An independent investigation commissioned by Michigan's Interlochen Center for the Arts has documented roughly 70 firsthand accounts of sexual misconduct involving 47 adults affiliated with the prestigious school, exposing allegations stretching from the 1950s into the 2010s and identifying convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein among those accused.
The 97-page review, released by Interlochen this week, followed 180 interviews and describes allegations involving faculty members, administrators and others connected with an institution that has educated generations of young musicians, dancers, actors and other artists. Many of the accounts involve students who were minors at the time.
The investigation reaches across roughly seven decades of Interlochen's history. Former students were identified in the report as Alum 1, Alum 2 and so forth, allowing them to describe alleged misconduct without publicly disclosing their identities.
The inquiry began with a single complaint in the summer of 2024. An alumna who attended Interlochen during the 1970s approached the school's board with allegations concerning a longtime faculty member and administrator, prompting the institution to commission an outside examination of its past.
Investigators initially focused on conduct during the 1960s and 1970s but expanded their work after Interlochen invited other alumni with experiences or knowledge of abuse to come forward. What began as an investigation into one former employee ultimately developed into a broader accounting of alleged misconduct across generations.
Seven former students accused the longtime employee whose case prompted the investigation of sexual misconduct during the 1960s and 1970s. He had worked at Interlochen for more than five decades and died in 2021.
The report also provides new detail about Epstein's connection to the school. He first attended Interlochen as a teenage summer camper in 1967, decades before becoming a wealthy financier and, eventually, one of the world's most notorious convicted sex offenders.
Two alumni described sexual encounters with Epstein after meeting him through connections to Interlochen, according to the report. The allegations concern conduct occurring more than five years before Epstein's first criminal conviction.
One former student told investigators that Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell invited her to Epstein's lodge, where she alleged Epstein engaged in sexual conduct with her. The account adds another dimension to Epstein's history with Interlochen, where his later financial contributions had once made him a prominent donor.
Epstein funded a scholarship lodge on the campus that carried his name until 2019, when Interlochen removed it. The building itself was demolished last month, shortly before publication of the investigation.
The report also covers allegations extending into the 21st century. Ballet instructor Thomas Clower, who worked at Interlochen from 2003 to 2005, was convicted of criminal sexual conduct in 2005 after the school reported him to law enforcement and dismissed him.
For many other former students described in the investigation, however, the possibility of criminal accountability is substantially more complicated. Interlochen forwarded the names of accused individuals to the Grand Traverse County prosecutor and sheriff, but many allegations are decades old and may fall outside Michigan's applicable statutes of limitations.
Roughly one-third of the 47 accused adults are also dead, according to the supplied reporting, eliminating the possibility of criminal prosecution against those individuals.
Michigan attorney Matthew Curtis, who represents multiple people alleging abuse connected with Interlochen, has argued that existing state law leaves some survivors without a path through the courts. The age of the allegations, combined with the deaths of alleged perpetrators, has made the release of the institutional investigation itself one of the few remaining forms of public accounting available to some former students.
One survivor, Paul Busch, has publicly attached his name to his experience. Busch said he was 16 when he was abused by a ballet instructor he admired while studying far from his parents and pursuing his ambition of becoming a professional dancer.
Busch said it took him 21 years to speak openly about what happened. At the time, he even minimized the experience when questioned by a counselor, an example of the fear, dependence and denial that can complicate disclosure by young people who experience sexual abuse.
Interlochen says the institution operating today is "fundamentally different" from the one portrayed across much of the report. The school has pointed to measures including background checks and mandatory-reporting training and has established a fund to help affected alumni pay for counseling.
