PRESS RELEASE – NMSU Alumnus and Former Professor Files Legal Action Over Unlawful Vaccine Mandate
Las Cruces, NM – Today, David K. Clements, a former Assistant Professor of consumer protection and business law, announced the filing of a lawsuit against New Mexico State University (NMSU) and its Board of Regents, alleging breach of contract and violation of the New Mexico Unfair Practices Act.
The action stems from his wrongful termination on October 15, 2021, for refusing to comply with NMSU’s COVID-19 experimental vaccine and mask mandate, which he contends violated federal law by lacking informed consent and refusal rights.
“It is difficult to announce this lawsuit in the wake of the Charlie Kirk assassination. He fought for free speech on campuses just like NMSU. Before his life was tragically taken, lives and reputations were destroyed on campuses across America for exercising our First Amendment right to combat forced injections, masking, and invasive testing. For those who held the line against forced injection, many had to endure a six-inch nasal swab shoved up their nose, scraping the back of their throats every week, or else face the loss of their job. It was dehumanizing. I will fight these monsters with everything I have,” Clements stated.
Clements, who taught at NMSU until his dismissal, argues that the mandate disrupted educational services to both students and faculty—services generating $2.6 billion in economic output—and exploited his position as a tenure-track professor to pressure students to get an injection with virtually no scientific data advising them of their risks. The Complaint can be read here.
“The university effectively took bribe money tied to the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF), the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, among others. They chose to rake in millions of dollars rather than look out for the health and safety of faculty and students. The statute of limitations for breach of contract is six years. I hope this lawsuit will alert former colleagues and students that were harmed by the jab or denied accommodations, that a university’s greed should not outweigh their rights to receive an education free of coercion. There is still time on the clock for thousands of lawsuits to be filed,” Clements stated.
NMSU is no stranger to controversy. Over the past five years, it has been sued for allegations of hazing, sexual assault, discrimination, retaliation, and wrongful termination. These include an $8 million settlement in June 2023 with former basketball players Deuce Benjamin, Shak Odunewu, and William Benjamin for hazing and sexual assault claims; a $495,000 settlement in March 2024 with former provost Carol Parker for discrimination and retaliation; a $60,000 settlement in February 2024 with former Title IX coordinator Laura Castille for retaliation; a $1 million settlement in July 2025 with a female student alleging mishandling of a sexual assault case; and an undisclosed settlement in August 2025 with former basketball coach Greg Heiar for wrongful termination. These resolutions, totaling over $9.5 million in disclosed amounts, reflect a troubling track record.
Clements’ objection to the mandate’s illegality has been vindicated by recent developments, including the CDC’s 2025 withdrawal of vaccine recommendations for children and pregnant women and Moderna’s requirement for placebo-controlled trials. “As an alumnus and educator, I sought to protect my students and colleagues from potential harm, only to face retaliation,” Clements stated.
The lawsuit seeks reinstatement to a tenured position, compensatory and treble (triple) damages under the UPA for what Clements describes as a willful and unconscionable trade practice. He has requested preservation of all related records to ensure transparency.
Recent COVID-19 litigation outcomes include the July 7, 2025, Newmont Mining settlement for twelve employees terminated for refusing vaccines, a $7.8 million verdict for six San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District workers in October 2024, a $10.3 million class-action settlement for NorthShore University HealthSystem workers in December 2022, a $4 million verdict for St. Louis school employees in July 2025, and the New York Supreme Court’s July 5, 2025, order reinstating 1,700+ workers with backpay. On July 12, 2025, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi dropped charges against Utah surgeon Michael Kirk Moore, who risked falsifying vaccine cards and provided saline alternatives rather than provide the dangerous experimental vaccines to his patients.
“Over the years, many donors to NMSU have reached out asking how they could help, upset that their sons and daughters’ lives were put at risk. Blood clots, myocarditis, miscarriage, turbo cancers, have all emerged on the scene. I put my career on hold to fight for honest elections, knowing we would have never seen the corrective actions emerging at the CDC, without RFK Jr. taking the lead at HHS. I hope and pray that NMSU alumni and its sizeable donor class contact the Board of Regents, and urge them to do the right thing, instead of protracting this dispute. The sooner the parties can move on, the better.”
Clements, a licensed attorney, presents a formidable challenge to NMSU if the matter were to proceed to trial. With eight first degree murder convictions, a “prosecutor of the year” award under his belt, alongside experience in dismantling a drug trafficking organization in southern New Mexico, Clements is not your typical pro se Plaintiff. Thus far, he has defeated every single complaint brought by his political adversaries to strip him of his law license, now totaling a whopping six investigations.
In a bit of irony, Clements was honored with NMSU’s most prestigious teaching award the day before he was suspended for refusing to subject his students to medical harm. His encounter was captured in this scene from his documentary “Let My People Go.”
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