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.
Cheteni has spoken publicly and filed a complaint with the NMSU Office of Institutional Equity about the pornographic images he saw while checking Moraros' e-mail, which is part of his job.
"It is scary someone could make those threats, that if you don't leave Las Cruces something will happen to me," Cheteni said.
Cheteni, the only student who received a note, said he has made a formal complaint with the FBI, and they "will be looking into it."
Calls to the FBI were not immediately returned.
Cheteni has asked Luis Vasquez, the interim dean, if he can work from home because of the "threatening and malicious" nature of the notes.
"I am scared. I don't feel safe at all," Cheteni said.
Rao told the Albuquerque Journal she and the other faculty members are also concerned for their safety.
Moraros and Rao said they are uncomfortable with the NMSU police handling the investigation into the notes. They hoped the state police would take the case, the Journal reported.
Moraros also told the Journal he has no faith in the NMSU investigation into the pornographic e-mails and other matters.
Cheteni said Rao called him to her office to look at the note she received right after he found the note meant for him. By noon, he found out Buckingham, Moraros and Bird had also received the "offensive" notes.
The group decided to call the state police and were told they would be referred back to campus police, because the state police do not have jurisdiction on campus.
Lt. Andrew Bowen of the NMSU police, collected the group's statements and the notes as evidence by 1 p.m. Monday.
D'Anne Stuart, NMSU human resource director, and Gerard Nevarez, director of the university's OIE sent an e-mail to all NMSU employee on Monday afternoon addressing the controversy.
"Everyone at NMSU is afforded the opportunity to bring forward concerns and issues as described in NMSU policies," the e-mail reads.
Issues with some of the statements made in the media were also addressed in the e-mail.
"The recent allegations regarding the College of Health and Social Services are factually inaccurate…," the e-mail reads. "Even though some statements have been made in the media regarding this ongoing investigation, it is important to point out that not all of the facts have been revealed and not all of the reports are accurate."
The importance of confidentiality in all personnel matters was also mentioned in the e-mail.
"[The e-mail is] an attempt by the NMSU administration to put the issues under the rug," Cheteni said.
The e-mail is unrelated to the notes found Monday morning.
The Chronicle of Higher Education (CHE), a news and information Web site for college and university professors and administrators, published a short piece on April 10 about Olsen's apology for sending pornographic e-mails.
The piece received 37 comments from people around the nation, including current and former NMSU faculty and staff and a statement by Bird.
In her statement, Bird said she wanted to assure faculty and students that "powers outside of the University's sphere of influence" are examining the developments and "are willing to ensure…the University's administration is held accountable for their malicious, retaliatory practices."
Bird was unable to be reached to verify the"outside" entities.
A "concerned university administrator," wrote he or she "was an unwitting contributor" to the "huge cover-up" at NMSU.
An alumnus posted he has contributed more than $2,000 a year during the past 15 years and will no longer do so.
One of Olsen's students identified as "Sound off" wrote that Olsen is a good professor but now she "feels uncomfortable" about his "poor attempt at humour."
On Tuesday CHE, also posted a story about the notes.
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