The telegraph
Private schools say anonymous reports of sexual abuse put them in a ‘difficult’ position
Private schools said anonymous testimonies about sexual harassment put them in a “difficult” position as they asked alumni to provide names and dates. The President of the Council of Independent Schools (ISC) urged students to appear in person and report incidents to their schools so that their allegations can be properly investigated. Speaking for the first time since a number of major institutions have been accused of not dealing with complaints about the “rape culture”, Barnaby Lenon said schools are taking these allegations “very seriously”. His comments were made at the time the Westminster School for £ 41,000 per year became the last to be involved in the dispute. In an online document called “The Westminster Testimonies”, former and current students reported how they were “improperly touched”, touched and sexually assaulted by their male colleagues. Mr. Lenon told The Telegraph that “it is difficult to deal with anonymous statements, many of which relate to incidents that occurred outside of school at social events.” He added: “Schools encourage individuals who have been abused to report problems personally to the school so that they can be investigated.” His comments came after some of the country’s top private schools – including Eton College, St Paul’s Boys’ School and Latymer Upper School – were identified in unverified accounts posted online, for the purpose of telling stories of students who were abused sexually assaulted by current and former students. The testimonials were published by Everyone’s Invited, a website and social media that allows students and alumni to share their experiences of sexual assault and harassment. Last week, he was inundated by people apparently inspired to perform after the death of Sarah Everard. In addition to publishing their testimonies on social media, alumni of prestigious schools have also started to publish open letters online that detail their experiences. King’s College School in Wimbledon, south London, was accused of being a “focus of sex violence” in an open letter to its principal. The movement has also spread to public schools, with Langley Grammar Sc hool in Berkshire accused in an open letter of being a “deeply sexist institution”, where “sexist comments and shame on sluts” were a daily occurrence for female students. Now, several schools implicated in the allegations have asked students to present and report names and dates of incidents so that they can take action. One principal said that anonymous online testimonies put schools in an “impossible” position. “There is a mix of comments from past and current students, with no indication of which one, so you have no indication of any that happened 10 years ago or 10 weeks ago,” he said. “Since everything is anonymous, there is no way to verify its validity. This is the problem when it is in the public domain, it is seen as true and it is very difficult for schools to come back to this with a reasoned argument. “An Eton College spokesman said that” specific allegations “are always taken extremely seriously, adding that students were encouraged to report concerns they have about anything that appeared online so that appropriate support could be put in place. Latymer Upper School also said it is taking the allegations seriously, adding that they “encouraged anyone affected to come and speak to us directly”. They pledged to handle the disclosures “with sensitivity”, adding that they have already reported the incidents described online to the police and local authorities. A spokesman for King’s said the testimonies had “distressing readings” and that any disclosures reported to the school would be taken “very seriously”. Sally-Anne Huang, the first teacher at St Paul’s Boys’ School, said earlier that she was willing to forward b Oys to the police, but did not report allegations about her school because no name had been provided. Dr. Gary Savage, Head Master of Westminster School, said he is taking this “extremely seriously”, adding that “he will fully investigate any specific allegations”, adding that he has already alerted the local authority. He said that the behaviors described in the open letter “have no place in our school”. John Constable, principal at Langley Grammar School, said it was “unacceptable” for students to feel insecure. “Some of the situations described are recognizable and were investigated at the time, although there may be different perspectives that are not represented,” he said. “Others were not informed to us.”