Sex Abuse Report Prompts Choate Rosemary Hall Alumni Petition

WALLINGFORD, CT — An online petition seeks to remove two former Choate Rosemary Hall headmasters from their "life trustee" designation in light of a recent report that detailed years of sexual misconduct at the elite boarding school.

The online Change.org petition formed by alumni of the school has 240 signatures so far. It specifically mentions former headmasters Charles Dey and Edward Shanahan.

"This independent investigation unearthed a failure of leadership over decades - a failure that sits squarely on the shoulders of the men running Choate Rosemary Hall," wrote petition organizer Amy Rabinowitz Huffman.

School officials commissioned the independent report due to a series of events over the past few years, including reports given by two students in 2013 regarding sexual misconduct that acted as a "catalyst." Many of the graduates who spoke to investigators said they didn't report the misconduct to an adult because they didn't recognize the conduct as being abusive.

Related: Sexual Abuse At Choate Rosemary Hall Dates Back To 1960s: Report

The Boston Globe published a series of investigations in 2016 about sexual abuse at private New England schools.

There are eight life trustees at the school, according to Choate's website. Dey served as headmaster from 1973 to 1991 and Shanahan from 1991 to 2011, according to the Record-Journal.

"..., it is simply not tenable to maintain the Life Trustee designation for Charles Dey and Edward Shanahan," Rabinowitz Huffman said. "As long as their names are associated with Choate, the institution remains tarnished."

Read the full petition here.

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