ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – A former University of New Mexico graduate student was accused of rape on campus, and then the school banned him. However, he never faced criminal charges, and now he’s suing the university.

In September 2015, UNM Police said a woman claimed she was raped at Lobo Village. Students were on edge at the apartments near The Pit.

“There’s not very many people around, so it could have very easily been me, or one of my friends,” a student said back in 2015.

Evidence was collected, and two male students were questioned. They told police one of them met the woman on Tinder and she came over to Lobo Village for a game of strip blackjack.

The men said they had consensual sex with her. The woman told cops she was drunk and kept passing out, and no one was ever charged.

However, in a lawsuit filed last month a former Ph.D. student claims UNM banned him from the school because of the allegations.

“Just because someone doesn’t go through a criminal justice proceedings, doesn’t mean that we, the university, aren’t still responsible for ensuring that students and faculty and staff all adhere to our policies,” said Heather Cowan.

Cowan is the Title 9 Coordinator for UNM, and said the Office of Equal Opportunity investigates cases when students are accused of sexual misconduct.

She said if investigators feel like a majority of evidence points to a violation of the school’s code of conduct — that’s enough.

“If it does show that our policies were violated, and it’s severe enough, then it could potentially impact their standing as a student,” said Cowan.

It’s a policy students think has merit.

“I think it’s a better way to keep everybody feeling safer, and especially because it takes a long time for charges to actually happen and go through,” said UNM student Isabella Garcia.

But, in his lawsuit, the former grad student claims OEO’s investigation was faulty, there was a lack of evidence, and UNM was under pressure from the feds to discipline male students.

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