Women Sue Dartmouth College for $70 Million Over Professors Who Allegedly Sexually Harassed Students

Seven women have filed a class action lawsuit against Dartmouth College, accusing three former professors of sexual harassment and assault, as well as creating a hostile work environment for students. They are suing for at least $70 million in damages.

The plaintiffs, one of whom identified as Jane Doe, are suing on behalf of every woman who has been enrolled in the university’s Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences since March 31, 2015. The suit argues at Todd Heatherton, William Kelley, and Paul Whalen “perpetuated an alcohol-saturated ‘party culture’” within the department and turned it into a “21st Century Animal house,” according to the Concord Monitor. It also alleges that the university was aware of the professors’ behavior and did not do anything about it for more than 16 years.

The professor allegedly held lab meetings at bars and invited students to hot tub parties at their homes. They also allegedly sexually objectified the women students in a ridiculous and gross public ways. More from the Monitor:

The three professors objectified their female students by making inappropriate comments about their physical attractiveness, with Kelley going so far as to publicly rank them on what he called a “Papi” scale, the suit alleges. The scale began at zero which equated to “would never bang.”

The plaintiffs say that the university said they would be included in an independent investigation into the professors’ actions earlier this year, but that they were “ultimately ignored,” according to the Monitor. Earlier this year, the three professors all resigned or retired, rather than be fired.

The Monitor adds that “a group of female students” reached out to the Dartmouth’s Title IX office about “instances of sexual harassment and assault by the professors” in April 2017. The suit states that, 20 days later, Whalen allegedly sexually assaulted a graduate teaching assistant.