Community Reacts to Sexual Misconduct

The Exeter community is reacting to an email Principal Lisa MacFarlane sent Wednesday morning releasing information regarding former history instructor Richard Schubart’s admission of sexual misconduct during his tenure at the Academy. Since the announcement, The Boston Globe published an article Wednesday evening detailing Schubart’s misconduct, the Office of Institutional Advancement has cancelled a fundraising drive and community members have raised questions about the administration’s handling of the incident.

In her email, MacFarlane stated that the first accusation occurred in 2011 and resulted in Schubart’s immediate requirement to retire and his removal from campus housing. At the time, the community did not know the nature of Schubart’s retirement. In 2015, when a second victim accused Schubart of sexual misconduct, he was stripped of his emeritus status and banned from campus and all Exeter events. In both 2011 and 2015, the allegations were immediately reported to Exeter police and the Division of Children, Youth and Families. Exeter also launched its own investigations according to protocol.

“There is no more important trust than that between a teacher and student at this school. When that trust is breached, it damages everyone in the community.”

The Globe reporters who had spoken with one of Schubart’s victims wrote that during the victim’s senior year, she and Schubart had a sexual relationship for several months.

According to the Globe, Principal MacFarlane’s all-school email was sent out the day after the Globe contacted the administration inquiring about Schubart’s misconduct.

MacFarlane said that Schubart’s misconduct was made public Wednesday as part of a process independent of the Globe’s investigation. “We made this decision independently,” she said. “We wanted to disclose before Experience Exeter, out of consideration for our newly admitted families. The Globe’s article indicates their interest in highlighting this important issue, and we share their desire for transparency.”

Schubart could not be reached for comment Wednesday. 

MacFarlane and Dean of Students Melissa Mischke plan to address the misconduct at Experience Exeter next week when prospective students and their parents will visit campus. These parents have already received a letter encouraging them to contact MacFarlane with questions and/or concerns. “Dean Mischke and I will have a special meeting for parents, so any parents who have questions or concerns can also talk to us then,” she said. “These cases happened a long time ago. It’s history, not the way the school is now.”

MacFarlane acknowledged that the case was not initially handled properly.   “We… took steps to remove Mr. Schubart from the community.  In retrospect, those steps were insufficient…We take full responsibility for that, and we sincerely apologize.  This is the path we are taking now,” she wrote. 

Thomas Hassan was the principal when the allegations of misconduct first came to light and Schubart was forced to retire in 2011. Hassan could not be reached for comment before The Exonian’s deadline Wednesday night.

MacFarlane said she could not explain her predecessors’  reasoning for not releasing information about the misconduct, but added that “the wishes of the victims are often a very important consideration for them.”

In an email to The Exonian, MacFarlane said that institutions should strive to be transparent, especially when they have students in their care. “There is no more important trust than that between a teacher and student at this school. When that trust is breached, it damages everyone in the community,” she said. “It was important for me that we at Exeter be able to look at ourselves with some honesty.” She expressed hope that the transparency in disclosing Schubart’s misconduct will inspire other sexual misconduct/assault victims to come forward and promised to provide assistance.

Morgan Dudley ’77, the Director of Institutional Advancement, sent out an email to alumni yesterday announcing the cancellation of a fundraising drive for the Exeter Fund. The email explained that the office of Institutional Advancement felt it was inappropriate to ask alumni for gifts after the announcement. She also noted the sudden nature of the news: “While the requests for your support were planned months ago, the news we had to share with you about the former faculty member was not,” she wrote.

Many members of the community were shocked and saddened by this news, including chair of the history department Bill Jordan. “We’ve allocated our meeting time tomorrow to process these revelations,” he said. “It’s shocking to me to hear this. It makes me very sad. This is particularly difficult news to digest for those of us in the history department, especially those of us who have been around long enough to have worked with Mr. Schubart.” Jordan is also the adviser to The Exonian.

Reverend Robert Thompson, Schubart’s pastor, also expressed sadness over the new information about his good friend. “[Schubart] has shown good character in the face of these horrible mistakes he’s made. That means a lot more to me than what he’s done,” Thompson said.

Seisei Tatebe-Goddu ’01 noted that the reaction of many alumni in support of Schubart following the announcement of his misconduct reflected sympathy for the aggressor and a lack of support for the victims. “I am somewhat concerned by what feels like the need for people to throw support behind Rick without acknowledging that he harmed two members of our community. Yes, Rick is a community member. So are these two students,” she said.

In MacFarlane’s email, students were encouraged to forward any media inquiries to the communications office. Any current or prospective members of the community with questions and/or concerns were told to contact MacFarlane or trustee Eunice Panetta.