Spring Break
Threatening notes spark investigation
News Reporter
By: Kathryn Eyer
Issue date: 4/17/08 Section: News
Several New Mexico State University faculty members and a student who have been vocal in an ongoing investigation in the College of Health and Social Services received threatening and racially offensive notes Monday.
The five people who found the notes under their office doors have called for an investigation into alleged wrongdoing, ranging from sexual harassment to intimidation.
Among those who have received the notes are John Moraros and Yelena Bird, faculty members in CHSS who are fighting the decision not to renew their contracts and have accused supervisors of racism and retaliation.
They also have accused the associate dean, Larry Olsen, of using his NMSU account to send Moraros pornographic e-mails.
Olsen has temporarily stepped down pending the outcome of the investigation.
The three other people who received the letters include Robert Buckingham, the longest-serving faculty member in the health science department, Freedom Cheteni, Moraros' graduate assistant, and Satya Rao, a faculty member in CHSS.
Buckingham and Rao have been the most vocal in demanding the reinstatement of Moraros and Bird and having an open investigation into the allegations.
"The threatening letters received by faculty members and a graduate student are repulsive, and we want to send a clear message that crimes motivated by prejudice will not be tolerated," the NMSU administration said in an e-mail statement.
The notes have sparked a police investigation.
"We take any and all incidents seriously," NMSU Police Chief Jaime Chavez said in a statement issued Monday afternoon. "We'll treat this as any other investigation. We'll see if any other leads develop. NMSU police is looking into this."
The notes were one line long, typed, and four of the five contained obscenities and racial epithets about Blacks.
"(Epithet) shut the (expletive) up and get out of las cruces [sic] and nmsu [sic] and go back to Africa asap or else," the note received by Cheteni reads.
The five people who found the notes under their office doors have called for an investigation into alleged wrongdoing, ranging from sexual harassment to intimidation.
Among those who have received the notes are John Moraros and Yelena Bird, faculty members in CHSS who are fighting the decision not to renew their contracts and have accused supervisors of racism and retaliation.
They also have accused the associate dean, Larry Olsen, of using his NMSU account to send Moraros pornographic e-mails.
Olsen has temporarily stepped down pending the outcome of the investigation.
The three other people who received the letters include Robert Buckingham, the longest-serving faculty member in the health science department, Freedom Cheteni, Moraros' graduate assistant, and Satya Rao, a faculty member in CHSS.
Buckingham and Rao have been the most vocal in demanding the reinstatement of Moraros and Bird and having an open investigation into the allegations.
"The threatening letters received by faculty members and a graduate student are repulsive, and we want to send a clear message that crimes motivated by prejudice will not be tolerated," the NMSU administration said in an e-mail statement.
The notes have sparked a police investigation.
"We take any and all incidents seriously," NMSU Police Chief Jaime Chavez said in a statement issued Monday afternoon. "We'll treat this as any other investigation. We'll see if any other leads develop. NMSU police is looking into this."
The notes were one line long, typed, and four of the five contained obscenities and racial epithets about Blacks.
"(Epithet) shut the (expletive) up and get out of las cruces [sic] and nmsu [sic] and go back to Africa asap or else," the note received by Cheteni reads.
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