Ten black football players were punished in 2016 so that University of Minnesota administrators would look like “heroes of the fight against sexual violence,” their lawyer said in court Friday.

University lawyers say the student discipline process worked “exactly as it should have,” with just four players ultimately being expelled.

The alleged gang rape of a white female student in September 2016 did not result in criminal charges. But it played a role in head coach Tracy Claeys’ dismissal and sparked a short-lived team boycott of the Holiday Bowl when all 10 accused players were forced to sit out.

The players now are suing the school in U.S. District Court, alleging the U denied them due process and discriminated against them on the basis of race and sex. They want compensatory damages and for the expelled players to be reinstated with clean discipline records.

U.S. District Judge Donovan Frank heard oral arguments Friday on the U’s motion to dismiss the players’ case. He gave no indication how or when he might rule.

Plaintiffs attorney David Madgett pointed to a July 2015 email by Kim Hewitt, director of Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action, that warned other administrators about a “potential pattern” of sexual misconduct by Gopher football players.

That email became public soon after Athletics Director Norwood Teague resigned that August accused of sexually harassing two colleagues — the second of at least three white male athletics employees in four years to lose their positions over sexual misconduct scandals.

Madgett said that when a white female student reported that 10 to 20 football players gang-raped her in September 2016, President Eric Kaler and Title IX Coordinator Tina Marisam saw an opportunity to show what they’re doing to address sexual violence on campus.

“There was a prior motivation to go after members of the football team, in particular,” he said.

Marisam accepted the white woman’s version of events, Madgett said, while “the stories of 10 African-American males are universally discredited.”

Three months after the female student’s report, Marisam concluded her investigation and 10 players were suspended for sexual assault or sexual harassment. Their teammates then announced they would boycott the bowl game but changed their minds after Marisam’s report was leaked to the media.

Ultimately, five players were cleared of wrongdoing after contested student conduct hearings, and a sixth had his suspension reversed on appeal to the provost. The other four were expelled.

Carrie Ryan Gallia, associate general counsel for the U, said the disparate outcomes demonstrate that Kaler and Marisam did not discriminate against the players.

“If that’s what they were doing, the nuanced decision-making here wouldn’t be necessary,” she said.

The process, she said, demonstrated “fair, nuanced, careful consideration by multiple decision-makers of the facts presented to the University.”

Further, Gallia Ryan said, the expelled players could have appealed yet again to the state court system but chose not to. She said the players can’t claim due process violations when they didn’t exhaust all their options.