Lawyers for a woman who alleges she was raped by football players or recruits of the University of Colorado at Boulder in 2002 have appealed a federal judge’s dismissal of her lawsuit against the institution, the Associated Press reports. The woman, Lisa Simpson, who has been willing to be publicly named, was a Colorado student at the time she says she was assaulted, at an off-campus party.

Her lawsuit, which was filed under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, contends that the university violated the law by fostering an atmosphere that led to the attack. Judge Robert E. Blackburn, of the U.S. District Court in Denver, threw out Ms. Simpson’s lawsuit and a similar lawsuit by an anonymous plaintiff on legal grounds last year but did not rule on the merits of the cases. He said the women had failed to prove that the university had actual knowledge of sexual harassment or that it was deliberately indifferent to any known sexual harassment (The Chronicle, April 1, 2005).

Ms. Simpson’s lawyers filed an appeal on Friday in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit, arguing that university officials had known of sexual assaults and harassment four years before the 2002 party and had concealed several prior assaults from Ms. Simpson’s legal team. University administrators told reporters in Denver that they expected Judge Blackburn’s decision to be upheld.

Ms. Simpson’s lawsuit sparked a scandal over the Boulder football team’s recruiting practices that led to multiple investigations and much criticism of athletics officials and university regents (The Chronicle, May 28, 2004, and September 10, 2004). No university officials faced punishment (The Chronicle, June 4, 2004), but the athletics director later resigned, as did the president herself (The Chronicle, November 23, 2004, and March 18, 2005). No sexual-assault charges have ever been filed.