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Disgraced Teacher Linked to Hassan Purged From Board

World Affairs Council appointed teacher Schubart to board after Hassan hushed up sexual misconduct

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Maggie Hassan and husband Tom Hassan / AP
September 15, 2016

Richard Schubart, the disgraced prep school teacher whose sexual misconduct was hushed up by the husband of Democratic Senate candidate Maggie Hassan, was scrubbed from the website of an organization at the center of a dispute in the New Hampshire Senate race.

The World Affairs Council of New Hampshire invited Gov. Hassan and incumbent Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R.) to participate in a debate centered on foreign policy. Hassan declined to participate in the debate, earning criticism from the Republican incumbent.

Schubart sat on the board of the World Affairs Council of New Hampshire beginning in 2013, and he was listed as the board’s vice president in July 2015. The think tank partnered with the Turkish Cultural Center in New Hampshire for its third annual Friendship Dinner, where Hassan accepted the center’s Leadership Award.

Schubart’s name was scrubbed from the think tank’s website on March 29—the day before the Boston Globe revealed that Schubart was forced to retire from his teaching post at Phillips Exeter Academy in 2011 after admitting to then-principal Thomas Hassan that he had a sexual relationship with a student in the 1970s or 1980s.

The council and the center did not respond to requests for comment.

Thomas Hassan’s successor banned Schubart from campus in 2015 and terminated his emeritus status after he admitted to a second instance of sexual misconduct.

Thomas Hassan and the school’s failure to inform alumni or the community at large enabled Schubart to enjoy numerous appointments and accolades following his forced retirement in 2011, including his stint as board member at the World Affairs Council.

Maggie Hassan named Schubart and his wife to serve on her gubernatorial campaign committee during her 2012 run. She apologized for the appointment in the wake of the Globe’s revelations, but has denied knowing about his admission to the sexual misconduct allegations.

The Association of Boarding Schools gave Schubart an award in 2012 when Thomas Hassan sat on the association’s board. He did not inform them of the sexual misconduct. The association censured Hassan in April.

Current Phillips Exeter Principal Lisa MacFarlane characterized the Hassan administration’s response "insufficient" in a statement to the Globe. Thomas Hassan apologized for his failure to inform the public of the sexual misconduct allegations in the days after the Globe article was released.

The Hassan campaign and Schubart did not return requests for comment.