When the sheepdogs are preying on the sheep at boarding school

<p>Harvard rescinds admission to freshman accused of boarding school sexual assault"
<a href="http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2014/9/3/owen-labrie-sexual-assault/"&gt;http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2014/9/3/owen-labrie-sexual-assault/&lt;/a>

[quote]
Labrie allegedly forced a 15-year-old freshman girl at St. Paul’s School... to have sex with him in the school’s center for mathematics and science on May 30.</p>

<p>...Labrie sent the freshman a “senior salute,” a spring semester tradition at the school in which senior boys send younger girls emails to solicit a romantic encounter, just before graduation, according to the police affidavit. The female agreed to meet with Labrie after the email exchange, but told investigators that “her understanding was that it was ‘just a hook up,’ which to her meant kissing or making out.”</p>

<p>... tradition as a “competition” among senior boys to see how many girls they could “hook up” with before graduating.</p>

<p>...Labrie was a prefect at St. Paul’s, a position given to seniors to be “student leaders.” In that capacity, Labrie underwent training in statutory rape and consensual sex, according to the affidavit.

[/quote]

It is particularly troubling that a prefect was engaged in this activity. They're supposed to be looking after the younger students.</p>

<p>My biggest issue is understanding how this can be “tradition”! What the heck are they teaching there…</p>

<p>You know what’s troubling? The lack of traction this incident has gotten on the forum despite it being previously reported by others…</p>

<p>What is there to say? The school and the police are handling it. I have nothing to add. I don’t for a minute believe that St. Paul’s or any BS condones or fosters this type of behavior, so I read these things, shake my head, and move on.</p>

<p>I agree with SevenDad. Whether you call it the “senior salute” or something else, problematic gender/power relations and sexuality are an issue at any boarding school. Based on what I hear from my DD it sounds to me like it’s a more pervasive and damaging issue than drinking and drugs at BS.</p>

<p>@london203, I can assure you that this is not a “tradition” condoned or taught by the school. I’ve been very satisfied with everything that the school has done to handle this, to the degree that I know about it. They’ve been communicating with the parents, instituted clear new consequences, and are bringing in outside expertise to address the underlying cultural issues. The police have expressed 100% satisfaction with the school’s cooperation.</p>

<p>A lot of people have been hurt here, especially the girl involved. I really hope that there’s a silver lining to this in the form of healthier and better decisions and relationships.</p>

<p>I would hope that Harvard had access to some pretty damaging evidence before making this decision.</p>

<p>^^ You’re kidding, right? Please tell me you’re kidding.</p>

<p>I would note that the article actually only says that he is no longer enrolled as a student at Harvard, and not that Harvard rescinded his offer of admission. In fact, Harvard has (not surprisingly) declined to comment on why he is no longer enrolled as a student. I’d be pretty shocked if Harvard had in fact revoked his admission until he’s been convicted of (or pleads guilty to) a crime. Much more likely that they just “suggested” to him that he defer matriculation until his legal status is resolved.</p>

<p>

Not at all. I do understand that the number of false rape accusations is very, very low. I also know that there is no “reasonable doubt” standard in a situation like this. But you still have to look closely at the facts before you go mucking up people’s lives.</p>

<p>I hope soxmom’s theory is right.</p>

<p>I’ve been following the situation closely - not because I’m creepy, but because my DD goes to the school. Nobody will know if the withdrawal from Harvard was voluntary or not. However, there is a lot of evidence (even evidence published in the press) that there was inappropriate, nonconsensual contact with an underage girl, which is criminal by definition. I don’t see how he could be matriculating at Harvard under these circumstances - they (and other colleges) are in enough hot water about how they handle such accusations when both parties are of age.</p>

<p>After the alleged crime itself, the most troubling aspect of this is the “Senior Salute” tradition, if this in fact exists. If If it does and if the SPS administration was aware of it, why was this allowed? If the admin was not aware of it, why not? This quote from the Crimson article cannot be of much comfort to SPS parents:</p>

<p>" St. Paul’s Rector Michael G. Hirschfeld wrote in an email to parents and students. ‘I am determined to learn if this alleged violation is an aberration or represents a broader issue that our many School-wide conversations about a healthy community have not sufficiently addressed.’ "</p>

<p>Amazing…What was this young man thinking? That this was appropriate?? Goodness</p>

