WICHITA — A federal appeals court is refusing to toss out a lawsuit filed by two female students alleging Kansas State University refused to investigate their rapes and other sex assaults at off-campus fraternity houses.

The U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday that the women had sufficiently alleged that Kansas State’s deliberate indifference made them vulnerable to sexual harassment by allowing the students who they say attacked them to continue attending the university. The university purportedly did not investigate the rape allegations.

The two women contend in their civil rights lawsuit that this caused them to withdraw from participating in educational opportunities at the university.

While the appellate panel affirmed a lower court’s refusal to dismiss the students’ claims, its narrow ruling does not address the merits of the case.