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At the time of the alleged assaults, Grimes said, Gaillardetz was in a longdistance relationship with his current wife, and Grimes considered Gaillardetz nothing more than a friend.
The two had become friends initially through their shared interest in theology and spirituality, but Grimes said she cut off their friendship after the second alleged assault.
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“he had broken the covenant; the covenant was that we were absolutely friends,” Grimes told The observer. on the night of the first incident, Grimes said she was planning on going to a halloween dance with her friends, but Gaillardetz invited her over to his apartment for a dinner with a few colleagues before the dance. After the other dinner attendees left, the next thing Grimes remembers is being in Gaillardetz’s bedroom. she alleged he performed oral sex on her then without her consent.
After the first alleged assault, Grimes said she felt so much shame she decided to go to confession.
For her penance, the priest advised her to ask Gaillardetz for forgiveness.
“I think we were sitting in the huddle or something talking over lunch, and I was gagged out apologizing to him, and now I think, I apologized to my rapist,” Grimes said. “And he looked at me like I was crazy because clearly he wasn’t sorry. he didn’t go to confession.”
After the first incident, Grimes said she emphasized to Gaillardetz she did not want repeated sexual contact. Yet one night in early december, Grimes alleged Gaillardetz bullied her into going upstairs to her bedroom, despite repeated refusals. once they were upstairs, Gaillardetz performed oral sex on her again and demanded that she perform oral sex on him too.
“It made me gag, but I went along with it,” Grimes said. vice president for public affairs and communications Paul browne said the University administration will ask boston college to share the findings of the independent investigation into Grimes’ allegations that may relate to notre dame.
After spending years reflecting on the alleged assaults, Grimes said, she decided to come forward with allegations after she heard Gaillardetz had been speaking about the clerical sexual abuse crisis as a theologian.
“he is pretending to be part of the solution when he’s part of the problem,” Grimes said.
In her videos, Grimes accused Gaillardetz of enabling and perpetrating ecclesial rape culture, which she said is a rampant problem within the catholic church. she said the power imbalances embedded in catholic settings gives rise to abuse.
“A catholic higher education like notre dame combines the rape culture of all higher education schools with the rape culture of the catholic church,” Grimes said.
When she was a doctoral student at notre dame, Grimes believed the theology department to be “very maledominated,” and she said this contributed to a dangerous culture. browne said in an email the University rejects Grimes’ characterization of the notre dame theology department in 1987 and the assertion that catholic colleges and universities are havens for sexual abuse.
“notre dame values each individual, and has no tolerance for sexual harassment or assault,” browne wrote.
In 1991, while Grimes was a student at notre dame, Fr. James burtchaell, a professor of theology and provost, resigned from the faculty amid charges of sexual misconduct with male undergraduates. mennonite theologian John howard Yoder was a full-time theology faculty member at notre dame from 1984 until his death in 1997. In 1992, eight victims came forward with a statement detailing Yoder’s history with sexual misconduct. however, allegations against Yoder had been circulating for years prior to the public complaints, the first of which surfaced in the 1970s.
In the second video of the series, Grimes also alleged Gaillardetz had later admitted to her in an email in 1998 that he had sexually abused a student during his first teaching position in Texas.
“In this case, it’s both sexual abuse and spiritual abuse because you are a religious leader,” Grimes said in the video, addressing Gaillardetz directly.
Grimes hopes Gaillardetz recognizes the hurt he has caused her.
“The only chance he might repent is if he’s brought to public justice,” Grimes said. “but even if he won’t, we really need to educate the society, the church in particular about what this is and get justice and safety, first for his present students, and get justice if there have been any [other victims] in the past.”
Although Grimes strongly believes the culture of the church should be reformed, she said she still leans on her faith to work through her trauma. she even filmed her allegation videos in her own home chapel.
“my faith is everything,” Grimes said.
Contact Serena Zacharias at szachari@nd.edu
Berges
conTInUed From PAGe 1
berges is a communications studies major with minors in Pr and advertising who hails from Fairfield, connecticut. on campus she currently serves as the co-chair of the student Government Association’s (sGA) marketing and social media committee. devitt is a speech language pathology major with a gerontology minor from LaGrange, Illinois. she currently serves as sGA’s social life co-chair. both women also have tri-campus collaboration experience through serving on dance marathon.
If elected, the pair will work to improve transparency and communication between students and administration, berges said.
“I think it’s been going very well since [college President] Katie conboy got here,” she said. “We think a lot of students really like the improvements they’re seeing, but we understand that there’s always room for improvement and we just want to keep that conversation going.” berges and devitt emphasized their intent to not only be the voice of the student body but also to be active listeners.
“[Through] not waiting for girls to come to us, but us going to them,” devitt said. “I think that’s our first [action item] and that will be the easiest but the best.”
by utilizing open communication and active listening between students and administrators, berges and devitt hope to enact some of their key platform points, which include the improvement of mental health resources by enhancing smc care — a 24hour telehealth service launched earlier this year — establishing more grief and anxiety groups and infusing social and emotional connectivity.
Another key element of their platform is the expansion of women’s health advocacy at the college.
“I mean we go to an all women’s college, and I feel women’s health is not talked about enough,” berges said.
They hope to expand on breast self-examination information sheets in dorm showers, knowledge of the on-campus gynecologist, host guest speakers and establish support groups to open the conversation more, berges said. berges and devitt emphasized their desire for saint mary’s students to find their place in the greater tri-campus community.
“We recognize that there is a tri-campus and a lot of good things come from it, like doing combined clubs and activities, but we also just want to make sure the identity of saint mary’s stays positive,” berges said. devitt loves being part of the tri-campus community, she said.
“sometimes I think the tri-campus community overshadows the one University, and sometimes our big one college overshadows being part of the tri-campus community,” devitt said. “And I think sometimes we don’t fully use those opportunities given to us. so I think we could really emphasize both.”
If elected, berges and devitt plan to use their passion for the college and sGA to amplify all student voices.
“ever since our first years, we have looked up to sGA and eventually joined to be those people for others and to include others in the campus dialogue,” berges said.
