Voices from Whitman Crew by Jamie Forman Content warning: This story includes explicit language that pertains to sexual abuse, verbal abuse, grooming and eating disorders.
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t their best, coaches act as leaders and mentors to those who look up to them. Teams expect them to foster a positive environment, where athletes feel encouraged to develop their capabilities both physically and mentally. As occupants of positions of power, these trusted leaders have the potential to instill into their team values like cooperation, drive and commitment. The best coaches inspire the students they oversee; they become vital to cultivating a healthy and productive team environment. Every community deserves that kind of coach — not every community gets them. For over 30 years, Whitman crew has offered students a chance to join a close-knit group and participate in a highly competitive sport. Crew has been one of the most successful teams in Whitman’s athletic history, with a
long record of top placements in nationally recognized races. No matter the season, pressure is always on to perform, place and beat their previous records. This past summer, rowers anticipated their return to the Potomac River. Riding fresh off of successful seasons on both the men’s and women’s teams — all of their boats had earned medals at Stotesbury, one of the world’s largest and most prestigious high school-rowing competitions, the men even reaching the B finals at Youth Nationals — the club was optimistic about its upcoming season. Former social studies teacher Kirkland Shipley was set to return for his 19th season as the club’s head coach. Then on Aug. 24, D.C. police arrested Shipley on counts of first-degree sexual abuse of a secondary education student, and second-
“When we were still children on the team, we didn’t quite have the language to describe the environment on the team and understand that he was grooming people. At the time, I didn’t realize that it was sort of weird to have a coach that’s incredibly flirty or takes people out for drinks at bars after they graduated.” “He’d also pry into our love lives. I think that there’s probably an appropriate way to do it, and at the time it was helpful, because I was a 16-year-old who was navigating everything. As an older coach, [he] was a mentor and gave me advice. Looking back, he would pry and ask me uncomfortable personal questions.” “It was sort of an unspoken trend that we all noticed that he would pick a student, a woman, from every class and groomed them or built this relationship with them.” - Alumna from women’s crew team (‘07) “There was a moment of shock when I read the affidavit and read about how he would start the process of grooming these girls by allowing them to spend free periods in his classroom. He was doing that when I was at Whitman over 15 years ago. Thinking back, I can remember at least three girls who always had a free period in his room. I’m not sure if it started as having any sort of motivation behind it, but it sounds like it definitely turned into a way to manipulate people.” - Alumna from women’s crew team, early 2000s “My philosophy is, ‘Look, I didn’t do anything wrong here, this isn’t my fault that he’s a shitbag of a person.’ I’d like to see him in jail because what he did is wrong. I’m not going to give him more of my time because he doesn’t deserve it — at all. He doesn’t deserve to be on my mind every day. He’s that person I don’t want to think about.” - Alumna from women’s crew team (‘21)
degree sexual abuse of a secondary education student. Shipley didn’t reply to an interview request through his attorney. For Whitman rowers, the excitement for the upcoming season was gone, replaced by disgust, uncertainty and a sense of betrayal. The announcement of the arrest spread through the community quickly, and shortly after, the Whitman Crew Boosters officially suspended Whitman crew’s fall season. As the affidavit that detailed Shipley’s alleged actions circulated among community members, the experiences, emotions and reactions from some of the women of crew were often overlooked. From both past and present members, here are the accounts those women wanted heard.
“I want the Whitman community to know that we were all hurt by his actions. We’re all horrified. I know, for me personally, that I’ll be very hesitant to trust another teacher or coach for a while. I’ll avoid his room. I try to avoid talking about what’s happened as much as possible.” “The past few weeks have been so hard. I feel like the whole team is being punished for the actions of one person. The blame can not and should not be put on us.” - Current member of women’s crew team “Some things that stood out during my three years on the varsity rowing team were that he called my teammates bitches, commented about our bodies — mostly our weight — and disregarded our worries about COVID safety. When we shifted practices to being indoors for winter training, many people were worried that they’d get COVID-19. One girl stood out as a spokesperson and contacted Shipley about their concerns. Shipley proceeded to separately text another athlete and me and said, ‘Are you actually concerned, or is [said girl] in her own head and looking for people to validate how she feels?’” - Alumna from women’s crew team (‘21) “I’m not going to lie, the team culture was fucking terrible. It was insanely intense, which it didn’t need to be. He made it seem like high school rowing was the shit, when it’s not. If you’re spending your entire day thinking about rowing, then you have a problem. I would give up any 2k PR, college offers or whatever medal to not go through that experience. Because of my time on the team, my college experience is so much harder. My senior spring, I lost 15 pounds and was miserable and hated the mean person I became.” - Alumna from women’s crew team (‘21)
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