At Hotchkiss, Sexual Misconduct and ‘Missed Opportunities’ to Stop It

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/17/nyregion/hotchkiss-school-sexual-misconduct.html

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A classics teacher sexually abused numerous students and later married two of them. A school doctor performed unnecessary “gynecological” examinations. And administrators were alerted to some of the abuse going on at their school, but did not act.

All this was documented in a report released on Friday by the Hotchkiss School, a private boarding school in Lakeville, Conn. With its investigation, Hotchkiss becomes the latest in a string of prestigious schools to acknowledge that faculty members who were trusted to teach and care for children were sexually abusing them instead.

“Members of the Hotchkiss administration were aware of at least some of the instances of sexual misconduct at the time it was occurring,” the report said.

“What emerges from our investigation is a series of missed opportunities stemming from cultural deficiencies around prioritizing student safety,” it continued, attributing part of the administration’s silence to a desire to deal with sexual misconduct internally and a reluctance to bring in outside authorities.

The report also said the school had used “the concept of in loco parentis,” or its responsibility to stand in for students’ parents, “as both a sword and shield to excuse behavior that crossed boundaries with students and allowed sexual misconduct to take place.”

The investigation, which was conducted by the international law firm Locke Lord, documented sexual abuse by seven former faculty members that occurred between 1969 and 1992, which “primarily involved unwanted sexual contact and intercourse.” Investigators also received “highly credible” allegations against three adults who had been members of the Hotchkiss community. Some of the former faculty members went on to teach or work with children elsewhere.

One teacher, Leif Thorne-Thomsen, who was a classics teacher from 1964 to 1992, abused multiple students over the course of years, according to the report — it includes the accounts of seven women who said they were sexually abused by him. The report described his relationship with one former student in particular as “emotionally coercive.” When the student told Mr. Thorne-Thomsen she was having issues with her father, he replied, “I will be your father.”

One woman’s parents found her staying in a hotel with Mr. Thorne-Thomsen the summer after she graduated, and told the headmaster and the chairman of the school’s board of trustees about the discovery. Mr. Thorne-Thomsen was placed on a paid leave of absence and then allowed to return the following year. The letter offering him his job back spoke of his having “the most honorable and most open intentions.”

Another student was abused by Mr. Thorne-Thomsen and another teacher, Christopher Carlisle, at the same time, the report said. Mr. Thorne-Thomsen was aware of what was going on and “instructed her on how to check Carlisle for ‘the clap’ so that she did not transmit it” back to him.

Investigators said there were “clear warning signs that he was abusing students,” and that the administration should have done more to address it. Mr. Thorne-Thomsen was fired in 1992 after an investigation into his misconduct.

Mr. Thorne-Thomsen did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Mr. Carlisle committed suicide in 1982.

Another frightening section of the report details the actions of Dr. Peter Gott, the school’s medical director from 1972 to 2005, who would perform seemingly unnecessary exams on students, including vaginal examinations on a student who did not come in for gynecological issues. A student complained to the head of the school at the time, Arthur White, who confronted Dr. Gott. But Dr. Gott said this was “proper medical procedure.” Mr. White asked him to have a female nurse in the room for such exams, and left it at that.

Dr. Gott is now deceased. Attempts to reach Mr. White on Friday were not successful.

Roderick MacLeish is a lawyer representing victims of Mr. Thorne-Thomsen, Mr. Carlisle and one other teacher. Mr. MacLeish, who has vast experience defending victims of childhood sexual abuse, called Mr. Thorne-Thomsen one of the worst serial predators he had ever come across.

“One of my clients was his victim and she fell into a complete depression despite her incredible brilliance and talent as a writer,” he said. “She now spends most of her time in menial jobs working paycheck to paycheck.”

He continued: “I have no doubt that this report just contains a small sampling of both victims and perpetrators.”

Mr. MacLeish said that none of the men named in the report could face criminal charges because of the statute of limitations.

This grim accounting follows a similar pattern at schools like the Emma Willard School and Choate Rosemary Hall, which have released detailed reports of wrongdoing. Activists and lawyers who represent victims of this kind of abuse have said such public accountings are crucial to protecting students going forward and getting some justice for those harmed in the past.

Questions have also been raised about the inherent conflict in these arrangements: the schools pay the investigators and are generally the ones to decide what, if anything, is released.

“We apologize to the survivors with humility — understanding that words cannot measure our sadness and regret or erase the harm that they endured,” Jean Weinberg Rose, chair of the Hotchkiss board of trustees, said in a letter to the school community that was released with the report. “We will do everything within our power to ensure that students now and in the future will be cared for and safe.”

The school said it would not comment further.