This month, seven women filed a federal class action lawsuit in New Hampshire claiming three former tenured psychology professors groped and harassed them. One of the professors is accused of raping two students. They charged that Dartmouth administrators knew for years about the department's "Animal House" culture, but ignored several sexual misconduct complaints for more than a decade.

Dartmouth has denied the charges and, in a statement, strongly disagreed with the characterization of its response to the allegations. All three professors have either retired or resigned.

The lawsuit comes as the Trump administration has proposed new regulations on how colleges handle sexual misconduct claims. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has said the draft rules, released Nov. 6, enhance fairness by adding protections for the accused. Advocates for survivors have condemned the move as a step backwards because they narrow the definition of sexual harassment and require colleges like Dartmouth to act only if the alleged misconduct appears to be severe and also pervasive.