See "Making of a champion: Lynn Jennings' early running years in Harvard"
A Harvard legend, her name appears twice among the women record holders listed on the blue banner that hangs in the Bromfield gym: fastest school times ever for the 1-mile and 2-mile indoor track events, both recorded 45 years ago in 1978, the year she graduated.
But as she began her rise to regional and then national prominence, Lynn Jennings, a future Olympic medalist, harbored a secret: When she was still a girl of 15, John Babington, the coach who was teaching her how to be a champion, had become her abuser.
In a page one story this past Sunday, Feb. 19, the Boston Globe reported that beginning in 1976, Babington had sexually assaulted Jennings “multiple times over a period of months.” That molestation continued even as she rose to become, in the words of Globe reporter Bob Hohler, the “undisputed, best high school girls middle-distance runner in America.”
By 2017, according to the Globe, Jennings was finally ready to confront her abuser. She took her story to the paper, which wanted corroborating evidence, and then to the U.S. Olympic Committee, which referred her case to the U.S. Center for SafeSport, a nonprofit created by Congress to investigate reports of abuse. Investigators at the center told the Globe they had found that Babington, who has admitted his abuse, could have been liable under Massachusetts law for rape of a child had the time for prosecution not expired under the statute of limitations. In December, following a three-year investigation, the organization ruled him permanently ineligible to participate in any Olympic-related sports.
“I am unburdened now in ways I have never been since I was 15 years old,” Jennings told the Globe. “Telling what happened has freed me.”
A devil’s bargain
Jennings’ abuse occurred during her formative years as a runner (see “Evolution of a champion” at left). Tom Hill, who was Bromfield’s cross-country coach during her freshman, sophomore, and junior years, said in an interview this week that he was shocked by the Globe story. Hill knew Jennings was being coached by Babington at the Liberty Athletic Club, an organization dedicated to helping female athletes excel. “All I heard was positive, positive, positive,” he said. “She was becoming quite a runner, quite a good runner, and just getting better and better every year.” He added: “All I knew was that I didn’t know anything [about cross-country]. And they [Babington and Liberty] knew a whole lot more.”
For Jennings, it was a devil’s bargain. She remained with Babington for the rest of her high school career. She wanted to be a champion, she told the Globe. “I knew that if I said anything, it would have been taken away from me, the thing that I loved.”
The trauma of teenage sexual abuse can last a lifetime. For Jennings, it was the burden of misplaced shame. “It was humiliating to say somebody had done that to me and I hadn’t run away screaming,” she told the Globe. But passage of the Safe Sport Authorization Act and the establishment of the U.S. Center for SafeSport gave her a means to report Babington’s abuse, determine that she was not the only victim, and ultimately call him to account.
Since its founding, the SafeSport center’s efforts to prevent the sexual abuse of young athletes, especially minors, and to investigate and sanction offenders have rippled through every national governing sports organization, from USA Archery and USA Track and Field through USA Wrestling. State high school sports organizations, including the Massachusetts Interscholastic Sports Association, have also adopted SafeSport training and other educational programs.
Policies at Harvard's schools
The Harvard School Committee has detailed policies on sexual harassment in its online policy manual, under the School Committee tab on the psharvard.org website. Those policies apply to everyone associated with the district—employees, volunteers, and students. Employees, including coaches, must take the district’s annual training course.
The district’s Title IX coordinator, Jennifer Toth, is responsible for managing all sexual harassment complaints, whether they involve students or staff. The policy manual lays out the steps for investigating a complaint, along with timelines for the process. In the section on harassment by a staff member, the policy makes clear that the Title IX coordinator has authority to report any matter that involves criminal activity to the local police. The coordinator must also report any suspected child abuse to the Department of Children and Families.
New federal protections
The law that gave Jennings a powerful forum in which to present her complaint was the Safe Sport Authorization Act of 2017. Passed in the wake of a sex abuse scandal in Olympic gymnastics, the act created the U.S. Center for SafeSport, where Olympic athletes can directly report abuse. Jennings did so in 2019.
As a federal law, the Safe Sport Act directly applies to international and interstate competition. But it has local effects as well. The U.S. Center for SafeSport sets abuse-prevention policies for national sports governing bodies, including those that oversee most school sports. Each of those national governing bodies has its own Safe Sports program. According to a summary from Praesidium, a consulting company that provides abuse prevention training, the Safe Sport law “could also impact camps, public and private schools, collegiate sports, country clubs, community organizations, and sport facilities.”
Besides the national governing bodies, states have similar organizations. For example, the Massachusetts Youth Soccer Association has a Safe Soccer program. Under that program, all adult participants are required to report “any known or suspected child abuse,” including both physical and sexual abuse, to local law enforcement and the Department of Children and Families within 24 hours. The policy specifically prohibits local adults in a soccer program from doing their own investigations.
