Aidan Romain, 18, says he endured sexual, physical and racist abuse at famed California private school
An 18-year-old Black water polo player filed a lawsuit against one of Los Angeles’s most elite private schools last week, alleging he was sexually assaulted and racially harassed by teammates for years while school staff failed to intervene.
Aidan Romain is accusing Harvard-Westlake school in Studio City; its president, Richard Commons; the head of the boys’ water polo program, Jack Grover; and former teammate Lucca van der Woude of allowing a “culture of harassment” within the elite program. The lawsuit was filed on 27 February in Los Angeles superior court.
The allegations strike at the heart of one of southern California’s most prominent private schools and a highly competitive high school water polo program. In the lawsuit, Romain and his family argue that school officials ignored or minimized reports of abuse to protect the team and one of its star players: Van der Woude.
“Despite repeated, direct disclosures of sexual assault, the school failed to report the abuse, failed to remove the perpetrator, and instead retaliated against the victim,” reads the complaint.
