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UNC School of the Arts settles lawsuit over decades of sexual abuse

From the late 1960s until at least 2012, students as young as 12 were abused, bullied and exploited by staff.

WINSTON-SALEM, NC — The University of North Carolina’s School of the Arts has settled a lawsuit with dozens of alumni who accused former officials of allowing faculty to sexually abuse students for nearly five decades.

The school has agreed to pay $12.5 million over four years to the 65 victims, WRAL reports. The UNC System will cover $10 million of the settlement costs and the school will cover the remaining $2.5 million.

According to the 2021 lawsuit, from the late 1960s through at least 2012, students as young as 12 were abused, harassed and exploited during their time at the school’s boarding facility. School management and teaching staff “arbitrarily turned away” when teachers invited students to their homes and served them alcohol. The lawsuit also says there was “subtle preparation of young female dancers for subsequent sexual abuse and exploitation.”

Attorney Bobby Jenkins, who represents the survivors, said the employees named in the lawsuit no longer work for the school or have died.

“The only way to curb and curb child sexual abuse is to hold the perpetrators and the institutions that support them accountable,” he told ABC 11. “Because if you hold child welfare agencies accountable, then they will start taking more care. They will have better policies and procedures in place that increase their awareness of what to look for and what the warning signs are.”

Many of the victims did not realize the abuse until after the statute of limitations had expired. However, in 2019, North Carolina passed the SAFE Child Act, giving anyone who was sexually abused as a child a two-year deadline to file a lawsuit.

“While this resolution cannot heal the wounds of the past, it is my deepest hope that it will make the survivors who have come forward feel our commitment to listen to them, acknowledge them and do right by them,” UNCSA Chancellor Brian Cole wrote in a statement. “This was without a doubt a dark time for UNCSA as we grappled with reports of sexual abuse, and we appreciate the courage these alumni mustered to share their experiences. It has always been our intention to do everything in our power to reconcile with the past in a way that is consistent with our values ​​and with compassion and empathy for survivors.”

An external donor will decide how the funds will be distributed among the victims. They will receive the first payment in early September.

Opened in 1963, the UNC School of the Arts is one of the country’s premier art schools. The school awards high school diplomas as well as bachelor’s and master’s degrees.

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