INQUISITR.COM / News & Politics

Rape Investigation At Obama Girls School, Sidwell Friends In DC

By Amy Feinstein
Published on: 06:26 PST, Mar 19, 2016

A rape case is currently rocking the Sidwell Friends School in Northwest Washington DC, and it’s making big news largely because it is the school that President Obama’s daughters, Sasha and Malia, currently attend. Sidwell Friends, an elite Quaker School, is investigating and cooperating with the police in an investigation into the report of a rape by a student of a student.

According to The Inquisitr, this is not the first high profile rape case at a school with a political connection. St. Paul’s School in New Hampshire, the former school of John Kerry, had its own rape case last year of a student by a student that made national headlines. Owen Labrie, a Harvard-bound senior was accused of raping a younger student in order to score points in a contest where seniors try to have sex with as many underclassmen as possible before graduating.

The Washington Post is reporting that a female student made a claim to the school and police that a male student raped her on the campus of Sidwell Friends, which is the school that Sasha and Malia Obama attend. The Obama daughters are obviously at no risk, as they have a secret service detail, but questions are being raised about the climate for other students at Sidwell Friends.

The incident occurred on Wednesday at Sidwell Friends, which is located on Wisconsin Avenue in the District. A police spokesman is saying that the victim is in her upper teens, and the victim and the accused had a prior sexual relationship.

Ellis Turner, the associate head of Sidwell Friends School said he would not be making any comment to the press during the investigation.

“It is the longstanding policy of Sidwell Friends School to cooperate fully with any law enforcement investigation. It is also our policy not to comment on such investigations.”

The Daily Beast is saying that the victim, who attends the Sidwell Friends School, which is also attended by the Obama daughters, was forced to have oral, anal, and vaginal sex on campus. A Sidwell Friends teacher, under promise of anonymity said that this is the worst thing that has ever happened on campus.

The victim reported that the crime happened on Wednesday between the hours of 2:30 and 11 p.m. Both the accuser and accused are students at Sidwell Friends, and both are minors.

The Daily Beast also reported that this is not the first sexual assault scandal at Sidwell Friends School. In 2010, Robert Peterson, a longtime teacher (30 years) at Sidwell Friends, was fired when it was reported that he had fondled a 15-year-old male student.

The school, best known as the school where Sasha and Malia Obama attend, acted promptly in that case, and Peterson pled guilty of one charge of sexual molestation of a minor, and is now on the Maryland Sex Offenders Registry.

CBS News says that the victim claims that the accused is her ex boyfriend, and both are current students at Sidwell Friends School in Washington, DC. It is still not clear where on the campus of Sidwell Friends the assault took place, but that the event is getting more than normal press because it is the school that the children of President Barack Obama attend. Sidwell Friends, with a tuition of $37k, is described by many as “the Harvard” of Washington DC prep schools.

As with all Friends schools, Sidwell is founded as a place which operates on a foundation of peace.

Do you think that so little information is being shared on this assault because Sidwell Friends is the school that Sasha and Malia Obama attend?

[Photo by Chip Somodevilia/Getty Images]

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