The University of Connecticut has responded to a Title IX lawsuit claiming that it mishandled several reports of sexual assaults on its main campus.

Kathleen Megan of The Hartford Courant files this report:

In court papers filed Monday, the University of Connecticut denied some of the key allegations made by five women who filed a federal lawsuit last year charging that UConn mishandled allegations of rape and sexual assault.

The 38-page reply, filed in U.S. District Court Monday, says the university lacks “sufficient information to admit or deny” many of the allegations in the lawsuit. However, the university does deny some charges in the lawsuit, including allegations that UConn employees were informed of a rape and failed to do their jobs and allegations that UConn police officers made insensitive remarks and did not provide adequate information to victims.

Richard Orr, general counsel for UConn, said in a statement that the university’s response to the civil lawsuit is part of the “normal course of proceedings required by court rules.”

“As outlined in the filing, UConn denies many of the plaintiffs’ allegations that we know to be factually inaccurate,” Orr said. “There are other allegations for which we do not yet have enough information to respond — as is common at this very preliminary stage of a lawsuit.”

The lawsuit contends that UConn failed to meet its legal obligations under Title IX in the treatment of plaintiffs who alleged that they were raped or sexually harassed while at UConn. Gloria Allred, the attorney for the plaintiffs, declined to comment on the university’s response.

Five of the women involved in the lawsuit also were part of a Title IX civil complaint against UConn.

The lawsuit seeks compensatory damage for the women for emotional distress resulting from what they have called UConn’s “deliberate indifference” and asks the court to order UConn to revise its policies and procedures to bring them into compliance with Title IX.

Orr said the university “strongly denies that it acted with deliberate indifference to any of the plaintiffs. That is the basic legal claim underlying each plaintiff’s allegations, and the university vigorously disputes that claim.”

The university, which is being represented by the outside law firm of Wiggin and Dana, denied several of the allegations related to Kylie Angell, who graduated from UConn in May.

Angell said she was raped on July 5, 2010, by a classmate who was expelled for the behavior and then readmitted to school without Angell’s knowledge. UConn, however, denied Angell’s contention that she reported a rape to two UConn employees.