Dartmouth College, Plaintiffs In Title IX Lawsuit Reach Settlement

After more than a week of mediation, Dartmouth College and the plaintiffs in the Title IX class-action lawsuit have reached a settlement.

Seven current and former students alleged Dartmouth administrators failed to properly protect students from harassment and assault by three former members of the school’s neuroscience faculty. Two more students joined the suit this spring.

The settlement includes a monetary component: $14 million for a settlement class comprising of students who certify that they endured a hostile environment created by the three former professors.

"The court will determine the mechanism for apportionment of the settlement among the class members," said Justin Anderson, a Dartmouth spokersperson, in an email.

The parties also agreed to work together on initiatives funded by the college, which would include an expansion of the Provost's diversity fund and a commitment to expanding, as needed, Dartmouth's partnership with WISE, an Upper Valley organization working to end gender-based violence.

These initiatives would be under the college's Campus, Climate and Culture Iniative.

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.”

The agreement is subject to the approval of a judge.

This story first published on New Hampshire Public Radio.