Michael O'Connor
The problem is that we don't know anything. Deerfield has just thrown Mr. Hindle's name out there, and that's about it.
No accuser has been named. (And, before seeing Dan Wroblkeski's post identifying him, I was left to deduce that the person making the charge would now be between 37 and 51 years old, and would have let more that two decades pass before bringing up this subject.) Even given the idea of repressed memory, one has to think that this alumnus would not now be so psychologically vulnerable as to require annonymity.
And what of the odd wording, that the former student "has confided in us"? And what does "sexual contact" mean, exactly? The current Deerfield administration has started this, with their very public declaration. I think they owe everyone a much more complete, and very swift, explanation. What are we to think, with so little to go on?
As a gay man myself, I'm aware that there are many issues here. But it's difficult to make an informed opinion with virtually no information.
For myself, I've often said that, despite all the fictional renderings of all-boys prep schools as hotbeds of sexual activity, my year at Deerfield was just about the straightest of my life. Maybe because nearly every minute of my time was scheduled, or because I was thoroughly exhausted from intense swim team practices. Or maybe, given all the anti-gay societal pressure at the time, I just wasn't ready to deal with the idea.
I wasn't "out" at Deerfied, or even out to myself yet, though of course when one looks back on one's life with hindsight, you can piece together another, different, narrative than the one on the surface.
For instance, even though my "gaydar" wasn't yet fully developed, I recognized that Mr. Hindle was gay, as were at least two other prominent faculty members. It seemed obvious, but no one ever mentioned it. Not students, not faculty, not parents. No one. At least in my small sphere. And so there was no discussion of the topic.
Looking back, I wonder what it must have been like for those men, living in a "Don't-Ask-Don't-Tell-To-The-Nth-Degree" kind of world. A place where they couldn't acknowledge, in even the slightest way, who they really were. Whereas any other master could say, during a lecture, "When I was motoring through Tuscany last summer with my wife.....", these guys couldn't make even the slightest reference to the real texture of their lives. And the three I'm thinking about were all "confirmed bachelors." I'm not even going near the subject of teachers who should have been gay, but married women to preserve their position and their "respectability." The situation must have taken a great toll on all those men.
Things are different today, thankfully. I think I read that there is even a gay couple -- two guys --- who teach at Deerfield and preside over a dorm. So what we're talking about is the past. But a past whose discussion can stir up discomfort, even today.
One more reason I'm concerned with this issue: During my senior year of public high school, the best teacher I had was fired and essentially run out of town for being gay. (It wasn't the official reason given, but was definitely the underlying cause.) That episode taught me two lessons: 1) Don't go into teaching; and 2) Get the hell out of town. Fast.
Anyway, that's my view of the context of those times.
As for the current situation, the accusation against Mr. Hindle --- whom I liked and enjoyed, as many others have said they did--- I just don't know. We haven't been given enough information to form an opinion. And I think the current Administration had better give us some information very soon. It really isn't fair to toss Mr. Hindle's name into the public arena, before you have anything definite to say.
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