{"id":423245,"date":"2022-03-29T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-03-29T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/elite-thacher-school-is-hit-again-with-sexual-abuse-allegations\/"},"modified":"2022-03-29T14:00:00","modified_gmt":"2022-03-29T11:00:00","slug":"elite-thacher-school-is-hit-again-with-sexual-abuse-allegations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/elite-thacher-school-is-hit-again-with-sexual-abuse-allegations\/","title":{"rendered":"#Elite Thacher school is hit again with sexual abuse allegations"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_85 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a407401b7fb7\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a407401b7fb7\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/elite-thacher-school-is-hit-again-with-sexual-abuse-allegations\/#%E2%80%9CElite_Thacher_school_is_hit_again_with_sexual_abuse_allegations%E2%80%9D\" >&#8220;Elite Thacher school is hit again with sexual abuse allegations&#8221;<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h1><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"%E2%80%9CElite_Thacher_school_is_hit_again_with_sexual_abuse_allegations%E2%80%9D\"><\/span>&#8220;Elite Thacher school is hit again with sexual abuse allegations&#8221;<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h1>\n<div>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module alignleft\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>The Thacher School in Ojai, Calif., is an exclusive educational enclave with a $68,000 annual bill and a roster of illustrious alums, from politicians to CEOs to Hollywood types, including Howard Hughes, Noah Wyle and Joely Richardson. <\/p>\n<p>More recently the institution, which was founded in 1889, has been making headlines for its high-profile #MeToo reckoning. <\/p>\n<p>In June, LA law firm Munger, Tolles &amp; Olson released an independent 91-page report revealing decades of sexual misconduct involving faculty and students. The findings divided alumni, some of whom questioned the independence of the report and felt a former head of school was scapegoated while the current administration was not held to the same scrutiny. In light of the criticism, a second report was commissioned in July and repeatedly delayed. It never arrived.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, a blockbuster story from <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">news<\/a> site <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/lawandcrime.com\/exclusive\/a-california-boarding-school-besieged-by-sexual-misconduct-allegations-faces-a-scandal-that-hits-even-closer-to-home\/\">Law &amp; Crime landed late last month<\/a>. It outlines claims that the current administration covered up an alleged May 2021 assault in which one student, a relative of school founder Sherman Day Thacher, was reportedly accused of choking another student while having sex. It\u2019s unclear when higher ups learned of the alleged incident but the student reportedly went home before the end of the school year. And according to unnamed sources in the explosive piece, the administration allegedly <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>roached the student in August telling him to leave the school and, in exchange, it would not report the incident to investigators at MTO, nor would his college recommendations from Thacher be affected.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"767\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/thethacherschool-1.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1024\" alt=\"The elite Thacher School in Ojai, California costs $65,000 a year.\" class=\"wp-image-21612634\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/thethacherschool-1.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1536 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/thethacherschool-1.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/thethacherschool-1.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=512 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>The elite Thacher School in Ojai, California, costs $67,940 a year.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Credit: thethacherschool\/Instagr<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The alleged assault was not reported to authorities until December 2021. <\/p>\n<p>This latest development has thrown Thacher into damage-control mode, with the head of school taking a leave of absence \u2014 and coming forward as a victim of sexual misconduct by a faculty member when she was a student at the school, the events of which were documented in the initial MTO report.<\/p>\n<p>In a March 17 letter, head of school Blossom Pidduck, who attended Thacher in the early \u201990s, announced her leave.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201c<\/em>In my own process of healing, I have come to understand that trauma of this kind feeds off shame and secrecy. Protecting this secret ultimately only protects those who have caused the harm,\u201d she wrote, adding it has had a \u201ctremendous impact\u201d on her and her family\u2019s well-being. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn order to be able to continue to do the work of supporting and caring for others, I need to take some time for my own healing.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-nypost-inline-default is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/blossom_at_thacher.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=300\" alt=\"Head of school Blossom Pidduck has taken a leave of absence \" class=\"wp-image-21612647\" width=\"356\" height=\"360\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/blossom_at_thacher.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=712 712w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/blossom_at_thacher.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=534 534w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/blossom_at_thacher.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=356 356w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/blossom_at_thacher.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=178 178w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/blossom_at_thacher.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 356px) 100vw, 356px\"\/><figcaption>Head of school Blossom Pidduck has taken a leave of absence. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>Chair of the school\u2019s board, Dan Yih, called her letter the \u201cultimate demonstration of strength and leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But some in the Thacher community are questioning the timing of her statement, adding that it only raises more concern about culpability of both the administration and the board of trustees. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf Ms. Pidduck is so attuned\u00a0to survivors, why didn\u2019t she, her administration and the board report in a timely manner \u2014 as required by law \u2014 the May sexual misconduct choking event to MTO or the county sheriff?,\u201d Thacher alum and former longtime trustee and audit committee chair Philip Pillsbury told The Post. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cFrom the Law &amp; Crime story, it appears she and her administration engaged in a major cover-up of student-on-student wrongdoing using the threat of revealing it in a second MTO report to cause the perpetrating student to \u2018voluntarily\u2019 withdraw from the school. How is this protecting the victim? How does such a cover-up deter perpetrators? Why didn\u2019t Blossom Pidduck as Thacher\u2019s head report this awful misconduct im<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Social Media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">media<\/a>tely to law enforcement, as both federal and California mandatory reporting of such abuse require?\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Under California state law, educators are legally mandated to report such instances to authorities. Those who fail to do so can be charged with a misdemeanor that can carry a sentence of six months in jail.<\/p>\n<p>The Post asked the Ventura County Sheriff\u2019s Department if it was probing the issue.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"749\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/Noah-Wyle-Michael-Mulligan.