FINIS ORIGINE PENDET

A shadow over Phillips Exeter Academy

A string of recent events motivate me to launch this blog. I feel I've been holding onto some secrets about my alma mater, Phillips Exeter Academy. Time to make these public.

This isn't the first time I've done the unthinkable - broken the schoolboy's code of silence, sort of a white-shoe version of the Mafia's omertà. I first crossed the line almost three years ago, not long after the sex abuse scandal there first broke. What was so secret? I was a whistleblower when I returned to serve on the faculty in the early 1990's.

The sad reality is that most of the incidents recently revealed were known - or should have been known - decades earlier. Back-in-the-day, I made a lot of noise, making sure that everyone from the President of the Trustees on down had no plausible deniability.  Still, I kept it in-house.

I've certainly second-guessed myself on that decision. Those were different times. I remember trying to tell one of my classmates, someone I count as a lifelong friend, about what had happened. But the loyalty to the school is fierce. As I started to detail the events, she held out a hand.

"I cannot listen to any of this," she told me. Then, fast-forward 20+ years as the scandal unfolded. She asked "why didn't you tell me?"

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More beautiful than California

This renewed need for public disclosure followed deliberation as to whether to attend my 40th Exeter reunion, now some two weeks past. Aside from the fact that I live in Cape Town, South Africa, I didn't want to possibly spoil the mood of the festivities. This unsettled business would be out-of-place to share with my classmates. If I went, I'd have to deal with the institution's current leadership - unpleasant pleasantries.

Still, I wanted to be present despite my absence. At first, I thought I might pen an opinion piece for the local newspaper, spinning out an idea I'd tossed around with an editor there.

I'd written two pieces for him earlier, the first soon after I'd first spoken out about past abuses publicly. That was published during the school's "leadership weekend" in 2016, the annual weekend gathering of the most committed alumni volunteers and parents. The resounding silence that followed was deafening. As one classmate had advised me when I told him my plans to attend the event, "dress warmly for the cold shoulder you'll receive."

Then, my follow-up came two years later, also timed for the "leadership weekend." This was weeks after the school released its long-awaited "independent investigation" into campus abuses. Where the Phillips Exeter report fell short was also greeted with a shattering silence. For a community that prides itself on spirited discussion, such a loss for words with a controversial topic is telling. As Cicero observes, "cum tacent, clamant."

The idea for this new piece was to put the world of the Academy in the context of larger cultural happenings. I had a working title:  Phillips Exeter: More MAGA or #MeToo? It was a provocative concept. Despite the progressive sensibilities that many in the Exeter community pride themselves on, traditional hierarchy and oppression still rule.

But as I prepared my draft, breaking news interupted my reunion timeline for publication. The alumni sexual assault survivor group, Phillips Exeter Alumni for Truth and Healing (PATH), was preparing to break off its relationship with the school. This was significant. It had been officially recognized by the school, and had been the locus of significant dialogue. But the relationship had soured after the release of the "independent investigation." They called for a do-over, with over 400 alumni signing on to the petition.

The school responded - albeit after dragging it out as long as possible. This five-month delay was fully in keeping with the "independent investigation" itself. While these typically take 10 months to complete, this ran nearly three times that!  For comparison, the Mueller Investigation was over in a total of 674 days - the Academy's, 861. What finally arrived as an answer to the petition was the last straw - I needed to hold back for their announcement of a breakdown in the relationship with the school. It came out last Wednesday.

Next, the utterly unexpected and unimaginable -

Over the past three years, the Academy's leadership has been consistent in one claim:  don't look back, look forward! However shoddy their treatment of alumni affected by past sexual assaults on campus, they were doing a sterling job with their current counterparts. If nothing else, we should all take solace in that.

Apparently, the students didn't get the memo.

They staged a campus protest about sexual assault response on the 9th. This engaged better than a quarter of the entire student population, with as many as 300 participating. Check the terrific reporting by The Exonian, the student newspaper, in this well-sourced 3,000-word story. See additional reporting here, which reveals a particularly troubling statistic. Apparently, the school's new post-scandal agreement with the local police has forced them to refer some 64 reports of campus troubles over the last 20 months. Do the math - that's about one a week while school has been in session.

Er, um...that's at Phillips Exeter Academy!!!

As good as the reporting is, nothing compares with the actual audio of the 2+ hours of exchanges between the school Principal and students. The protestors provided this audio selection that highlights their frustration with the school's leadership. For those who prefer the raw truth, you can find the complete, unedited recording of the encounter here.

Next up: an introduction to the new Academy Principal, Bill Rawson. How is it he happened to end up in that role following the departure of his two predecessors under a cloud of scandal? Finis Origine Pendet, indeed!

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