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

WALLINGFORD, CT — Decades of sexual abuse dating back to the 1960s at the elite Connecticut boarding school Choate Rosemary Hall were detailed in a new independent reported published Thursday. The report identified at least 12 teachers who have been accused of sexual misconduct by Choate graduates and detailed the school's response to such instances when it was reported to them.

School officials commissioned the 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." In 2016, the Boston Globe published a series of investigations about the issue of sexual abuse at private schools in New England. The paper made inquiries to Choate about four former faculty members and shared a report from a graduate, Cheyenne Montgomery, who said that two of the teachers had sex with her while she was a student in the early 1990s. The school ordered the investigation after the Globe published an article referencing the school in October 2016.

Many of the graduates that spoke to investigators who prepared the report said at the time they did not report the incidents to an adult at the school because they did not recognize the conduct as abusive or did not want the school to find out. However, other graduates said the culture at the school made it difficult to report incidents and at the time they could not identify a school official who would have been sympathetic to a report. Regardless of how the graduates thought about the relationship at the time, many said the encounters had disturbed them throughout their adult lives.

>>>Read the investigative series by the Boston Globe here

According to the report, sexual misconduct matters were handled internally and quietly and in nearly all of the incidents detailed in the report, the faculty or staff members accused of sexual misconduct were usually required to leave the school by resigning. In some cases, the school moved slowly and faculty members were allowed to stay at the school for a long period of time. The school was also slow to act when the faculty member in question was a long-term and admired teacher. None of the incidents were reported to authorities.

At least one teacher stayed at the school until his retirement, 10 years after a student reported an incident of sexual misconduct.

When a teacher resigned or was terminated in the middle of the school year, other faculty members were told little to nothing about the nature of the teacher's departure and when told were cautioned to not say anything about the situation, according to the report. Individuals interviewed by investigators said the school cited the protection of faculty members, potential risks to the school, the impact on affected students and their parents' concerns for privacy as a reason for following this approach.

While the report does not analyze whether Choate or any individuals affiliated with the school violated any laws, it does say that Choate did not make any reports to the Department of Children and Families regarding adult sexual misconduct prior to 2010. Since 1967, the state of Connecticut has a statute that requires teachers to report to DCF any suspected child abuse or neglect to a child under the age of 18.

The report did not name any of the students who spoke to investigators with the exception of Montgomery, who specifically asked to be named. Montgomery told investigators that she had a sexual relationship with Angus Mairs, a math teacher who was also her dorm adviser just after her 16th birthday. She said Mairs treated her like "his girlfriend" and their relationship continued after he left Choate, and even paid for her to visit him in Seattle. If their relationship was discovered, Montgomery was supposed to say that she had a crush on Mairs and he had sent her a "fake letter" that was meant to indicate he had let her off gently. According to the report, her relationship with Mairs ended after she ignored him and then told him she no longer wanted to see him. Mairs apparently became angry by this and wrote to her in a letter dated July 2, 1992 that he felt betrayed by her.

Mairs declined to speak with investigators but told a Globe reporter in 2016 that he did not have a sexual relationship with any students.

Montgomery was sexually abused by another teacher, Bjorn Runquist, in whom she had confided about her relationship with Mairs, according to the report. Her account was corroborated by letters he sent to her that were reviewed by investigators. Runquist submitted his resignation in November 1992 but was allowed to keep on teaching through the end of the school year. A document reviewed by investigators showed that Choate may have permitted him to stay at the school for another year if he was unable to find another teaching job. He then went to teach at the Kent School where he stayed till his retirement in 2013. He denied any sexual misconduct through an attorney but told a Globe reported that what happened between him and Montgomery "was an extremely painful, utterly isolated event in my life."

William Cobbett, a faculty member from 1969-2010, was accused by a student of physically and emotionally coercing her into a sexual relationship in the mid 1990s, but she never reported the incident. The student said Cobbett attempted to seduce her at his home and when she resisted, he forced her to have oral sex and intercourse with him, the report states. Another student said that in late 2000, she reported to the school that Cobbett kissed her and while an administrator considered having him resign, he stayed at the school for another decade.

"It was just a little smooch, she overreacted," Cobbett allegedly said when he acknowledged the kiss.

An attorney for Cobbett told investigators the former teacher had no memory of accusations relating to sexual misconduct.

In an incident that took place in Costa Rica, a Spanish teacher, Jaime Rivera-Murillo, sexually assaulted a 17-year-old student near a swimming pool before another classmate came to her aid in October 1999. Rivera-Murillo had been "hanging out" with five Choate students around a resort swimming pool and nearby bar where they had been drinking. Rivera-Murillo was fired by the school for "just cause" and accounts from that incident are corroborated by a written summary of interviews of them that the school conducted. In an March 2017 interview with investigators, Rivera-Murillo acknowledged drinking with students but denied any sexual misconduct.

Another teacher, Frederick Lyman, was dismissed by the school after a student contracted herpes after having a sexual relationship with Lyman in the early 1980s, according to the report. The student's parents complained to officials and Lyman left the school at the end of the school year. When the student was a college student in Boston, Lyman allegedly stalked her, left her notes and even went to her family's home to go looking for her.

Lyman declined to speak with investigators.

None of the teachers or faculty members named in the report currently teach at the school and investigators say they did not review or receive any reports related to current Choate students. Of the 12 teachers named in the report, five have died.

In a letter to the Choate community, headmaster Alex Curtis and Michael Carr, chairman of the board of trustees, apologized for the school's inaction.

"The detailed content of this report is devastating to read. One can only have the greatest sympathy and deepest concern for the survivors," the letter reads. "The conduct of these adults violated the foundation of our community: the sacred trust between students and the adults charged with their care."

Read the full report here.

Image: Public Domain