New Lawsuit Calls Elite School Haven for Sexual Predators

A lawsuit has been filed amid new allegations against St. Paul’s School, an elite New Hampshire boarding school facing questions about its handling of both old and more recent allegations of sexual misconduct. Investigators hired by the school named 13 former faculty and staff against whom “substantiated” claims of sexual abuse and misconduct have been made, and added more names in a follow-up. The New Hampshire attorney general is investigating. The most recent suit calls St. Paul’s School a “Haven for Sexual Predators.” A plaintiff accuses Gerry E. Studds, a former U.S. representative from Massachusetts who taught at St. Paul’s, of inappropriate conduct. Studds died in 2006. He served in the House from 1973 to 1997, and was the first openly gay member of Congress. In 1983, he was censured for having a relationship with a 17-year-old congressional page.

The same plaintiff says he experienced inappropriate conversations or touching by three other faculty members, and claims that a member of the administration was aware of at least some misconduct, and suggested that he could only receive his diploma if he kept quiet.