BOSTON (AP) — The Massachusetts Democratic State Committee plans to meet Thursday to choose a new party chair amid questions about the actions of the current head of the party, Gus Bickford, during a recent primary election.

That contest pitted U.S. Rep. Richard Neal against a Democratic primary challenger, Holyoke Mayor Alex Morse.

The race was marked by allegations of inappropriate sexual contact with students by Morse when he was an adjunct professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The allegations were raised by students.

The 31-year-old Democratic mayor has maintained that his relationships with college students were consensual and did not violate school policies. He has apologized to “anyone I have made feel uncomfortable.”

A report ordered by the party criticized top party officials, including Bickford, for their handling of the situation.

The report faulted Bickford for failing to refer the students making the allegations about Morse to their college’s legal counsel or other officials for guidance after the students came to him with their concerns.

The report, written by attorney and former Democratic state Sen. Cheryl Jacques, an adjunct professor at the University of Massachusetts, also criticized Bickford for encouraging the students to talk with a reporter from Politico.

Party chairs are expected to remain neutral in party primaries.

Bickford, who is seeking another term as chair, said the report concludes that he never suggested that the college students write a letter to Morse and that the students had been in touch with a reporter a month before the party was aware of their concerns.

He disputed other parts of the report.

“I do strongly disagree with the baseless statement that by commenting on the credibility of a well-known national political reporter, I somehow implied or suggested that material be leaked to that reporter,” Bickford said in a written statement.

“Equally untrue is the false claim that I suggested the students send a letter before Election Day," Bickford said.

The report by Jacques found that when students raised the idea with party officials of sending a letter directly to Morse, Bickford told them to go with that option and to “do it before the election."

Jacques said Bickford's statements also indicated he was “encouraging the students to talk to the reporter on the record and to do so prior to the election" — a violation of policy barring party staff from participating in a party primary,

The party chair is full-time $100,000-a-year position.

Neal, who first won a seat to Congress in 1988 and currently chairs the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, handily defeated Morse and won reelection.

Morse said the party inappropriately interfered in the primary to hurt his campaign and help Neal’s reelection. He said it’s clear that the party needs new leadership.

“The Massachusetts Democratic Party can be a model for how we move forward nationally. In its current form, and under its current leadership, that is impossible,” said in a statement last week.

Morse, who is gay and was seen as a rising star after becoming one of Massachusetts’ youngest mayors upon his election at age 22 in 2011, has said the allegations were based in homophobic tropes.

Bickford, who is seeking a second term, maintains that “at all times I was determined to stay out of this race and I know I did that.”

During his first term, the party was able to retain all of the state’s congressional seats and expand its numbers in the Legislature, but failed to recapture the governor’s office.

He’s being challenged by party Deputy Treasurer Mike Lake, who has argued that the party hasn’t been vocal enough in opposing Republican Gov. Charlie Baker and Robert Massie, a former candidate for governor who wants to help boost party fundraising.