Sexual Assault

Lawmakers heard testimony today on two bipartisan bills aimed at preventing sexual assault and helping survivors seek medical and legal services. 

SB 508 would remove the time limit for an alleged victim of sexual abuse to file a civil lawsuit. Right now, those abused as children have to file claims before they turn 30, and, if abused as an adult, they have to file within three years of the incident. 

The judge overseeing the proposed $14 million settlement between Dartmouth College and nine plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit has some concerns about the agreement.

The Valley News reports that at a preliminary hearing on Thursday, Judge Landya McCafferty expressed worries that legal precedent could prevent her from approving the settlement class, and that the group was potentially too broad.

A new legal filing outlines how the terms of a class action lawsuit would play out on the Dartmouth campus.

Last month, nine plaintiffs and Dartmouth College reached a $14 million settlement.

The women in the lawsuit alleged that Dartmouth administrators failed to properly protect students from harassment and assault by three former members of the school’s neuroscience faculty.

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

The Concord School Board is holding a meeting Monday, July 8, to gather public input on its policies on sexual harassment, abuse, and community safety. 

The meeting comes after revelations the district mishandled allegations against Howie Leung, a former special ed teacher, who is now facing charges of raping a former Concord student.  

The district suspended a student in 2014 who had raised concerns about Leung, and allowed him to continue working even after additional allegations emerged last December.

  Nearly 300 Dartmouth College alumni, students and professors are demanding the college drop its opposition to the use of pseudonyms by women suing the school for allegedly mishandling sexual abuse complaints.

The statement was also signed by Congresswoman Annie Kuster and state Senator Martha Hennessey, both of whom say they were assaulted when they were undergraduate students at Dartmouth.

A student group at Dartmouth College focused on preventing sexual violence is arguing Dartmouth makes it too easy for students who’ve committed misconduct to transfer to other schools.

At issue is whether and how Dartmouth should disclose sexual harassment and assault investigations on student transcripts.

Dartmouth College is challenging the anonymity of plaintiffs in a $70 million class-action lawsuit that claims the school mishandled sexual abuse complaints for years.

Dartmouth argues the use of pseudonyms for two recently added plaintiffs will make it unfairly difficult for the college to defend itself.

The lawsuit, filed last fall, centers around three former members of the school’s neuroscience faculty. Plaintiffs argue Dartmouth administrators failed to properly protect students from harassment and assault by the men.

On Saturday, survivors of sexual abuse at St. Paul's School gathered for the first time on campus for an apology that some called a first step and others a missed opportunity.

New Hampshire will implement a new system to keep track of evidence in sexual assault cases after finding that nearly 600 rape kits had not been submitted to the state crime lab.

The Executive Council on Wednesday approved a $104,000 federal grant for a Justice Department position and automated system to track the handling of sexual assault kits. When the state applied for the grant in May, there were 582 kits in more than 90 police departments that hadn't been sent to the lab.

A former Dartmouth undergrad is suing the college, arguing he was illegally expelled over a sexual assault allegation.

A complaint filed Monday in federal district court outlines an encounter between the plaintiff, identified anonymously as John Doe, and another student, identified as Sally Smith, last spring. (Scroll down to read the filing.)

A Dover resident is suing former employer Planet Fitness alleging she was drugged and raped by a manager. (Scroll down to read the complaint.)

A complaint filed by the plaintiff's attorney says the company was alerted to the alleged attack and that the accused manager has since been fired.

New Hampshire Congresswoman Annie Kuster said Monday she’s been hearing from fellow Dartmouth College alumni concerned about new allegations that the school repeatedly mishandled sexual misconduct complaints in its Psychological and Brain Sciences Department.

Senator Maggie Hassan and Congresswoman Annie Kuster met with representatives from colleges and universities across New Hampshire Monday for a discussion of new Title IX rules proposed last week by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.

The rules, now open to public comment, would reduce the liability of schools for investigating assault and harassment reports, and boost protections for the accused. 

The sexual assault accusations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh are being felt on New Hampshire's college campuses.

At the University of New Hampshire, faculty and students staged a #BelieveHer walkout in support of survivors this week.

Amy Culp runs the Sexual Harassment and Rape Prevention Program (SHARPP) at UNH. She says the Kavanaugh hearings have had ripple effects on campus:

A new report details allegations of sexual misconduct by ten former members of St. Paul's School faculty, including David Pook, a former teacher who pled guilty to witness tampering in a case related to his alleged relationship with a student.

A new UNH study looked at how well college personnel understand sexual assault and rape reporting regulations.

Researchers called Title IX offices, which oversee gender equality issues, and campus police at more than one hundred and fifty colleges around the country.

A former St. Paul’s student has filed a federal lawsuit against her alma mater, alleging the Concord private school did not protect her from sexual assault and harassment from male students in 2013-2014.

The former student, who enrolled at St. Paul’s in 2012, is not named in the lawsuit, instead referred to as Jane Doe.

We look at a lawsuit brought by two alumni against St. Paul’s School, saying the school failed to protect them from sexual abuse by faculty members in the 1960s and 70s. Their lawsuit calls the Concord prep school a “haven for sexual predators” that has failed to protect children for decades.  We also examine a recent agreement between the private school and the Concord Police Department about reporting sexual assault.

St. Paul’s School is now required to report any allegations of sexual assault to the Concord Police Department, according to an updated agreement between the college prep school and local police.

A group of lawmakers from both parties are trying to fix a loophole in New Hampshire’s sexual assault law that allowed a former law enforcement official to evade charges that he raped an inmate who he was driving across the state last year.

  The New Hampshire House of Representatives has passed a bill aimed at protecting inmates from sexual assault.

The bill was filed in response to a case in which a deputy sheriff had sex with a female inmate he was transporting to prison. He was convicted of rape under a law that prohibits sex between prisoners and those with director authority over them, but the state Supreme Court overturned his conviction because he was employed by the county sheriff, not the prison or jail.

St. Paul’s School in Concord is settling a civil lawsuit brought by the family of a former student, Chessy Prout, who was a 15-year-old freshman at the elite boarding school when she accused then senior Owen Labrie of sexually assaulting her.