Houston Chronicle

Elite prep school tackles ‘hookup’ culture amid rape

Unsanction­ed ‘traditions,’ practices of sexual conquest being confronted

- By Rik Stevens

CONCORD, N.H. — A New Hampshire prep school that has educated some of the nation’s elite for more than a century and a half is confrontin­g a campus practice of sexual conquest after a senior was charged with raping a 15-year-old freshman girl.

In a series of letters over the past year to students, parents and alumni, St. Paul’s School Rector Michael Hirschfeld candidly acknowledg­ed the sexual assault charges and vowed to re-examine campus culture to see how a practice known as “Senior Salute” had been allowed to develop.

“While the allegation and the people it involves will not be a topic of conversati­on at the school, the broader issues it raises — the use of social media to perpetuate unhealthy relationsh­ips, the ‘hookup’ culture and unsanction­ed student ‘traditions’ — will be,” Hirschfeld wrote on Aug. 7, 2014, a month after Owen Labrie was charged with rape and other felonies.

Labrie is on trial in Concord, home to the Episcopal prep school founded in 1856.

New trend, old problem

Set on a leafy, shaded campus on the hem of New Hampshire’s capital city, St. Paul’s looks more college than high school. Red brick buildings with soaring arches and columns dot rolling hills and athletic fields are emerald in mid-August heat. The school has seen future Nobel winners pass through its doors, along with Pulitzer Prize winners, senators, internatio­nal business executives, bishops and diplomats.

Prosecutor­s say Labrie, now 19, of Tunbridge, Vermont, enticed the girl to the roof of an academic building last year as part of “Senior Salute,” in which seniors try to have sex with underclass­man. Labrie has pleaded not guilty and says the two had consensual sexual contact, but not intercours­e, which would be a crime given their age difference.

Katherine Tarbox, who graduated from St. Paul’s in 2000, said the “Senior Salute” is a new phenomenon — after speaking with recent graduates, she believes it arose within the past two to three years — that underscore­s an old problem. She says it shows that the well-educated and privileged don’t discuss sexual crimes and don’t understand the consequenc­es of their behavior.

Tarbox, who wrote a book about her own sexual assault at the hands of a man she met online, has been a national advocate for sexual-violence prevention. She told the Associated Press that she reached out to Hirschfeld a year ago to recommend the school hire an independen­t investigat­or.

Scrutiny lead to change?

“It was clear to me the school didn’t have a good hands-on grasp on the scope of the problem,” she said, adding that she thinks the intense current scrutiny of the school will lead to change.

Students don’t start returning to the campus until after Labor Day.

Shamus Khan, a 1996 St. Paul’s graduate, wrote a book about the school detailing some of the traditions spawned by its hierarchy.

He doesn’t mention “Senior Salute” but writes of “newb nights,” when older girls order new girls to talk about their sexual activity, sometimes with boys invited to listen. He also wrote of how sex was used as currency at the school.

“If a desirable older boy is interested in a new girl, this means a lot for her status and the status of her dorm,” Khan wrote.

School officials declined requests for interviews, but in Hirschfeld’s letters, he outlines actions the school took.

After Labrie’s arrest, school officials said they would expel anyone participat­ing “in any game, ‘tradition,’ or practice of sexual solicitati­on or sexual conquest under any name” and those possessing keys or access cards they aren’t entitled to. Labrie is said to have used a key that was shared among seniors to get to restricted areas.

The school, which first admitted girls in 1971, also brought in experts to discuss topics including substance abuse, harassment and building healthy relationsh­ips. It also teaches students how to recognize and interrupt behaviors to prevent sexual violence.

 ?? Geoff Forester / Concord Monitor via Associated Press ?? Former St. Paul’s student Owen Labrie confers with his lawyer before his second day of trial in Concord, N.H. Labrie is accused of raping a freshman as part of the “Senior Salute,” a practice of sexual conquest.
Geoff Forester / Concord Monitor via Associated Press Former St. Paul’s student Owen Labrie confers with his lawyer before his second day of trial in Concord, N.H. Labrie is accused of raping a freshman as part of the “Senior Salute,” a practice of sexual conquest.

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