Alums Respond to Abuse Report

The Phillips Exeter Alumni for Truth and Healing (PATH)—an “action group comprised of both survivors of sexual abuse at PEA and their supporters in the alumni community”—published a petition on Sept. 20 calling for the Academy to reconduct its investigations on sexual assault in response to documents released via email to the Exeter community on Aug. 24 from Interim Principal William Rawson.

The petition, which has 294 signatures to date, claimed that the Academy’s most recent investigations were not truly independent because cases were only reported to the law firm Holland & Knight (H&K) after they had already been reviewed by PEA and law firm Nixon Peabody (NP), the Academy’s legal counsel. Rawson has expressed hesitation to repeat these investigations.

In an email to faculty responding to PATH’s petition, Rawson said that “PATH’s letter reflects a fundamental lack of trust in the Academy—with respect to what the Academy is doing now to provide a safe teaching and learning environment, as well as with respect to the investigations and reports on past incidents of sexual misconduct,” he said. “To some extent, this is on the Academy, for having lost their trust in the first place. Trust lost is not easily regained.”

Rawson continued that PATH’s petition reflects misgivings about the recent investigations and the administration’s response to the results. “PATH’s letter is still disappointing, as we have worked hard to regain trust. We would be very reluctant to repeat all the investigations, as PATH urges,” he said. “We have been and remain committed to a thorough discovery of our past, support for those who have been harmed and the undertaking of appropriate corrective action and communication.”

In a supplemental document to the H&K findings, PEA acknowledged the screening process the petition later addressed. “Once we learned that the EPD had closed a case…we consulted with counsel to determine whether there was sufficient information to allow for an investigation of our own. When we determined an investigation was possible, we enlisted the help of external investigators,” the document reads.

According to the document, H&K only proceeded with investigations when “there was sufficient identifying information about the alleged victim, reporter, and/or alleged perpetrator,” “the report alleged employee sexual misconduct” and “the allegation had not been fully investigated or addressed previously by the Academy or the police.” The decision of whether or not an allegation met these standards and warranted further investigation was left to the Academy’s discretion.

Julia Gray ’97, a PATH spokesperson, found the investigations and reports incomplete. “The investigative reports do not give a comprehensive account of historical sexual misconduct,” she said. “This is dangerous because without a full accounting of the scope and severity of harm that’s occurred, how can there be assurance that PEA is taking all appropriate measures to remedy it?”

In the petition’s appendix, PATH claims that “much, if not all, of the information H&K received was filtered through lawyers defending the school from liability.”

To “encourage true transparency and accountability,” the petition requested that all relevant allegations and evidence concerning abuse perpetrated by PEA adults against students and peer-to-peer abuse allegations be turned over to an investigator both PATH and Exeter agreed upon.

The petition further expressed concerns that the Academy was unable to comprehensively investigate the matter due to its authority as an institution, inflicting “secondary harm” to students who had come forward with reports. “It is not surprising that although NP found that PEA grossly mishandled many of these allegations by failing to report to authorities or even to parents in some cases, there are no disclosures of any details regarding which PEA faculty and administrators mishandled the allegations,” the appendix stated, citing the Rockingham County files which described that administrators “often downgraded ‘assaults’ to ‘harassments’” to forego mandated reporting laws.

Alumna Hannah Sessler ’15 hopes the petition will encourage the Academy to be more transparent in its investigation and reporting. “The documents Exeter recently released have important information, contexts, names and acknowledgments missing. There is much more to report on,” she said.

PATH further requested that former principals and deans no longer be in attendance or honored at alumni events “given the complicity of past administrators in the mishandling and concealment of sexual abuse.”

The H&K report that the Academy’s “dual record-keeping system” on information pertaining to sexual misconduct allegations, where information was not universally accessible, “resulted in other administrative staff members having an incomplete view of the conduct history in the confidential file.”

Rawson stated that these discrepancies will be eliminated moving forward. “All employee files are now centrally stored in the Human Resources Department. Department heads and other managers have received and will continue to receive training on proper documentation and record-keeping, and in particular, proper documentation of all personnel concerns,” he reported.

Alumna Kirsten Mallik ’95 said that “for years, Exeter fell into a trap that so many other high-profile institutions have: thinking that preserving their reputation and preventing a scandal was truly in the best interest of all its students.” She described this outlook as “a heartbreaking betrayal of the trust families and students put in Exeter.”

Carl Lindemann ’79, who served as PEA Assistant Minister from 1991 to 1993, requests that Exeter adhere to its core values. “Lawyers…can be the very embodiment of ‘knowledge without goodness,’ ” he said. “Here, I really think we need to reflect deeply about what our values are as Exonians—and if they are compatible with doing the legal thing, if it departs from doing the right thing.”

According to Gray, PATH hopes to continue collaborating with PEA administration and the Trustees to thoroughly investigate and confront the Academy’s history of sexual misconduct. “Each time a statement is released from Exeter, we hear from new people who have never stepped forward to share their story. What that means to me is that this kind of transparency is important. It is important because it might start that individual on a path towards healing from the harm they experienced,” she said.