EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said her administration will pursue anti-hazing legislation during the next legislative session, which is currently scheduled for next year.

Lujan Grisham issued a statement Friday saying that she is “appalled by the allegations at New Mexico public universities involving hazing and abuse – outrage doesn’t go far enough.

“It is the responsibility of higher education leadership and governing boards to establish a safe, healthy environment for students, and I’m incredibly disappointed that it does not appear to be a priority at some of the state’s public colleges and universities,” she continued.

The New Mexico State University men’s basketball team was rocked by hazing and sexual assault allegations this past season — allegations that led to the school ending the basketball season early and firing first-year men’s basketball coach Greg Heiar.

On April 19, two NM State players filed a lawsuit against against the NMSU Board of Regents, Heiar, Assistant Coach Dominique Taylor and three former NMSU players alleging hazing and sexual assault within the program.

This week, three former members of the Eastern New Mexico University women’s basketball team are suing the university, including the athletic director, as well as the former head coach and her spouse, after an alleged series of sexual assaults and a lack of action by university officials.

Former New Mexico State and New Mexico men’s basketball coach Paul Weir is the current athletic director at Eastern New Mexico and is named in the lawsuit filed by the three former women’s basketball players.

“I — along with my administration — have ZERO tolerance for abuse of any kind, and I will root out cultures of hazing and abuse at every higher education institution in New Mexico,” Lujan Grisham said in her statement.
 
“In the next legislative session, I will be putting anti-hazing and abuse legislation on the call, making it unequivocal in state law that hazing is a crime and those who do harm to others will be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law,” the governor added.

New Mexico is one of just six states that does not have an anti-hazing law in place.