What do police recommend?
Harvard Police Detective Daniele Fortunato covers the issues of sexual harassment or abuse in the personal safety classes she teaches at Bromfield. She spoke highly of the school’s policies on sexual harassment, calling them “very structured and specific.”
“We go over the steps you can take,” she said, when a student feels harassed or threatened. For students, she said, she emphasizes the importance of confiding in a trusted adult, whether in school or elsewhere. She also explains the point when harassing conduct becomes a crime and justifies involving the police. “We always want to empower the victim,” Fortunato said, to reach a result the victim finds acceptable.
Most class discussion of harassment, Fortunato said, focuses on student-to-student conduct. She did not recall hearing any issues with adult-to-student harassment at Bromfield.
However, Fortunato pointed out, school is not the only place young people might encounter harassment. She noted that many students hold jobs either after school or in summer, and “people might be abusing their authority” in the work environment. She was surprised, she said, when girls in her class told her no one had ever gone over sexual harassment policies with them when they began a job.
Executing the policy: Results may vary
The Press spoke with five female athletes at Bromfield to ask whether their coaches had discussed school policy with regard to sexual abuse, harassment, or other sexual misconduct, and how to report it. The answer in all five cases was no. But while sexual misconduct may not have been discussed explicitly, students were aware of how to report misconduct in general. “There’s a hierarchy,” one said: first the coach, then the athletic director, then the principal, then the superintendent.
Every Bromfield student is encouraged to choose a “trusted adult” to whom they can turn in a difficult situation. At the beginning of the academic year, the school sends each student the names of more than 100 school staff members who have volunteered for that role. Each student is asked to choose one or more individuals with whom they would be comfortable sharing confidential information. “It could be a cafeteria worker, a custodian, a teacher, or a coach,” said School Superintendent Linda Dwight in a Wednesday interview. A person chosen is informed that the student selected them. “If some hardship or difficulty comes up in that student’s life, that adult can be brought in to help,” she said.
Four of the students interviewed by the Press reported having selected one or more trusted adults; one had not. And although school policy is to contact any student who has not named someone, that individual had not heard from anyone in the administration.
When it came to the question of who students would speak to first if they were a victim of sexual harassment, none chose their trusted adult. Two said they would seek advice from a close friend or teammate; a third said she’d talk to a parent.
Dwight said Wednesday that every coach hired by the school must attend the school’s annual training for district employees. A review of the slides used for this year’s sessions shows that sexual harassment is clearly defined, and the duty of staff to respond to any allegation of sexual misconduct, as required by Title IX, is explicitly stated.
The Press asked Athletic Director Dave Boisvert how school policies regarding sexual or other misconduct are communicated to coaches, but did not receive an answer in time for this week’s paper. In a phone conversation last week, he said that upon receiving a credible report he would likely suspend the accused coach and consult with Dwight on next steps. Boisvert said that during his tenure as athletic director he had received no complaints of sexual misconduct.
It appears that training of the coaches hired by the district varies from sport to sport. The Press was unable to determine by this week’s deadline whether all Bromfield varsity coaches had attended the 2022-23 employee training session that Dwight said is required. Boys head soccer coach Alex Horne wrote that he and his staff do take the annual training provided by SafeSport “to be better equipped to recognize and respond to these types of misconduct.” But he said he had not attended this year’s employee training. He did say, however, that coaches would follow the standard line of communication, reporting any suspicion of abuse to the athletic director and school principal who, in turn, would report it to the school superintendent.
Matt Lynde, current head coach of the girls cross-country team, this year’s Midland-Wachusett League champions, wrote that the cross-country coaches were not required to take SafeSport training. However, he said he was familiar with that program because he is required to complete it by his hometown youth recreational league, where he coaches softball. He added that as a Bromfield teacher he must attend Bromfield’s annual employee training.
“The story of Lynn Jennings is tragic and terrifying,” wrote Horne. But, he added, “As horrific as [the Globe] story is, it’s also about bravery and courage.” Horne, a Bromfield graduate himself, said he was already “a huge fan” of Jennings, “as is every Bromfield student who has seen the trophies and heard the stories of her achievements.” The Globe article, he said, increased his respect “for who she is as a person.”
Horne said, “Sharing a story of sexual abuse can be a powerful tool in raising awareness, promoting healing, and working toward a world where sexual violence is no longer tolerated or accepted.”
Student reporter Olivia Muller-Juez contributed to this story.
Editor’s note: The Press attempted to reach Lynn Jennings through her family for comment on this story, but was unsuccessful.
See "Making of a champion: Lynn Jennings' early running years in Harvard"
