Boston College Sexual Assault Allegations False: Investigation

NEWTON, MA — An investigator hired by Boston College has cleared chair of the Boston College theology department after a former classmate of him accused him of sexually assaulting her at the University of Notre Dame in the late 1980s, according to the school.

"The firm's professional opinion and judgment is that Dr. [Laura] Grimes' allegations, 'are not only not credible but are also false,'" Boston College said in a statement Monday.

Professor Richard Gaillardetz will resume his duties as department chair on April 28, according to the school. The Boston College teacher had stepped away from his post last month as the college investigated.

The school said it hired DeMoura Smith LLP, a law firm based in Wakefield, to conduct an independent investigation of the credibility of allegations made by Dr. Laura Grimes against Gaillardetz on several social media platforms last month.

The firm concluded its investigation and provided its professional opinion and judgment in the matter "following an extensive collection and review of the available evidence," Boston College said in a statement.

The school did not release a copy of the report, and declined to say how many pages it was. Patch has reached out to the firm.

The school said the firm considered evidence and assessed the credibility of witnesses as part of its investigation.

The firm concluded its report as follows: "We confirm that our investigation was independent and free from any external influence or interference by the college or anyone acting on its behalf. The conclusions we reached are the result of our independent professional analysis and judgment concerning the matter and based upon a significant evidentiary record."

In a series of YouTube videos — the first on Jan. 23— theologian Laura Grimes of Detroit, MI said that Gaillardetz sexually assaulted her on Halloween and in December 1987, while the two were students in a theology doctoral program at Notre Dame.

College officials said the university had not received any complaint of sexual misconduct against Gaillardetz during his 10 years at Boston College, nor has Grimes brought her allegation from 1987 to Boston College.

Grimes said in an email she expected the university and the firm to come to the conclusion "given misogynist misunderstandings of sexual assault and actual consent in both church and society."

She said the firm only gave her a cursory interview and described the questioning as hostile.

"The further claim of falsity is obviously unprovable as well as vindictive," she said. "It is also dangerously misleading given the implication that the sexual incidents never occurred at all—which I doubt Dr Gaillardetz alleged—rather than a more probable defense of supposed consensuality."

Most unjust of all, she said, was that Boston College refer to "generic allegations," she said. "Thus concealing the more serious allegation, the student sexual relationship he admitted to me that was inherently abusive given its power imbalance," she said.

Previously: Boston College Theology Chair Accused Of 1980s Sexual Assault ...