AG recommends NMSU on “brave” praise after the harassment scandal

Doj recommends that all NM universities take similar measures

Three years after a harassment scandal in the men's basketball team at New Mexico State University, the Attorney General of New Mexico, Raúl Torrez, has taken “brave” steps to improve security and accountability.

Three former NMSU basketball players were charged at the end of 2023 after several other younger student athletes found that they were held back and sexually attacked during the season. Deshawndre Washington, Doctor Bradley and Kim Aiken Jr. all were charged with various cases, including criminal sexual penetration, false detention and criminal sexual contact.

According to court documents, Bradley and Aiken guilty for some of the lower charges and waited for the conviction, while the public prosecutor dismissed the rest of the indictment. Washington's procedure should begin in mid -April, but he appealed against some of the decisions of the under court against the Supreme Court of the State.

The Ministry of Justice of New Mexico carried out an investigation by the university's athletics department and published a complete report on its results in December 2024. The report contained seven concerns and 35 recommendations to improve the security of the students, the university's accountability and compliance with federal laws.

The concern is: institutional government and the commitment of students; University guidelines; Reporting; Education; Cultural and recruitment practices within the athletics department; Resources for victims of sexual attacks; and coordination between university departments. The DOJ provided NMSU a checklist with 35 improvement recommendations.

This week, Torrez published an explanation that the NMSU praised to complete two thirds of the previous recommendations and to make progress towards the rest of the list.

“NMSU took quick and decisive measures,” said Torrez in a statement. “I encourage every university in New Mexico to review this report and to take on similar reforms in order to promote secure and supportive environments for their students.”

In the report, the DOJ pointed out that New Mexico is one of six countries in which the laws are missing against anti-hazing laws, and recommended legislators passed the legislation that criminalizes laws during the latest legislative meeting. The legislator introduced two legislative templates that dealt with the goal and suggested criminalizing cyberbullying. However, all three bills died in the committee.

During the meantime, the Doj encouraged other state universities to implement the recommendations from the NMSU report in order to further protect the securing of students from Schaming -Aacts and to ensure the system of reporting and examining such instances at the university satisfactorily.

“We would like to thank the General Prosecutor's office for his support in the support of these challenges,” said NMSU President Valerio Ferme in a statement. “There is still to be done to ensure that our campus are in places where everyone, especially students, can safely pursue their educational and professional goals. We have an incredibly dedicated group of managers who are obliged to make ourselves better, and we will continue to devote time and resources to fix the best of our bonds.”

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