In November 2018, seven women filed a class-action lawsuit against Dartmouth College alleging that they had been victims of sexual assault, discrimination, and harassment by three professors. The suit claimed that three male professors in the department of psychological and brain sciences “leered at, groped, sexted, intoxicated and even raped female students.” The suit stated that the sexual misconduct had been going on since 2002 and that the college did nothing to stop it. The women sought $70 million in damages.
After a week of mediation between the plaintiffs and college officials, a $14 million settlement has been reached. All students who can certify that they were victims in the case will be eligible for a share of the settlement money. The court will determine the distribution of the funds.
In a statement, the plaintiffs said: “Together with Dartmouth, we plan to continue addressing the systemic roots of power-based personal violence and gender-based discrimination across all levels of severity so that our experiences — and those of the class we represent — are never repeated.”