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1024\" alt=\"Actor Noah Wyle is one of the school's famous alums and is pictured with the former head of school, Michael Mulligan. Wyle is not involved with the allegations.\" class=\"wp-image-21612672\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/Noah-Wyle-Michael-Mulligan.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1536 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/Noah-Wyle-Michael-Mulligan.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/Noah-Wyle-Michael-Mulligan.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=512 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>Actor Noah Wyle is one of the school\u2019s famous alums and is pictured with a former head of school, Michael Mulligan. Wyle is not involved with the allegations.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>In a voicemail, Detective Sgt. Ryan Clark of the VCSD said that \u201cthe entire <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/watch-movies-tv-seriess\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"8\" title=\"Watch Movies &amp; TV Series\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">series<\/a> of cases is currently under investigation\u201d and possible failure to report the incident \u201cis one question we are looking at.\u201d He added that there is a joint investigation with the Ventura County District Attorney\u2019s Office, and \u201cwe will be covering that issue.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>(After the Law &amp; Crime story ran, the publication added a statement from Clark who disputed the characterization of the alleged 2021 choking incident, saying the victim \u201cwas not engaged in the sexual activity alluded to in this report when the assault occurred.\u201d)<\/p>\n<p>Brent\u00a0Nibecker, the supervising deputy district attorney, told The Post he wasn\u2019t able to comment. <\/p>\n<p>Pillsbury added: \u201cDo we, as\u00a0a school community, now have a head of school and members of her administration potentially guilty themselves of criminal misconduct by not reporting until last December this specific May incident? These questions speak to her responsibility\u00a0as head of school, not to her survivorship.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Pidduck\u2019s leave is an about-face from mid-February, when she wrote in an alumni newsletter that she was excited to welcome former students back for a June reunion, even citing the MTO report. But days later, the Law &amp; Crime piece was published, and sources told The Post that she left campus within 72 hours. <\/p>\n<p>When The Post asked Thacher about Pidduck\u2019s leave and if any members of the administration had retained counsel in light of the Law &amp; Crime report, the school released her letter, adding that they will not make any additional statements.<\/p>\n<p>In recent years, elite boarding schools have been forced to grapple with unsavory parts of their history. Ritzy Northeast institutions such as Choate Rosemary Hall and St. Paul\u2019s in New Hampshire have undergone similar auditing for sexual abuse on campus. <\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-nypost-inline-default is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/Michael-Mulligan.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=300\" alt=\"Former head of school, Michael Mulligan's name was removed from the dining hall\" class=\"wp-image-21612726\" width=\"364\" height=\"370\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/Michael-Mulligan.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=728 728w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/Michael-Mulligan.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=546 546w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/Michael-Mulligan.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=364 364w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/Michael-Mulligan.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=182 182w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/Michael-Mulligan.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 364px) 100vw, 364px\"\/><figcaption>Michael Mulligan\u2019s name was removed from the dining hall. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>The MTO report did not implicate Michael Mulligan \u2014 whose tenure at Thacher lasted over three decades, until he retired in 2018, and included serving as head of school for 25 years \u2014 in having engaged in any sexual misconduct. But it concluded that he wasn\u2019t vigilant enough when it came to rooting out inappropriate actors. <\/p>\n<p>In one case detailed in the MTO report, a teacher was accused of repeatedly raping a 16-year-old girl in the 1980s.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDuring junior year he also became much more violent, often hitting me, often throwing me across a room so hard that I ended up on the other side of the bed unconscious,\u201d the victim said.<\/p>\n<p>The report did note that Mulligan confronted, fired and reported abusers, but that he also expressed regret over his handling of some situations.<\/p>\n<p>The school removed his name from the dining hall, which led to blowback from prominent alumni and boosters, including actor Jonathan Tucker and philanthropist Bill Oberndorf. In September, <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thedailybeast.com\/donors-revolt-over-so-called-sex-abuse-scapegoating-at-elite-thacher-school-in-california\">the Daily Beast reported<\/a> that they and other donors were withholding funds and support in light of Thacher\u2019s actions against Mulligan. His defenders said Mulligan and his wife devoted their lives to the boarding school and its students and were behind its rise to national prominence. They added that the school denied him access to his records during the investigation.<\/p>\n<p>In a statement to the outlet, the Oberndorf Foundation wrote that while it \u201copposes sexual abuse and harassment of any kind, we also, as a matter of social justice, believe in due process. After a careful review of recent events at Thacher, we believe Michael Mulligan has been denied this most fundamental right.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Now, this latest bombshell has kicked up another cloud of mistrust and discord among the once-close-knit community. Pillsbury, whose father and son also attended Thacher, called it \u201cheartbreaking.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt Thacher, you live by the tenets of \u2018honor, fairness, kindness and truth.\u2019 This board and the administration aren\u2019t living up to the creed. They won\u2019t talk about it. They won\u2019t respond to our\u00a0questions,\u201d he said, adding, \u201cThat is not the Thacher way.\u201d\n                        <\/p><\/div>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more News articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/news\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2022\/03\/29\/elite-thacher-school-is-hit-again-with-sexual-abuse-allegations\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Elite Thacher school is hit again with sexual abuse allegations&#8221; The Thacher School in Ojai, Calif., is an exclusive educational enclave with a $68,000 annual bill and a roster of illustrious alums, from politicians to CEOs to Hollywood types, including Howard Hughes, Noah Wyle and Joely Richardson. More recently the institution, which was founded in&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":423246,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/thacher-school-scandal-copy.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=1024","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[72567,127277,83616,70308,25406],"class_list":["post-423245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-metoo","tag-3-29-22","tag-boarding-school","tag-private-schools","tag-sexual-misconduct"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=423245"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423245\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/423246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=423245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=423245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=423245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}