NEW HAMPSHIRE
Boston Globe
By Jonathan Saltzman GLOBE STAFF JULY 20, 2016
Leaders of Phillips Exeter Academy acknowledged Tuesday that the school mishandled a recent accusation of sexual misconduct in which a male student was asked — as an “act of penance” — to bake bread for a classmate he allegedly sexually assaulted.
The school also announced the creation of a new “director for student well-being” to handle future sexual misconduct complaints.
The admission and the announcement of the new position came the day after the elite boarding school received a petition with more than 1,000 signatures of alumni who vowed to withhold donations until the school cracked down on sexual abuse.
“Exeter’s handling of a recent allegation of sexual assault, reported in the Boston Globe, is a disturbing reminder that we still have much work to do,’’ said the letter to alumni from the president of the trustees and the principal of the New Hampshire school.
“We know many of you are profoundly disappointed,’’ it went on. “We are as well. Without question, the situation could and should have been handled in a better way.’’ …
Michael Whitfield Jones, a 1975 graduate who received the letter on Tuesday, was delighted that the school acknowledged it mishandled the recent sexual assault report by Michaella Henry, 17, who last October told administrators she was groped by fellow student, Chukwudi “Chudi’’ Ikpeazu, a star athlete. Henry alleged that Ikpeazu had put his hands under her shirt and grabbed her backside as she repeatedly said “no.’’
Instead of going to the police, Henry accepted the school minister’s proposal that the young man bake bread for her weekly, as an act of “penance,” as the Globe’s Spotlight Team reported last week. Henry eventually went to police herself after months of frustration with the school’s response.
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