Kavanaugh's prep school culture nurtures high achievers, fosters darker impulses, grads say

BETHESDA, Md. – The prep schools that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford attended in the 1980s are nestled in leafy suburbs such as this one minutes from the White House and Capitol, where affluence is matched by expectations for the children who grow up here.

The schools belong to a small constellation of pricey, private institutions that draw students from the prosperous enclaves in and around Washington – communities such as Bethesda, Chevy Chase and Potomac – whose residents identify themselves by the private swim clubs to which they belong. Overcrowding of the Whole Foods parking lot on a main Bethesda artery, River Road, is a perennial source of irritation and debate.

But Georgetown Prep, Kavanaugh’s private, all-boys school, also fostered much darker impulses that have persisted for decades. Students who attended the elite private school describe a world of rowdy parties, where a teen boy’s cool quotient was established by access to alcohol and drugs and his prowess with girls and sports.

Darker impulses
Kavanaugh himself has alluded to the clubby, slightly naughty atmosphere at Georgetown Prep.

“But fortunately, we had a good saying that we've held firm to, to this day, as the dean was reminding me before the talk, which is, 'What happens at Georgetown Prep, stays at Georgetown Prep,' " Kavanaugh said in a 2015 speech at Catholic University's Columbus School of Law, drawing a few laughs. "That's been a good thing for all of us, I think."

Ford has accused Kavanaugh of a drunken sexual assault when both were teens. He has denied the allegations and is scheduled to address them Monday before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Ford's lawyer Debra Katz on Thursday said Ford would be willing to testify next week if she and the senators can agree to "terms that are fair and which ensure her safety." Katz said Ford has faced death threats since going public with her allegation.

Ford's accusation has electrified what has become a predictable nomination process of sharp questions from senators of the minority party and fulsome praise from the majority. Classmates of Kavanaugh, a federal appeals court judge, attest to his high moral character; colleagues of Ford, a professor in California, vouch for her.

The allegations of sexual misconduct in prep school culture come as no surprise to Eric Ruyak, a Georgetown Prep student in the 2000s.

“What she’s describing, I saw at parties in 2003 and ’04,” Ruyak said Thursday. “Boys trying to take advantage of girls who were drunk.”

Ruyak himself alleged sexual abuse at Georgetown Prep.

For him, the attacker was a priest whose misconduct was later confirmed by school officials. Ruyak has also engaged in a social media slugfest with Mark Judge, a classmate of Kavanaugh's who has been accused of watching and laughing as Kavanaugh held down Ford and tried to rip her clothes off at a party while they were all in high school.

Judge has authored the memoirs, "Wasted: Tales of a GenX Drunk" and "God and Man at Georgetown Prep: How I Became a Catholic Despite 20 Years of Catholic Schooling."

In a letter this week to the top senators on the Judiciary Committee, Judge said he had "no memory" of the alleged incident and said he never saw Kavanaugh "act in the manner" described by Ford.

Judge's lawyer declined further comment to USA TODAY.

Ruyak, 32, of Los Angeles, said the all-male environment and the wealthy background of most students bred a sense of entitlement among some. It was commonplace, he said, to hear students boast in explicit terms about sexual conquests and for some teachers to allow the puerile banter, if not condone it.

"It’s predominantly white, very homogeneous," Ruyak said. "There’s a tremendous amount of wealth, no women, and, quite frankly, male teachers making lewd jokes. I feel badly. I know plenty of wonderful guys who went to Prep.

"When I went to Northwestern (University), I saw then how malignant that environment really is.”

Leslie Morgan Steiner, an author and domestic abuse survivor, graduated in 1983 from Maret, another Washington prep school.

Drinking, drug use and partying were common at the time, she said. So, too, was sexual assault, she said, although many of the women kept it secret for decades.

Steiner said one survivor wrote her an email that still haunts her. The woman said she’s never “been able to have sex since then without seeing and viscerally feeling her rapist. It’s a lifetime of trauma she’s gone through.”

But she doesn't think Washington is different from other areas of similar privilege.

