Sixteen former University of Michigan men’s hockey players have filed a federal sex discrimination lawsuit alleging they experienced sexual abuse and hazing between 1984 and 2001.

The lawsuit claims freshmen were subjected to forced genital shaving, excessive drinking, eating live fish and other abusive initiation rituals, including an alleged incident involving a blowtorch.

The former players accuse longtime head coach Red Berenson of knowing about the hazing and failing to intervene, while Berenson has denied directing or encouraging the alleged conduct.

Michigan called the allegations disturbing but said any players who engaged in hazing violated university policy, noting that the school had an anti-hazing policy in place since 1982, Fox News has reported.

The allegations have not been proven in court, and the university may argue that the lawsuit was filed decades after the alleged incidents occurred.