The prestigious American Boychoir School in Princeton, N.J., and its former choirmaster from Canada -- Donald George Hanson -- are facing a raft of allegations of sexual abuse spanning more than 10 years.
John Hardwicke, 44, has filed a lawsuit in the New Jersey Superior Court alleging that he was the victim of sexual abuse by Mr. Hanson, friends of the choirmaster, a former headmaster and the school cook.
Mr. Hardwicke was 12 at the time and in Grade 8.
In his statement of claim Mr. Hardwicke says that two weeks after Mr. Hanson's arrival in the fall of 1970, he was sexually assaulted by Mr. Hanson while the teacher was visiting the boy's family.
While he attended the school, the claim says, Mr. Hardwicke was subject to "acts of extreme and horrific physical, emotional and sexual abuse, was raped, molested, sodomized, forced to engage in oral sexual acts, was urinated on."
He alleges that the assaults occurred almost daily, and sometimes several times a day between Oct. 1, 1970, and April, 1971, and that Mr. Hanson "brainwashed" the boy into believing he was homosexual.
The claim says the teacher occasionally brought others with him.
In its statement of defence, the school said Mr. Hanson and the other employees identified by Mr. Hardwicke "acted without the authority, permission or knowledge" of the school. It also said Mr. Hardwicke had "consented" to sex and accused him of "negligence," pointing out that if he had been abused he should have spoken up at the time.
Mr. Hardwicke said he was shocked by the school's defence.
"I can't even believe what they're saying is even a legal defence. I was seeing a therapist for a year trying to understand what had happened to me, that I did not consent to what had happened to me and that I wasn't negligent in not telling anyone about it. What the school has done is sheer meanness."
Donald Edwards, vice-president for institutional advancement at the school, said a senior member of the school was dismissed in 1982 after two students reported separately that he had engaged in inappropriate sexual contact with them.
Mr. Edwards confirmed that the fired instructor was Mr. Hanson.
"Indeed, we left him in Toronto" at the end of a choir tour in March of that year, he said.
Asked why the school would claim Mr. Hardwicke was negligent and consented to sex at the age of 12, Mr. Edwards replied: "We are simply not getting into trying the legal case in the press." Mr. Hanson was recommended to the school by John B. Shallenberger, a patron of boys choirs. Mr. Shallenberger has been convicted on several occasions of sexually abusing children.
Mr. Hanson's Toronto lawyer, Richard Howell, said he and his client have no comment.
Asked if he had responded to the lawsuit, Mr. Howell replied "No."
He also would not confirm whether Mr. Hanson, who lives in the hamlet of Bala, north of Toronto, is in the country.
This is not the first case in which the American Boychoir School has dealt with sexual abuse allegations involving Mr. Hanson. In a recent interview, Mona Samis of Highland Beach, Fla., said she is still very angry over the abuse her son suffered at the hands of the choirmaster back in 1980. Mrs. Samis sued the school and in 1989 settled for $875,000 for damages on the condition of silence. The file was unsealed recently by a New Jersey judge in Mr. Hardwicke's case.