VIRGINIA
Leesburg Today
Danielle Nadler
Posted on Feb 20, 2014
The quiet campus of Patrick Henry College has drawn national attention this week after an investigative article by magazine The New Republic detailed allegations that the college administration brushed aside reports of sexual assault from several former students.
The article details the stories of three former female students who say they were sexually assaulted—and another who was sexually harassed—by PHC students and were encouraged, or in some cases out-right told, by deans not to report the incidents to the police.
The article quotes an email from one student who said she was assaulted by a classmate, in the end, “nothing came of it. The school consistently prioritizes keeping its spot-free image (necessary to maintain its far-right, hyper evangelical donor base happy), over the well being of its students.”
Allegations of sexual assault from one former Patrick Henry student quoted in the article, Claire Smith—who said a classmate assaulted her in early May 2010—align with a report filed with the Purcellville Police Department that same week.
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