Four young women who allege they were sexually abused, harassed, assaulted and/or battered at the hands of a professor while they were students at Whittier College have reached a settlement in their lawsuit against the school.
The plaintiffs were identified only as Jane Doe 1, 2, 3 and 4 in their Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit, in which they maintained that despite complaints of many other students about David Iyam, the college promoted him to full professor in 2014 before it allowed him to resign in 2016.
An attorney for the college filed court papers on Friday with Judge Yvette Palazuelos stating that the case was resolved, but no terms were divulged. The lawsuit was originally filed in March 2022 and most recently amended on Jan. 18.
“Instead of protecting its students and staff, the leaders at Whittier College chose to protect Professor Iyam by allowing him free rein to continue sexually harassing, assaulting, and battering whomever he pleased by ratifying his conduct again and again,” according to the plaintiffs’ court papers.
As one of Whittier College’s few Black professors and a well-published Fulbright scholar, Iyam was regularly praised by faculty and administration, according to the suit, which alleged that school leaders and employees “conspired to fraudulently conceal Professor Iyam’s sexual misconduct for at least a decade, if not longer, in order to avoid any private or public accountability and civil as well as potential criminal liability.”
In their court papers, attorneys for the college denied the plaintiffs’ allegations and stated that they were barred by the statute of limitations.
Still awaiting trial on June 14 is a separate lawsuit brought by former Whittier College Professor Teresa Delfin, who alleges she was wrongfully terminated before the 2017-18 school year for speaking out in favor of students who alleged they were sexually harassed by Iyam, who headed the plaintiff’s department.