Editorial
Cheverus Abuse Case Reveals System's Flaws
It also unveils heroes who spoke out against a legend

Portland Press Herald
March 7, 2000

[See other articles about Charles Malia.]

The revelations surrounding allegations that Charles Malia molested Cheverus High School students in the 1960s and 1970s are distressing because they follow a now-predictable pattern of secrecy, rumor, negligence and pain.

Malia's offenses were first disclosed publicly when several former students testified before a state legislative committee about the need to eliminate the statute of limitations on lawsuits alleging child sexual abuse. Now adults, the victims said Malia abused them in the school's locker rooms, at his apartment and at their own homes decades earlier. They were silent about the abuse when it happened because they feared Malia's power and authority.

Induced silence was the system's first failure. Fearing they wouldn't be believed, or that they'd be punished for their accusations, the victims did not come forward.

Even when they did, silence persisted. Before the public testimony, Cheverus authorities had heard some of the charges. In the summer of 1997, one of the victims came forward to Cheverus administrators and told them he did not want his son to take a required course that Malia taught -- and the reasons why.

This is where the system experienced its next failure. After Malia denied the charges, the school took several months before reporting them to the Department of Human Services and still more time lapsed before Malia agreed to retire and the school called the district attorney.

DHS referred the case to the Department of Education because it decided that no child was in imminent danger. The district attorney, lacking a formal complaint, took no action, though she later launched an investigation after she heard of a second instance of abuse.

For their part, school administrators said they never heard back from DHS or the education department. A psychological test administered in early 1998 also indicated that Malia did not pose a threat.

The DHS ruling, the test and the school's tardiness in getting Malia away from students run contrary to research that suggests that without counseling and other interventions, sexual abuse is a repetitive behavior that occurs throughout the abuser's life. Far from solving the problem, allowing Malia to continue teaching and then offering him early retirement covered it over and possibly endangered still more children. It also encouraged Malia to hope that the charges, which he continued to deny, would simply and quietly go away.

They wouldn't. As victims began to talk to each other about what had happened to them, silence began to lose its grip.

In coming forward, these men weren't just accusing a person, but a legend: a 30-year teacher, a track coach whose teams won state championships and a man who was inducted into the National Amateur Sports Hall of Fame. Alerting Cheverus officials and testifying before the Legislature were acts of courage. These men weighed their own desire for privacy against the moral responsibility to protect children and decided that the children came first.

They also forced Malia to acknowledge his culpability. Up until just a few days before the Portland Press Herald published its story, Malia was still denying all the allegations. Now, as he told columnist Bill Nemitz, he has "some guilt." Nonetheless, Malia faces no criminal charges because the six-year statute of limitations has expired on all the alleged abuses.

Fortunately, this last failure has been addressed. The state Legislature eliminated the statute of limitations in criminal cases of sexual abuse for crimes committed in 1993 and beyond.

Still, lawmakers should reject a bill that would end a 12-year limit on civil cases where adult victims bring lawsuits alleging abuse against them as children. The current limit recognizes that there is a lower threshold of proof necessary to file a civil suit. The longer the interval between the alleged abuse and the trial, the more important it is to establish guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

Ending the culture of silence that surrounds abuse, unfortunately, is not as easily accomplished as abolishing the statute of limitations. In this case, the actions of the Department of Human Services and the Department of Education ought to be audited. Cheverus administrators should develop a clear policy on abuse allegations that puts the welfare of students first. A paid leave for Malia while the charges were being weighed would have raised uncomfortable questions, but it also would have protected the kids.

If those who hold power don't safeguard the rights of the powerless, the dreadful pact of secrecy will continue.