<p>SPS has the current problem but let’s not kid ourselves that this is an outlier. We are in an aggressive, goal oriented age; “character building” went out with daily chapel. Single sex schools have external controls, simply by denying access to the opposite sex on a daily basis. The move to coed schools might have made sense from an economic basis but as far as I can see, none have never really resolved the inherent conflicts of coeducational boarding. I often wonder if Choate/Rosemary Hall had it right at the start: brother/sister schools, sharing resources but separate.</p>

<br>

<br>

<p>Largely agree with the above sentence. However, some few schools have more than a vestige of character building.</p>

<p>I do not believe that this is a pervasive problem at all BS’s. The schools I am familiar with go out of their way to educate the upperclassmen on what their responsibilities are with regard to underclassmen. They are also given a very blatant explanation of the laws surrounding “intimate encounters” (as they so well put it), with girls under a certain age. The fact that such a thing as a “senior salute” even exists is hard to fathom. Where are the leaders of that class? The class president? Student Council Members? Housemasters? No responsible adult knew about this? Hard to believe if you are familiar with the internal structures of BS’s. </p>

<p>@Harvest,

This guy was one of the leaders! He was a prefect. Hence the sheepdog reference. </p>

<p>@Harvest. St. Paul’s goes out of their way to educate all students about the laws surrounding “intimate encounters”,and to suggest anything different is wrong. Also, it is very naive to think that this is not pervasive at other boarding schools as well as any other school. Look up “Harkness Club” in the Urban Dictionary. </p>

<p>Sorry to hear that such a “tradition” exists. This type of attitude is part of the subculture of boys/men that objectifies women and views them as potential sexual conquests, not as human beings. Unfortunately, this attitude is prevalent on many university campuses. The environment of groups of boys/men together, such as many college fraternities inspire frequently generates such “contests”, with the girls/women being used and abused. I can imagine that the young lady felt flattered that the popular prefect wanted to see her, and that she didn’t know that she was just part of some contest to show male dominance. Whether he raped her or not, the fact is that she was abused mentally and used as sex object. He didn’t care about her as a person. This is the great failing in all the so called character building.</p>

<p>Unfortunately, I don’t believe that any school, despite much vaunted honor codes, close scrutiny of boarding students, etc can eradicate this horrible attitude. Parents should keep on the schools to have education, etc., but the education isn’t enough. This awful viewpoint is pervasive in our American culture. </p>

<p>Gmt, just because the school picked him to be a prefect didn’t mean he was a good guy. He was just good at working the system. More frequently than your realize, those picked by administrators of schools to be on the Honor board and similar vaunted positions are the worst offenders. One of the things that is pointed out in the books on the “mean girls” culture is that the worst offenders are often the darlings of the school administrators. This is true for the boys as well. Some people know how to be charming, get others to follow them (whether for good or for evil), and will be elected to almost anything. Isn’t that true in “real life” as well?</p>

<p>Zoe728, not naive at all - thats my experience with the schools I know. It is an unspoken rule that there are limits to the extent to which upperclassmen socialize with underclassmen, and especially freshman girls. Your reference to “harkness club” is irrelevant as it has absolutely nothing to do with the issue involved in this particular case. Some BS students are sexually active, just like high school students anywhere. </p>

<p>And I did not “suggest” anything, the story speaks for itself.</p>

<p>@anothermom2, I agree with you in the main (though I seriously doubt GMT is unaware of your points in the last para). Per my point previously, many schools went coed eagerly but failed to make basic adjustments. That meant, in many cases, girls simply had to live with that objectifying, predatory boys/men mentality you describe rather than requiring such boys to make adjustments themselves. “Hooking up” is the result. Sex in American high schools and colleges is often described in sporting or game terms. This mind set is pervasive and popular “culture” reinforces this relentlessly. I have observed boarding school administrations taking a decidedly dualistic approach to this subject. The catalogue and student manuals outline proper behavior but in day-to-day practice many administrators throw up their hands, shrug and intervene as little as possible - until incidents such as this one arise (as they infrequently but regularly do) and crisis management kicks in. </p>

<p>Does any of this indicate that all of the 300+ US boarding schools are facing such problems? No it does not, but we aren’t seeing much progress in this area as decades of coeducational boarding roll by. Personally, I would like to see schools that I know spend as much time and effort emphasizing kindness, honor and common decency as they do building new science centers and dining halls.</p>