Two female ballet students are suing University of Cincinnati, accusing the school of protecting a male student who they allege repeatedly groped them, The Enquirer reported.
In the federal suit – filed in U.S. District Court on Jun. 30 – the women are using pseudonyms and the male student is not named and not being sued.
"During practices and performances, the male student touched his partners inappropriately," the suit states. "UC was deliberately indifferent to the harassment suffered by these women."
According to the suit, the school ignored complaints of one of the women, issued an ineffective no-contact order for the other, and conducted a flawed investigation and hearing regarding the alleged misconduct.
"UC has a pattern and practices of both not taking allegations of sexual assault against female students seriously," the lawsuit states. "And not respecting the due process rights of both accused students and alleged victims."
Josh Engle, one of the lawyers for the women, said the students are still enrolled at UC but both doing off-campus co-ops.
UC has been sued multiple times about handling of such cases.
