Emma Willard settles case with ’98 victim
A FORMER Emma Willard soccer player who says she was violently raped in 1998 by her coach — and then forced to withdraw by administrators when she told them about the assault — has reached a settlement with the Troy private school.
The terms of the settlement between Emma Willard and Kat Sullivan, are confidential, according to a joint statement issued by the school and Sullivan’s attorney Roderick MacLeish.
“I now have some personal resolution with regards to my time at Emma Willard School,” said Sullivan, who has struggled with post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental health issues since the assault. “My PTSD will be something I need to continue processing in therapy. As I learn more about the prevalence of sexual assault in schools, I hope to be an advocate for larger societal and legislative changes that are in urgent need in the state of New York and around the country.”
As the Daily News first reported in June, Sullivan said she was bound, gagged and raped by her coach during the winter of 1998, just months before she was scheduled to graduate. When she spoke to administrators about the assault, thenheadmistress Robin Robertson gave her two options: withdrawal or expulsion. Sullivan said she was put on a bus to New Orleans — where she was homeless for two months. Her parents were later told that she had dropped out of school.
Sullivan said she decided to tell her story to the Daily News earlier this summer because she wants to make sure no other student goes through what she says she endured at Emma Willard, the all-girls school founded in 1814 to empower and educate young women. She has become an anti-rape activist.
“As I learn more about the prevalence of sexual assault in schools, I hope to be an advocate for larger societal and legislative changes,” she said.
More than 1,200 former students have joined a Facebook group created to support Sullivan and combat sexual assault at Emma Willard after Sullivan shared her story with the Daily News. The school announced last month that it has appointed a task force to review its sexual misconduct policies.
“It is important to our board and the school that we support Kat in her journey forward,” said Elizabeth LeFort, the chairwoman of the Emma Willard School Board of Trustees. “Today’s resolution is a foundation for the healing of our community. We commit to building on the lessons learned to engender a culture of safety and openness for all Emma girls.”