The parents of a murdered University of Utah track star sued her former college Thursday in a $56 million civil rights lawsuit, alleging inaction by campus police led to her death.

Jill and Matthew McCluskey filed the lawsuit some eight months after their 21-year-old daughter, Lauren, of Pullman, Washington, was gunned down outside her dorm room on Oct. 22 by ex-boyfriend Melvin Rowland, a 37-year-old registered sex offender who lied about his parole status. He took his own life at an off-campus church hours later.

“Lauren’s death was preventable,” attorney James McConkie said in a statement obtained by The Post. “The murder occurred because of the University of Utah’s repeated failure to respond to Lauren’s multiple and continuing pleas for help.”

McCluskey’s parents claim their daughter and other students at the university contacted school officials more than 20 times to report his abusive, threatening and dangerous behavior after they started dating in September 2018.

McCluskey was unaware that Rowland was, in fact, a felon on parole, according to the lawsuit, which alleges university police failed to investigate her reports accusing Rowland of harassment after she ended their relationship in early October.

Rowland later shot McCluskey seven times as she returned from class, the lawsuit states.

The filing came after an independent review commissioned by the university made 30 recommendations in light of McCluskey’s death. Still, the university’s president, Ruth Watkins, claimed the report did not offer any reason why her death could have been prevented, according to the lawsuit.

“Her statement made me physically ill,” Jill McCloskey said in a statement. “The University of Utah is on the wrong side of history in how they handled Lauren’s case and how they responded to her death.”

A university spokesperson declined to comment on the lawsuit, saying officials had not yet seen the allegations, the Salt Lake Tribune reports.