Expelled Girl Sues Prep School, Alleges Cult

Case provides look inside glamorized world

By Wesley Oliver, Newser Staff

Posted Mar 22, 2009 9:20 AM CDT

(Newser) – It’s a tale worthy of Gossip Girl: A popular student at a posh prep school who was expelled says she was harassed by a secret society of girls that the school and alumnae deny exists anymore. But ex-student Tatum Bass is slapping Ms Porter's with an all-too-real lawsuit, alleging officials at the school—an all-girls boarding institute that counts Jackie Kennedy and Gloria Vanderbilt among its alums—ignored her suffering.

Some traditions—freshmen picking daises and cooking breakfast for seniors—date back over a century. Students rarely sue over expulsion and lawsuits seldom make trial, the New York Times says, because schools often don’t want to risk bad publicity. One alumna doubted the accusations about school officials: “If she was having problems, they would have bent over backwards to help.”

[Images (6)]

[Quotes (3)]

These buildings are on the campus of Miss Porter's School, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2008. (AP Photo/Bob Child)

One of the buildings on the campus of Miss Porter's School, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2008. The parents of Tatum Bass are suing the school alleging that it failed to protect their daughter from bullying. (AP Photo/Bob Child)

This undated photo supplied by the CW shows the cast of "Gossip Girl." (AP Photo/CW, Timothy White)

Actors Leighton Meester and Blake Lively from the TV show "Gossip Girls" make an appearance on MTV's Total Request Live at MTV studios in Times Square Monday, Oct. 1, 2007 in New York. (AP Photo/Peter Kramer)

This 2007 photo, provided by The CW, shows Chace Crawford as Nate and Leighton Meester, right, as Blair in the network's new drama series "The Gossip Girl ." (AP Photo/The CW, KC Bailey)

Cars on the campus of Miss Porter's School in Farmington, Conn., Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2008. The parents of Tatum Bass are suing the school alleging that it failed to protect their daughter from bullying. (AP Photo/Bob Child)

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When push comes to shove, even if the schools try to intimidate you and poke holes in your case, they don’t want to risk the bad publicity of having their reputation smeared in a courtroom. - Laurence Hardoon, lawyer

A lot of people think it’s an elitist, snobby place, where the students walk around in white gloves, balancing books on their heads. You can try, but you’ll never understand what it’s like to go to that school unless you go there. - Miss Porter's alumna

The fact that this lawsuit is happening, it’s very sad. It burned a lot of bridges for Tatum.
- Miss Porter's alumna

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Expelled Girl Sues Prep School, Alleges Cult