.

 

De Leon and Del Paz both pursued board resolutions to their grievances, which is the only reason you’re reading them now.

 

De Leon requested Solis refrain from making negative statements about her and work directly through her supervisor, Anahid Petrosian. She asked that Solis avoid circumventing her role and wanted the organizational position of her role to remain static.

 

Del Paz, for her part, asked for an independent investigation into Solis’ actions described in her grievance, requested an assessment about the proposed reorganization of her department, asked for appropriate steps to avoid retaliation and encouraged an evaluation of the college’s legal counselors.

 

 

OTHER COMPLAINTS

Neither Del Paz’s nor De Leon’s complaints against Solis appear to have warranted the involvement of law enforcement.

 

Those grievances say Solis may have acted inappropriately and may have violated policy or procedures, but they don’t necessarily allege he broke the law.

 

Del Paz’s grievance, however, describes two other complaints involving Solis filed last year that both involved law enforcement and haven’t previously been made public: the anonymous one about him and a woman who worked for the college and the one about the maintenance worker.

 

The Progress Times filed open records requests for documents related to those complaints last month.

 

STC declined to release that information and this week sent letters to the Texas Attorney General seeking to withhold portions of the responsive documents.

 

The college says the totality of those documents shouldn’t be released, largely, it asserts, because the identity of the maintenance reporter and the woman who worked for the college should be confidential, along with other identifying information.

 

The letters provide some insight on how the college responded to the complaints.

 

According to the college, responsive records related to Solis and the unnamed woman who worked for the college include “investigative communications documenting law enforcement’s review of surveillance footage, including detailed timelines identifying the dates, times, locations, and movements of numerous individuals observed entering and exiting College facilities during the investigation.”

 

The letter says the college ultimately found allegations related to that complaint to be unsubstantiated. It doesn’t describe the nature of the allegations.

 

The complaint involving the maintenance worker — the one Del Paz claimed Solis swept under the rug — was initially filed with STC’s police department, according to that letter.

 

The letter said responsive documents include a complaint alleging college “personnel, vehicles, equipment, and compensated work time were used to perform work at the private residence of the College President.”

 

The letter says STC’s police department opened an information report, interviewed witnesses, documented allegations and “referred the matter for further administrative review.”

 

“Such allegations reasonably implicate potential violations of criminal statutes governing the misuse of public resources or abuse of official position and therefore fall within the scope of the common-law informer’s privilege,” it says.

 

That letter didn’t say whether or not those claims had been substantiated, in contrast to the other letter.

 

The college did not appear to argue that the substance of either of those complaints should be withheld, excepting certain details, even writing that the public has a “legitimate interest in understanding the College’s investigation and its ultimate determination that the allegations were unsubstantiated” related to Solis and the unnamed woman who worked for the college.