An elite New England boarding school is currently under fire for it’s—erm—unconventional punishment of a student who was accused of sexual assault. Jezebel reports that 17-year-old Michaella Henry told officials at Phillips Exeter Academy that she was groped by Chukwudi “Chudi” Ikpeazu, a fellow student who she says put his hands under her clothes and groped her even after she repeatedly told him to stop. This happened in the basement of the campus church. Worse still, instead of contacting the authorities, the academy decided to sentence Ikpeazu to “penance,” which in this case meant baking bread for Henry. A strange punishment for sexual assault? We can probably all agree on that.
Ikpeazu was told to personally bring this bread to Henry for part of the school year, Jezebel reports, forcing her to meet up with him over and over again. As you can imagine, this was not easy on Henry. The bizarre arrangement left her feeling anxious and stressed out, the The Boston Globe reports, all while Ikpeazu continued all his school activities and leadership positions, including track captain and senior class leader.
A few days after reporting her situation to the school, Henry learned from friend that she had gone though an almost indentical situation with Ikpeazu, the Globe reports. The girls then met with A.J. Cosgrove, dean of residential life, and Melissa Mischke, dean of students, to report what had happened. Near the end of the conversation, Cosgrove told the students: “The good news is you don’t have to report this to the police because there was no penetration,” Henry told the Globe.
After the arrest, both Henry and Ikpeazu had to sign a no-contact order that was provided by the school. If either violated it, they could be expelled from campus. Henry was afraid to leave her room in case she ran into Ikpeazu, the Globe reports.
One night, Henry was having a panic attack about this when Rosanna Salcedo, dean of multicultural affairs, showed up in her dorm and brought her to her office.
She said it was irrational for her to feel she was unsafe on campus, Henry told the Globe, and that she needed to stop telling people she had been assaulted because it was unconfirmed.
Henry was confused, and told the dean that Ikpeazu had already admitted to the situation in front of two faculty members, the Globe reports. Salcedo said that the situation was still not confirmed because Henry could not determine on her own if an assault took place.
Understandably, Henry had doubts about the school’s ability and desire to protect them, the Globe reports, and it was then that she finally went to the police and reported her situation for a second time. Ikpeazu was arrested and will be arraigned in August on misdemeanor sexual assault charges.
Another extremely troubling detail of this case is that in the weeks and months after the October encounter, law enforcement knew nothing of it. It was never reported to the police by school authorities. They didn’t even call Henry’s mother, according to the Globe.
“I was beside myself,” Andrea Henry told the Globe, “But I didn’t want Exeter to retaliate against her…You don’t know what to do. My child was in their care. I was worried about her life.”
Thankfully, police are now investigating Exeter for its handling of Henry’s case, and for other instances of sexual misconduct by both students and staff, according to the Globe.