Dartmouth College is demanding that alleged victims of sexual assault and harassment who are suing the school over its handling of what they call a “predators’ club” created by three former psychology professors be publicly named.
In documents filed in US District Court in New Hampshire Tuesday, Dartmouth took the unusual and aggressive tactic of opposing anonymity for three of the nine current and former students who allege they were groped in plain sight of other students and faculty members, forced into sexual relationships with the professors, and openly called inappropriate names by men in the psychology department.
Dartmouth argues that identifying the three women only as “Jane Doe,” “Jane Doe 1,” and “Jane Doe 2” in court documents creates confusion and hurts the college’s ability to defend itself. The remaining students in the $70 million lawsuit are named.
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The college insists that the students have used “publicity as a sword” and that several of them have gone on television and used social media to push their claims and should be barred from proceeding in the case anonymously.
Lawyers who have represented sexual harassment and assault victims said the use of pseudonyms is fairly common in such lawsuits if the information is sensitive and plaintiffs fear telling family, friends, and employers about the cases.
If it succeeds, Dartmouth’s move could silence future victims and plaintiffs, some lawyers argue.
“It certainly sends a message, whether they intend it or not, that [plaintiffs] better be ready for a rough ride,” said John Clune, a Colorado lawyer who specializes in sexual abuse cases and has represented clients in high-profile matters, such as the civil sexual assault case against basketball player Kobe Bryant.
Most universities avoid battling over whether the plaintiffs are named, Clune said.
“They don’t like the allegations, but they still care about the students or former students and don’t necessarily want to out them,” he said.
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On Tuesday, Dartmouth stood by its approach.
“We will defend the college,” said Diana Lawrence, a Dartmouth spokeswoman. The use of pseudonyms “hinders Dartmouth’s investigation of the claims and prevents proper evaluation of whether the new plaintiffs can serve as representatives of a class.”
The initial lawsuit was filed last fall after the school’s more than year-long investigation of the three professors in the psychology and brain sciences department. The professors, Todd Heatherton, Paul Whalen, and Bill Kelley, either resigned or retired as a result of the probe.
But in their lawsuit, the students claim that Dartmouth for years was aware of inappropriate behavior by the three professors but failed to rein them in. Dartmouth had received at least three previous sexual harassment complaints against Heatherton, starting in 2002, and at least one against Kelley in 2005, the complaint said.
It also described a party culture in which influential professors exercised tremendous control over their students’ academic careers, delaying exams, withholding advisory meetings, and threatening the research and funding of women who shunned their advances.
Initially, only one of the women in the lawsuit was unnamed. But earlier this month, two more joined the lawsuit anonymously. The woman identified as Jane Doe 2, who was an undergraduate at the college until 2012 and then worked as a research assistant at a Dartmouth laboratory, alleges that after drinking at a bar with Whalen, he took her back to her apartment and “forced himself” on her.
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The other unnamed student who recently joined the lawsuit claimed that in 2003, when she was a graduate student at Dartmouth, male faculty members began referring to her with a “demeaning and sexual nickname.” She alleges she was coerced into an ongoing sexual relationship with Kelley, and that when she ended the relationship he retaliated by giving data she had collected to another student and removing her from an ongoing research project.
When the university launched its investigation into the professors in 2017, the former graduate student alleges, she was contacted by the chair of the department because of “rumors” about her relationship with Kelley.
Steve Kelly, an attorney with Sanford, Heisler, Sharp, the firm representing the women in this case, declined to comment on Dartmouth’s opposition to the use of pseudonyms.
While anonymity is never assured in federal court cases, Shiwali Patel, senior counsel at the National Women’s Law Center, said institutions that object to pseudonyms usually have to show that their use poses a unique threat is fundamentally unfair.
For example, the cases filed against Michigan State University by dozens of women who alleged they had been sexually assaulted by their gymnastics team doctor, Larry Nassar, were filed with pseudonyms. The lawsuit against Baylor University over its handling of sexual assault was brought by Jane Doe plaintiffs, as well.
Courts have generally permitted such cases to proceed because they recognize there are “substantial privacy interests,” Patel said.
Dartmouth on Tuesday said that it still wants to resolve the case outside of court. “We remain actively open to a fair resolution of all plaintiffs’ claims through an alternative to the court process and are exploring mediation,” Lawrence said.
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Deirdre Fernandes can be reached at deirdre.fernandes @globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @fernandesglobe.