A New Hampshire lawmaker says politics may have poisoned her request for a state investigation of Phillips Exeter Academy’s hush-up of sexual misconduct scandals.
Republican State Rep. Katherine Prudhomme-O’Brien said that she considered it a long shot when she requested the state get involved in the boarding school’s response to allegations of sexual misconduct by its teachers given its political connotations. The scandal has proven a public embarrassment for Gov. Maggie Hassan, whose husband Tom apologized for failing to disclose the transgressions of former history teacher and Hassan campaign supporter Rick Schubart.
Hassan’s Attorney General John Foster denied the request on Monday, saying that he did not see an "active role for my office."
"It was not politically realistic to expect a different response," she told the Washington Free Beacon. "It saddens and angers me to me to consider that may be the case but the important thing to me is that we tried. If a sexual assault victim is watching how we have acted on this issue, they will know that we have made our best effort to be certain this situation would not be minimized and swept under the rug."
Neither Foster nor the attorney general’s office returned requests for comment.
Prudhomme-O’Brien said that a state investigation could have helped victims of sexual assault—herself included—cope with the aftermath. Eighteen other lawmakers joined her formal request for an investigation in April, and she said their effort sent the right message to survivors.
"Achieving the kind of justice sexual abuse survivors deserve is not always as possible as it should be but knowing that others cared about it can be one piece of the long journey towards healing," she said. "Whoever and wherever they are, I hope they heard us."
Prudhomme-O’Brien asked Foster to look into the school’s handling of accusations of sexual relationships between teachers and students after the Boston Globe revealed in March that the boarding school did not inform the community, parents, or alumni about Schubart’s admitted misconduct when he was forced to retire in 2011.
Then-principal Tom Hassan allowed Schubart to remain an emeritus instructor until 2015 when he admitted to carrying on a sexual relationship with a second student. The request said that the revelations "raised several questions about transparency, accountability, and safety at the school."
"As a survivor of sexual assault, I respectfully request that your office immediately begin an investigation into the Phillips Exeter administration’s handling of these sexual assault cases," Prudhomme-O’Brien said in an April 20 letter. "The … facts strongly suggest that Professor Schubart not only received special treatment from school administrators, but that his sexual misconduct may have been deliberately covered-up."
The school fielded additional accusations of sexual misconduct in April and fired one teacher in the wake of the scandal. All accusations have been turned over to the Exeter Police Department, though no charges are expected since they date back to the 1970s and 1980s, beyond the statute of limitations. Foster told Prudhomme-O’Brien in a letter that the Exeter police department and county attorney’s office have "the resources necessary to do the job."
"I’m confident that office will take appropriate actions should there be grounds for a prosecution," he said.