Report: Notre Dame Ignored Priest's Abusive Scheme

An outside review finds Notre Dame failed to adequately act on years of complaints about a priest accused of abusing students. A new 25-page report by law firm Debevoise & Plimpton, commissioned by the university, alleges Rev. Thomas King, a former Zahm Hall rector, ran a coercive "weighing scheme" targeting male students in the 1980s and '90s, per the New York Times. King allegedly ordered students to strip in a locker room so he could weigh them, with some reporting sexual touching at Notre Dame and later at nearby Holy Cross College, where he worked for about a decade beginning in 1997. At least 15 "weighing" incidents were documented across the two schools.

Investigators say multiple people reported concerns to staff at the time, but some employees either didn't recall the complaints or failed to recognize the conduct as sexual. The report also faults Notre Dame for rehiring another accused priest, Rev. David Porterfield, in the 1980s after a complaint forced his resignation. The university has now referred the King allegations to Indiana authorities. Notre Dame president Rev. Robert A. Dowd said the school is "deeply disturbed," announced counseling support for victims, and promised new procedures for sharing misconduct reports, per the student-run Observer newspaper.