“I don’t think it was any different from any place, and I think it’s exactly the same today," Steiner said. "The thing that’s different is that women are more open about it and parents are more supportive.”

Elizabeth Mitchell, who went to one of the area's elite prep schools years after Steiner, said she avoided parties hosted by boys "like the plague, because I was afraid of them."

More: Frustrated Republicans offer extension to Kavanaugh accuser in standoff over testimony

Also: Christine Blasey Ford reiterates she's willing to testify on Kavanaugh allegations if given 'fair' conditions

Mitchell is a 1995 graduate of Georgetown Visitation, an all-girls Catholic school whose students often interacted with Georgetown Prep's.

"There was definitely a heavy-drinking, country club-entitled, future-kings idea that I think prevailed," she said. "You had this culture where mom and dad weren't home, and you had these massive mansions."

In a letter posted Friday on Georgetown Prep's website, school president the Rev. James Van Dyke said it has been "tough to see the caricature that we have been painted with by some: that we are somehow elitist, privileged, uncaring."

"That we are elite, we cannot deny... but we are not entitled," he wrote.

Van Dyke also said it was time to talk with students "honestly and even bluntly about what respect for others, especially respect for women and other marginalized people means in very practical terms – in actions and in words."

The entrance to the Holton-Arms School in Bethesda, Md.
The entrance to the Holton-Arms School in Bethesda, Md. (Photo: Getty Images)

Pressure mounts
Those supporting Ford include a number of people who never met her but knew of numerous instances at area schools where assaults happened.

Alexis Goldstein, who graduated from Holton-Arms in 1999, said she knows "many, many, many survivors.”

She was at a press conference Thursday on Capitol Hill where she and two other alumnae of the school presented New York Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and Hawaii Democratic Sen. Mazie Hirono with a letter signed by more than 1,000 Holton-Arms alumnae in support of Ford.

Sarah Burgess, a 2005 Holton-Arms graduate who was at the press conference, said she was "grateful" Ford came came forward.

"As we say in the letter, her experience is consistent with experiences we have heard and lived, and many of us are survivors ourselves," she said.

"Sexual assault needs to be taken seriously. And there is no way that you can vote on this before we have a thorough and independent investigation."

U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., holds a letter signed by Holton-Arms alumnae in support of Christine Blasey Ford, who has accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault at a high school party about 35 years ago, as left to right, Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, alumnae Kate Gold, Sarah Burgess and Alexis Goldstein look on Sept. 20, 2018, at Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.
U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., holds a letter signed by Holton-Arms alumnae in support of Christine Blasey Ford, who has accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault at a high school party about 35 years ago, as left to right, Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, alumnae Kate Gold, Sarah Burgess and Alexis Goldstein look on Sept. 20, 2018, at Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Getty Images)

A world divided
Sharply competing narratives have emerged in Washington’s tightly knit professional and social circles about what transpired three decades ago.

Dozens of women who knew Kavanaugh as a teen have rallied to his side, writing to senators on the Judiciary panel that Kavanaugh has “behaved honorably and treated women with respect."

A former schoolmate of Ford’s at Holton-Arms, Christina King Miranda, wrote a now-deleted Facebook post saying she had heard about the alleged assault by Kavanaugh at the time.

But she later told NPR that she doesn’t know whether it occurred. She’s also not giving any more interviews, writing on Facebook: “No more circus for me.”

In a tweet Thursday referring to Miranda’s NPR interview, conservative writer Virginia Hume said she also graduated from Holton in 1983, the same year as Kavanaugh.

“I have no recollection whatsoever of any discussion in or out of school of the alleged incident,” she wrote. “I knew Brett in high school and never heard anything untoward about him.”

Officials at Holton-Arms declined an interview request. But in a statement earlier this week, Holton-Arms head Susanna Jones supported Ford’s decision to come forward.

“As a school that empowers women to use their voices,” Jones wrote, “we are proud of this alumna for using hers.”

More: Chuck Grassley gives Christine Blasey Ford Friday deadline to RSVP for hearing on Kavanaugh allegation