Students have enjoyed an unusually warm week in October, even as trees across campus continue to change.
On October 1, The Boston Globe reported an incident of adult sexual misconduct against a Choate student in 1992. The article, titled “Educators accused of sexual misconduct often find new posts,” detailed how Mr. Bjorn Runquist, a former French teacher at Choate, had a sexual relationship with Cheyenne Hawk ’92, when Ms. Hawk was a senior and one of Mr. Runquist’s dorm advisees. The online version of the article included links to two letters that Mr. Runquist wrote to Ms. Hawk in October 1992.
Administrators at Choate had been aware of the relationship, though they learned of it after Ms. Hawk graduated. The School went on to prohibit Mr. Runquist from working alone with female students. At the end of the 1992-1993 school year, it forced Mr. Runquist to resign. He later went to work at Kent School.
“We apologize on behalf of Choate Rosemary Hall that such misconduct has occurred at our school,” Headmaster Dr. Alex Curtis and Chairman of the Board of Trustees Mr. Michael J. Carr ’76 wrote in a letter to the Choate community. “Choate Rosemary Hall is deeply saddened that this former teacher not only failed in his responsibility to guide, nurture, and protect but also caused harm to a student in his care.”
In a recent interview, Dr. Curtis said that the Board of Trustees could not be taking the matter more seriously. “It has been handled at the highest level of the School,” he said. He added that the Board understood its responsibility to recognize the significance of this case and all cases of sexual misconduct. Choate’s Trustees are actively ensuring that the School is a community in which its members are “looking out for each other, being held to the highest standards and doing the right thing.”
The Board recently hired an attorney with Covington & Burling LLP, Ms. Nancy Kestenbaum, to independently investigate all reports of adult sexual misconduct against Choate students, past or present. The School is also offering crisis counseling to alumni and training in sexual-assault prevention to faculty, through the country’s largest anti-sexual violence organization, the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network.
In an e-mail to the Boston Globe, Mr. Runquist said that his sexual relationship with Ms. Hawk “was an extremely painful, utterly isolated event in my life.”
As the Globe reported, Choate has acknowledged that an administrator wrote a letter recommending Mr. Runquist to Kent. Speaking to the Globe, Ms. Hawk called the letter “educational malpractice” and said that “Choate chose to protect the perpetrator instead of the victim — and set up the potential for there to be future victims.”
The Choate community, particularly the Class of ’92 and the Board of Trustees, has taken action to ensure the School addresses this painful history and moves to prevent similar incidents in the future. The first action came from the Class of ’92. Its members had conversations among themselves, and sent their ideas and requests for action in a letter to the School.
Mr. Carr said that the School had already been working on what the Class of ’92 requested. As he and Dr. Curtis wrote in a letter to the Choate community in response to the Globe’s article, these actions were “designed to investigate reports of sexual misconduct, support this alumna and any others that may have been affected, and ensure that the School’s policies and practices related to both preventing and addressing misconduct are clear, strong, and effective.”
In late August, in a letter to the Class of ‘92, Mr. Carr wrote that the Board’s main priority was Ms. Hawk, her privacy, and her protection. The School already was working closely with Ms. Hawk’s counsel, he wrote. Mr. Carr also wrote that “Alex Curtis and his team, together with the Trustees, are currently in the process of developing a comprehensive plan to address any incidents of possible abuse at our School and to ensure the ongoing safety of our students. Given the importance of these matters, we are absolutely committed to thoroughness and compassion as we develop the School’s plan.” The letter promised that the School would release its plan for action to the “broader Choate community.”
In their letter, Mr. Carr and Dr. Curtis announced that the School’s actions will expand on work that the School has been doing over the past three years in conjunction with the Board of Trustees, faculty, and students on “the topic of healthy boundaries in both student-student and adult-student relationships, reaffirming a zero tolerance policy for improper conduct by adult members of our community.” More specifically, they cited Choate’s Statement of Expectations and the “Cohesion and Culture” section of the 2013 Strategic Plan. These documents underscore “a culture defined by integrity, honor, ethical behavior, and good decision-making.”
In the recent interview, Dr. Curtis said that the School will continue to set the highest standards for appropriate behavior by members of its community. “We want to make sure we’re doing not just the minimum that’s okay or required by law,” he said, “but that we follow best practices.” He added, “I can’t say it enough times: student safety is paramount.”
