The following public statement clarifying their work was made by the AGC ad hoc Committee on Faculty Sexual Misconduct in response to Fr. Boroughs’ decision to decline their request for an independent investigator. The statement was received by the Spire electronically on April 5.
Statement by ad hoc Committee on Faculty Sexual Misconduct
April 5, 2019
We are deeply disappointed with the president’s decision to refuse to appoint an independent investigator to lead a review of the issues that are currently confronting our campus. In his remarks to the faculty assembly on April 2 and in a subsequent published statement, the president suggested that he was unwilling to engage an additional counsel to conduct such an investigation.
Guided by the Mission of the College, the members of the ad hoc committee on faculty sexual misconduct have worked for several weeks to identify a way to address the questions in our mandate in a professional and careful way. While we would have preferred to engage a separate counsel to guide us in our work, we willingly met with both Elizabeth Small, General Counsel at the College, and Daryl Lapp, outside counsel from Locke Lord, who had been hired by the College to conduct a review of the Sexual Misconduct Policy and the Title IX process. We were not permitted to meet with Phil Catanzano, outside counsel from Holland and Knight. Attorneys Small and Lapp proposed a framework for completing our work that we did not think would be productive. After careful deliberation, we concluded that an independent investigation is the best way for us to complete our mandate and for trust to be restored within the community. We detailed that recommendation in a letter we presented to Father Boroughs on March 26. We received the answer to our request at the faculty assembly meeting on April 2.
We are encouraged that many of our colleagues in the faculty assembly support our recommendation to conduct an independent investigation and we will take the resolution of the faculty assembly to the Board of Trustees as soon as we are able.
We reaffirm our desire to work with all members of the Holy Cross community to seek resolution of these matters.
(sent electronically)
Vickie Langohr (chair), Nancy Baldiga, Miles Cahill, Stephanie Reents, and Gareth Roberts
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