TX High School theater director accused of sexual harassment, assault and verbal abuse
Diane “Betsy” Cornwell at the unveiling of her naming at the performing arts center at Bowie High School.
by Chris Peterson, OnStage Blog Founder
TW: The story contains descriptions of sexual harassment and abuse.
This past August, Bowie High School voted to honor their longtime theatre director, Diane “Betsy” Cornwell, by naming their performing arts center after her. But just over a month later, the Austin ISD teacher is under investigation by the district after several former students said she subjected them to emotional and verbal abuse and inappropriately touched other students.
Multiple former Bowie students filed a lawsuit last week against Cornwell and the school district. In the suit, the five female alumni said Cornwell engaged in inappropriate touching, harmful and abusive language, assault, battery, emotional and psychological abuse, and manipulation while in high school. She is also accused of ignoring allegations of sexual assaults from students, according to the suit.
The suit states former students recall instances where Cornwell called students into rehearsal in the evening and directed them to make out with each other and grope each other.
The plaintiffs' attorney said they're cooperating with the Austin ISD Police Department.
The former students spoke to local news,
"I felt a lot of shame," 25-year-old Dana Havlin said.
"It made me feel small," 27-year-old Andie Haddad said.
"Looking back, it almost feels like we were not humans to her," 28-year-old Sarah Andrews said.
"Students deserve a place to feel safe," 26-year-old Walden Hagelman said.
During a rehearsal for "The Crucible" in 2012, Haddad claimed Cornwell "instructed" her "and her male scene partner to be intimate with each other, lie on the floor and kiss and to be sensual" in front of their castmates.
"I was encouraged to get on the floor in the dark, make out, kiss, grope, whatever. We were being egged on," Haddad said.
Another student was cast as a Vietnamese sex worker in a production of "Miss Saigon" and alleges that Cornwell forced her to give lap dances and perform intimate sexual acts on her male peers on stage, the lawsuit says.
One student recalled being unable to cry during a rehearsal until Cornwell used sensitive information about her parents.
"Just awful insinuations about my parents' home life and how it might have been my fault due to some of my, you know, health issues and theater aspirations that had taken so much time," they said.
Cornwell has not responded to any request for comment, nor has the school district.
In August, the school celebrated the naming of the performing arts center after Cornwell by tweeting, “So happy to honor our long time Theater teacher, Elizabeth Cornwell, by naming our new Fine Arts Center after her. She has given so much to students for so many years. Congratulations!”
The plaintiffs seek a jury trial and damages for Title IX violations, assault, intentional infliction of emotional distress and any other causes of action. The former students also want Cornwell’s name removed from the Bowie theatre space, the hiring of intimacy coordinators and mandatory intimacy training for all district theater programs, monitoring of the Starlight Theatre Company to ensure compliance with federal law, and training on sexual assault, harassment and race and sex discrimination for all district theater programs.
“Since coming forward with their claims, our clients have received extensive support from fellow alumni as well as from current Bowie teachers,” said Jennifer Jones Despins, the plaintiff’s lawyer. “While it was very difficult to speak publicly about their experiences, it does give them some solace to know that this abuse has finally been brought to light and now must be addressed by the district and no longer ignored.”
This is a developing story and will be updated with more information as it is made public.