▼ EDITORIAL
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF:
Steven Anbury
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Thom Schoenbom
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Steven Asbury
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■ OUR OPINION: Thurston High
School principal dealt poorly with
the alleged sexual misconduct
of its faculty
1/
'elcome to Thurston >
High School, a school y'
with many claims to ■
fame, including this one
— it is now the sexual harassment capi- ^
tal of the Springfield School District. Over
the last few months, a wave of sexual viola
W«
1
BACKGROUND
■ 1993: Thurston wrestling coach Gary
Bowden is accused of being involved with a
sexual prank.
■ 1994: An assistant coach allegedly in
vites a Thurston student to his apartment,
kisses and fondles her.
■ April 1994: Anne Gunningham, the a
junior at Thurston High School, gives birth
to a former assistant volleyball coach’s
child. The two are later married in Septem
ber of 1996.
■ Sept. 30,1996: Warren Weiseth, the
Thurston volleyball coach, resigns in the
face of allegations from seven former
players who claim Weiseth sexually
harassed them.
■ Nov. 11,1997: Thurston Principal
Wayne Hill and Athletic Director Dale Bach
man are placed on administrative leave.
■ Jan 11,1997: The Springfield School
Board officially terminate Wayne Hill after
holding a hearing on his role in the previous
sexual incidents. They find him guilty of
failing to investigate and properly deal with
the sexual misconduct cases.
tions at Thurston
has been exposed,
leading to the termi
nation of Thurston
Principal Wayne
Hill. In the wake of
these allegations,
many people have
serious doubts as to
how safe Thurston
and other high
schools really are.
The problems at
Thurston High
School seem to go
way back. The first
problem came to
light when seven
Thurston volleyball
players brought
forth allegations that
head-coach Warren
Weiseth had been
sexually harassing
them and had even
offered to engage in
sexual activities
with one of the stu
dents. Weiseth re
signed, but the prob
lem didn’t go away.
Following the
vveisem resignation, sprmgtietd School
Superintendent Jamon Kent launched an
investigation, which revealed a long histo
ry of sexual abuse and harassment. Kent’s
investigation uncovered several previous
incidents, including an assistant volleyball
IRIS HUTCHINSON/Emerald
coach having
sex with and im
pregnating an underage student, an assis
tant wrestling coach charged with inviting
a student to his apartment and then asking
for oral sex and an alleged sexual prank in
volving the head wrestling coach. In each
case, Hill had dealt with the problem him
self instead of reporting the incident to the
proper authorities.
As the principal, Hill has certain respon
sibilities, not only to his students, but to
the public as well. On the one hand, Hill
did deal with each incident, but in many
cases his actions were far from sufficient.
In the case of the assistant wrestling coach,
Hill simply gave a stern warning and told
him to make sure there were no more inci
dents. By neglecting to look into the issue
further, Hill allowed more incidents of sex
ual abuse to go on — many unreported un
til recently.
Hill has repeatedly argued that he was
treated unfairly by the Springfield School
District, and that if he had time to prepare
more witnesses, he would have cleared his
name. Unfortunately for Hill, it is too late
for excuses. He has already allowed gross
violations of student-teacher relations to go
unchecked, and now is the time to pay up.
Hill was looking to protect the image of his
school by sweeping these issues under the
rug, and they ended up blowing up in his
face.
The relationship between a teacher or
coach and a student is one of trust. When
teachers and coaches use their power for
sexual purposes, that trust is shattered.
Parents send their children to school with
the belief that the school will protect them
from incidents like those that happened at
Thurston. Unfortunately, too often school
officials are more concerned with protect
ing the image of their institution than fu
ture victims of sexual misconduct. When
that happens, the safety of students is jeop
ardized and sexual violations are allowed
to continue.
Sexual misconduct is never okay, but
when it happens at a high school it is par
ticularly disturbing. The problems
Thurston is now dealing with may very
well be typical of other high schools as
well. We hope others will learn from Hill’s
mistakes and deal with the problem now. If
not, it is inevitable that more Thurston
scandals will arise and more Hills will end
up terminated.
This editorial represents the opinion of
the Emerald editorial board.
“Society is better
served by protect- 1
ing our cherished
right to free
speech, even at
thecostoftolerat- j
ing speech that is I
outrageous, of
fensive and de
meaning.”
Federal Judge !
Shira Schelndlln,
after refusing a \
ban on the sale of \
sexually explicit j
magazines on ■
military bases.
“i apologized, but 1
most people in the i
world would say
he’s acting.”
Chicago Bulls |
forward Dennis \
Rodman,
in reference to the \
cameraman he \
kicked in the groin \
during a game on \
Jan. 15.
“Dennis, I'm mak- ;
ing a plea to you:
Think about this
with your guys.
Other than just
bringing attention j
to yourself, what's !
good for the game |
of basketball?”
NBA Hall of
Famer
Julius Erving \
to Rodman on
“NBA on NBC" on \
Sunday. \
“I felt that (if lac- j
cepted the mon
ey) I would be los
ing the beauty
inside of me.”
Mexico City
cabby
Manuel Lublan, 1
after returning
$53,000 left by \
one of his passen- i
gers and refusing \
the reward.
President Clinton
After his inaugura
tion on Monday, the
prez is riding high.
Madeleine Albright
The first female secretary of
state was approved by the
Senate on Wednesday by a 99
0 margin.
Madonna
The newly-respected
actress won a Golden
Globe on Sunday for
her performance in
“Evita."
I
Lara Moore, Lyllye Parker,
Marshall Sauceda, Chris Silva
All four University employees re
ceived Martin Luther King Jr.
Awards on Wednesday “for
demonstrating moral courage,”
among other things.
Dennis Rodman
After the Bulls forward
kicked a cameraman,
even his coach, Phil
Jackson, said Rod
man’s time may be up.
Manny the
Hippie
David Letterman’s
former sidekick
was denied
early release from
an Ohio jail
on Tuesday.
Newt Gin
grich
The firm
House repri
mand of
$300,000 will
be a lot to pay
— even for a
politician.
Todd Bridges
The former
“Different
Strokes” star was
arrested again on
Sunday — for as
sault with a dead
ly weapon.
America Online
The on-line service
provider has
been plagued
by technical
prooiems ana user overload
since implementing a $19.95
monthly flat rate on Dec. 1.