An independent report released last month claimed 70 allegations of sexual abuse by nearly 50 adults employed or affiliated with the Interlochen Center for the Arts from the 1950s to the 2010s. The prestigious arts boarding school and summer camp is known for launching the careers of performers like Josh Groban, Norah Jones, Chappell Roan, Felicity Huffman and Da’Vine Joy Randolph.
The report includes sexual abuse by infamous sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and his accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell. A previous report by NPR mentioned that Epstein and Maxwell had targeted two teenage students from the campus. However, it looks like cases of sexual abuse in the school go far beyond the disgraced financier.
The report revealed the conditions in the school that helped facilitate the abuse. It said that in many cases, adults were able to have one-on-one interactions with students, while the children at the school had limited communication with their families and were vulnerable due to age, sexual identity and lack of experience. Some of the students also mentioned being scared to report the incidents.
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NPR cited the case of Paul Busch, who was 16 years old when he was sexually abused by his ballet teacher at the arts school. “A lot of my desire was to prove that I was enough,” said Busch, who decided to share his story to the public after spending 21 years reckoning with what happened to him. “That I was good enough and that I was worthy of love.” He said that “this was the perfect condition” for someone to prey on him.
In a letter to the community released alongside the report, Interlochen said that today it is “fundamentally different from the institution described in this report.” In a statement to NPR, the school described safety measures it has put in place to protect students and a network of resources, including a team of school counselors, social workers and a psychologist.
Busch, however, said this response is not enough. “They get to say, ‘Case closed,'” he said. “That is completely unacceptable because — guess what? — my life is still open.”
Interlochen, in its letter to the community, named three former staff members and one former trustee who have been accused of sexual misconduct. The only one of them still alive, Thomas Clower, had pleaded guilty to abusing Busch.
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Several other former students had reported abuse, with one saying that during a party at Interlochen in the 1960s, a faculty member “made ‘all kinds of innuendoes’ towards her” and later pinned her against a wall and French kissed her. Another former student who attended Interlochen in the 1970s said that a staff member initiated an unwanted sexual relationship with her after she wrote him a flattering poem.
Interviewees described certain adults at Interlochen as “creepy” into the 2000s. One student from that time period said an arts faculty member “narrowed in on her,” getting close to her emotionally and saying that she was “really special and was mature beyond her years,” the report said.
Epstein’s name is mentioned 52 times in the report. Most individuals accused in the report have not been named, either to protect survivors’ privacy or because doing so may interfere with ongoing or future law enforcement investigations, according to officials. Individuals who were named include Clower, faculty members and administrators Byron Hanson and John “Jack” Hood, and former trustee Charlie McWhorter.