Dozens of students at a prestigious Midwest boarding school and summer camp have alleged they were sexually abused by nearly 50 adults, which included staff members and notable names like Jeffrey Epstein, the school announced this week.
The Interlochen Center for the Arts released the results of an investigation “into historical reports of sexual abuse.”
Interlochen operates a summer camp and performing arts school that draws students from around the world. It hired a law firm in 2024 to investigate reports of sexual abuse by faculty and staff. Subsequently, it expanded the work to include information about Epstein, the 66-year-old financier who killed himself in jail in 2019.
“The information gathered during this investigation is, simply, devastating,” the 97-page report says, noting that alumni reported grooming, flirting, sexual touching and sex.
The allegations stem from incidents that took place from the 1950s through the 2010s and include everything from inappropriate comments to “violations of professional boundaries” to “egregious acts of sexual abuse or violence by adults employed by or affiliated with Interlochen.”
“It includes accounts of misconduct by Academy and Camp faculty, residential life staff and Camp counselors, visiting artists, and board members who abused their positions of power and authority,” a statement from the Michigan academy stated.
With the allegations in many cases spanning decades, at least a third of the accused members had already passed away before the investigation ended, documents showed. Just four of the accused were interviewed.
Interlochen said it has provided names of people accused of misconduct to Grand Traverse County authorities in northern Michigan to determine what steps, if any, might be taken. None are currently employed there.
The school released at least four names of those accused, saying they received multiple firsthand accounts of “repeated and pervasive conduct” and such information “would not impact any law enforcement action because the accused individuals are deceased.”
Those include Byron Hanson, a faculty member and administrator from 1960 through 2015 who triggered the school’s massive investigation after seven different reports of sexual misconduct; John “Jack” Hood, a faculty member and administrator from 1963 to 1979 who later served in seasonal roles until 2004 and had at least four allegations against him; and Charlie McWhorter, a former trustee from 1970 to 1999 with two reports against him of sexual misconduct and “multiple corroborating accounts by other alumni.”
At least one of those accused already has charges against him. Thomas Closer, a faculty member from 2003 to 2005, was convicted of criminal sexual conduct.
Also among those accused at the prestigious school was Jeffrey Epstein, a former student-turned-donor who allegedly had sexual contact with two alumni who alleged sexual contact by Epstein after meeting him at the school.
Epstein, who played the bassoon, was an Interlochen camper in 1967. He donated more than $400,000 to the school between 1990 and 2003. Two women told investigators that Epstein engaged in conduct of a sexual nature with them, one of them at the Interlochen lodge that bore his name.
Interlochen removed Epstein’s name from a lodge after he was convicted of sex offenses in Florida in 2008. The building, renamed the Green Lake Lodge, was recently demolished after the U.S. Justice Department released millions of pages about him that had been compiled over the years.
School officials noted that a majority of the allegations took place prior to 2000, though they encouraged any additional victims to come forward.
“On behalf of Interlochen, we are deeply sorry for the harm experienced by members of our community and extend our apologies to those impacted by abuse at Interlochen. We also want to say clearly: Interlochen will not tolerate predators or those who enable them. Our campus exists to protect, educate, and empower every student,” President Trey Devey and Chair of the Board Barrett Rolling said in a joint statement. “As an institution, and as leaders, we have a responsibility to respond to what we have learned with candor and to do everything we can to ensure students in our care are safe. We understand that no words may ever be sufficient. As we work toward repair through acknowledgment and accountability, please know that we are here, we care, and we are listening.”
The school said it plans to implement a series of changes in wake of the reported findings. That includes better reporting for sexual misconduct, offering counseling and other resources and more.
“The abuse described in the report is heartbreaking and is contrary to everything Interlochen stands for,” the statement read. “We cannot change the past, but we can be unequivocal in stating that this behavior has no place at the Interlochen we care for, not then, not now, and not in the future. We carry this responsibility forward with integrity and care, guided by an unwavering commitment to do what is right for our students, alumni, and families who make this place what it is.”
Interlochen today “is fundamentally different from the institution described in this report,” Davey and Rollins wrote.
This story originally appeared on NBCChicago.com.
