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Dartmouth, Female Students Announce $14 Million Settlement to Resolve Harassment Suit
Dartmouth College and nine current and former psychology students, who brought a Title IX suit in 2018 over harassment and assaults by three professors and Dartmouth’s handling of their complaints, reached a $14 million class action settlement that will provide payments to “all students who meet certain criteria and who certify that they endured a hostile environment created by the conduct of the three banished professors,” they jointly announced Aug 6. “The settlement includes specific initiatives funded by the College, under the aegis of the College’s Campus Climate and Culture Initiative, to identify and rectify current problems and prevent future issues.”
Dartmouth never mentioned the names of the “banished” professors. According to the Union Leader, the three former professors are Todd Heatherton, William Kelley and Paul Whalen. “Heatherton retired, and Kelley and Whalen resigned in July 2018,” the article said. “We remain committed to bringing survivor perspectives and community voices to the forefront of the conversation surrounding campus climate,” the women 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.” More specifics will be released once the settlement has court approval. According to the Union Leader, criminal charges are still possible against the professors.
