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Anderson, who during the past 29 years has brought suits against the Roman Catholic Church, the Vatican and Penn State, said he has been contacted by several former Y.U. high school students and that he has agreed to represent “more than one.
He said Y.U.’s report, as currently outlined, fell way below today’s standards and seemed “designed more for purposes of public relations” than for anything constructive. He was particularly concerned that Sullivan & Cromwell could not assure victims that the findings would be made public.
Paul Mones, who has been involved in lawsuits concerning sexual abuse against the Catholic Church and the Boy Scouts of America, said it is notable that an investigation has been launched at all. Usually, Mones said, the motivating factor for institutions is fear of litigation or that bad publicity will hurt contributions.
In that sense, the abuse allegations surfaced at a bad time for Y.U. Less than two weeks after the allegations first appeared in the Forward, Y.U.’s president, Richard Joel, announced a drive to raise $600 million toward a capital campaign and future scholarships.
Mones said: “The Catholic Church only began to consider changing its policies because of the threat of lawsuits and the financial fallout of those legal actions.”
Contact Paul Berger at berger@forward.com or follow him on Twitter, @pdberger
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