The NMSU hazing scandal broke open in February 2023, when a New Mexico State University men’s basketball player told campus police that three teammates had held him down and sexually assaulted him in the Pan American Center locker room, and that similar abuse had been going on since the previous July. The university canceled the rest of the season, fired the coaching staff, and eventually paid more than $8 million to settle civil claims. Three former players were indicted on felony sex offenses, and a New Mexico Department of Justice investigation concluded that coaches and administrators had multiple chances to stop the abuse and failed to act.
What the Players Did to Their Teammates
Between July 2022 and February 2023, members of the men’s basketball team subjected teammates and student managers to repeated sexual violence and humiliation in locker rooms, on team buses, and in hotel rooms during road trips.1New Mexico Department of Justice. Title IX and Hazing on Campus: Lessons Learned from New Mexico State University The DOJ report described a “humbling” ritual in which a ringleader would demand that a victim confirm he was “humble.” Resistance brought physical intimidation. Victims were forced to perform exercises with their bodies exposed and were tackled and groped.
One incident, captured on a player’s phone, showed several players surrounding a student manager in a hotel room and pressuring him to pull down his pants. No coaches or staff were present. The report called that episode one of “countless” similar incidents across the season.
Felony Charges Against Three Former Players
In November 2023, a grand jury indicted three former players: Deshawndre Washington, Doctor Bradley, and Kim Aiken Jr. Each was charged with criminal sexual penetration, multiple counts of false imprisonment, multiple counts of criminal sexual contact, conspiracy to commit criminal sexual contact, and conspiracy to commit false imprisonment. Every charge was a felony. Washington and Bradley each faced five counts of false imprisonment and five counts of criminal sexual contact; Aiken faced four counts of each.
Prosecutors used New Mexico’s existing sexual offense, false imprisonment, and conspiracy statutes. The state had no criminal hazing statute at the time, a gap the DOJ later singled out.
The University’s Response
NMSU suspended the men’s basketball program indefinitely in February 2023, placed first-year head coach Greg Heiar and his entire staff on paid administrative leave, and then canceled the remainder of the 2022–2023 season, a step rarely taken in Division I athletics.1New Mexico Department of Justice. Title IX and Hazing on Campus: Lessons Learned from New Mexico State University Chancellor Dan Arvizu later fired Heiar and his staff. Heiar argued in arbitration filings that he had been made a scapegoat for problems administrators chose to ignore, and the university eventually reached a separate settlement with him.
What the DOJ Investigation Found
The New Mexico Department of Justice reviewed the program and described systemic breakdowns at nearly every level of oversight. The institution had multiple warnings and missed each one.
Coach Heiar took what the report called a “hands-off approach,” letting players run their own internal governance. Coaches arrived late to practice and did not supervise team behavior. At least two players reported the misconduct directly to coaches and were told to stop being a “tattletale.”1New Mexico Department of Justice. Title IX and Hazing on Campus: Lessons Learned from New Mexico State University
Earlier in the season, before the sexual assaults escalated, the team had been involved in a fight and a shooting incident. The university suspended the players involved for only one game, and only after 18 days and four games had already been played. The DOJ concluded that the weak response “communicated to the players that there would be little to no consequences for any misbehavior.”
When the athletics department finally reported the first complaint to the Office of Institutional Equity in January 2023, the interim director had held a leadership role for less than two months and was overseeing a team of three investigators whose combined experience totaled less than six months. Reporting lines for the equity office had changed three times in three years, and the university held no recurring strategic meetings on sexual assault or hazing prevention.1New Mexico Department of Justice. Title IX and Hazing on Campus: Lessons Learned from New Mexico State University The DOJ also found that Heiar’s prior coaching history had included warning signs that should have given decision-makers “pause about his selection as a head coach.”
An independent expert consulted during the review identified the absence of supervision in locker rooms, on team buses, and in hotel rooms as a critical failure point. Those are exactly the settings where the abuse happened.
Because the hazing involved sexual violence, the incidents also triggered Title IX obligations. The DOJ concluded that the conduct “implicated definitions of both hazing and sexual harassment,” and that the understaffed and unstable equity office was poorly positioned to meet those obligations when complaints finally surfaced.
The Civil Lawsuits and $8 Million in Settlements
Former players Deuce Benjamin and Shak Odunewu filed the first civil lawsuits, alleging the university failed to protect them from sexual assault by teammates. NMSU settled those cases for a combined $8 million: $4.125 million to Benjamin and his father, a co-defendant in the original suit, and $3.875 million to Odunewu.
More lawsuits followed. Former player Bol Kuir sued the university, Heiar, and Athletic Director Mario Moccia, alleging that he reported inappropriate touching directly to Heiar and was brushed off. An unnamed player filed a separate suit raising similar claims. Both suits also alleged violations of New Mexico’s civil rights law, and both referenced a broader pattern of dangerous conduct, including claims that players carried firearms into locker rooms, onto team buses, and onto other campuses.
The size of the settlement is worth pausing on. New Mexico’s Tort Claims Act generally caps liability for state entities, including public universities, at $400,000 per person for non-medical damages and $750,000 total from a single occurrence.2FindLaw. New Mexico Code 41-4-19 – Limitations on Damages An $8 million payout well exceeds those caps, which suggests the claims were structured to include federal civil rights violations or other theories not subject to the state tort limit. Anyone considering a similar claim in New Mexico should know that the state’s statute of limitations for personal injury is three years.3Justia Law. New Mexico Code 37-1-8 – Actions Must Be Brought
The Hazing Law Gap and What Changed After
At the time of the assaults, New Mexico had no criminal statute specifically addressing hazing. Prosecutors had to charge the three players under general sexual offense, false imprisonment, and conspiracy statutes. The DOJ flagged the absence of a hazing law as a significant shortcoming.
In response, Senate Bill 148 was introduced in the 2025 legislative session to create a standalone hazing offense.4New Mexico Legislature. SB0148 – Hazing Penalties and Reporting The bill defines hazing to cover physical violence, forced consumption of alcohol or drugs, coerced sexual acts, sleep deprivation, and intimidation through threats committed against a student during initiation or ongoing membership in a student organization. Penalties scale with harm, from misdemeanor for a basic offense to a second-degree felony when hazing causes death. The bill also makes failure to report hazing a misdemeanor, which would create criminal exposure for bystanders, coaches, and staff who learn of hazing and do nothing.
Federal law caught up around the same time. The Stop Campus Hazing Act, signed on December 23, 2024, amends the Clery Act to require every college and university participating in federal student aid programs to track hazing incidents and include the statistics in their Annual Security Reports.5Congress.gov. H.R.5646 – Stop Campus Hazing Act Schools must also publish a Campus Hazing Transparency Report summarizing findings against any student organization found to have violated the school’s hazing rules, update it at least twice a year, and keep personally identifying information out of it. The initial publication deadline was December 23, 2025, and the October 2026 Annual Security Report will cover the 2025 calendar year. If a school has not published its transparency report, it may be out of compliance with federal law.
NMSU itself maintains an anti-hazing policy under Section 3.80 of its administrative rules, which treats consent as no defense and allows the university to seek personal reimbursement from violators for damages, settlement costs, and attorney fees.6New Mexico State University. 3.80 – Hazing, Bullying, Harassment, and Other Hostile Misconduct The DOJ investigation found that this policy existed on paper but was not meaningfully enforced within the basketball program during the 2022–2023 season.