Landon: WTF?

by MADELEINE STARKEY · June 21, 2010

The most recent memories the DMV has of Bethesada all-boys prep school Landon involve:

1. UVA lacrosse player and Landon alum George Huguely (whose lovely mug is to the left) who is implicated in this spring's murder of his girlfriend, Yeardley Love, and

2. A sex-scandal in which Landon boys created a veritable fantasy draft of young women. The draft was set up to rate girls the boys would want to sleep with and then awarded points for various sexual encounters.

You may not recall, but Landon was involved in other improprieties not so long ago. In 2006, several former Landon lacrosse players (who were playing at Duke University) were accused of raping a woman who was hired as a stripper (charges were later dropped and the prosecuting attorney disbarred).

Even earlier, in 2002, several Landon boys were accused of/caught cheating on their SATs. Some of those boys played on the lacrosse team. Curiously, of the rape accusations, George Huguely (then a senior and captain of the lacrosse team) is quoted in a Washington Post articleas as saying: "I sympathize for the team [...] They've been scrutinized so hard and no one knows what has happened yet. In this country, you're supposed to be innocent until proven guilty. I think that's the way it should be."

Eerie. Creepy. Huguely defended teammates and classmates accused of rape and then a few years later is himself charged with egregiously violent behavior, i.e. beating Yeardley Love (pictured at left) to death. While the rape and murder in question are different situations entirely--the rape charges were dismissed while Yeardley Love is dead--they nonetheless both involve serious violence against women.

Earlier this month, New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd published a piece about a "sex draft" organized by a group of soon-to-be freshman Landon boys. The draft predicted which young girls would "perform" well in the draft based on factors such as looks, breast size, height and personality. Points were awarded to the guys based on sexual encounters and "shmoozing with parents" of the girls.

While Landon boasts a code of ethics, I cannot help but wonder if this code is nothing more than a crock of shit. It's been said before, but must be said again: maybe Landon needs to seriously reconsider its modus operandi; there's been too many confirmed or alleged scandals in the past decade. And those are only the things we know about. What else is going on at Landon that has been kept under wraps?