NMSU files response to hazing allegation lawsuit
New Mexico State University and its athletic director, Mario Moccia, have filed their response to a civil case. The case addresses alleged hazing involving last year’s men’s basketball team.
When attorney Joleen Youngers received the response to her lawsuit, she was shocked.
“It surprised me that the denials went to the breadth that they did,” Youngers said.
Denials on things Youngers said the university has openly admitted before.
“There were some specific denials that surprised me because they contradicted what I'd seen in other writings,” Youngers said.
Youngers pointed to paragraph 122 in her suit.
“We stated defendant NMSU, and Moccia had a duty to operate and maintain the athletic department so that it would be safe for its student-athletes to include the men's basketball team. Denied,” Youngers said.
But at a news conference addressing the hazing allegations on Feb. 15 of this year, former Chancellor Dan Arvizu said, “I want to make it clear that the safety of our students is my number one priority.”
Paragraph 102 of Younger's case states, NMSU has acknowledged that there was a report of abuse made known to Mario Moccia on Dec. 31, 2022.
“They denied that,” Youngers said.
But in a document, NMSU filed against Greg Heiar during his arbitration process, NMSU admits they received a complaint from the father of a student manager on Dec. 31, 2022.
“What's it going to be? Either it happened and NMSU is going to take responsibility for it, or NMSU is now going to fight the very things it admitted publicly in prior press conferences,” Youngers said.
NMSU and Moccia are both being represented by the same attorney in this case.
Youngers has filed two civil cases against the university related to the alleged hazing, representing five clients in total.