An Elite Arts School Just Documented 70 Abuse Allegations Against Nearly 50 Adults. Epstein Is Only Part of It.

Paul Busch was 16 years old, living hundreds of miles from his parents, and desperate to become a professional dancer. He revered his ballet teacher at the Interlochen Center for the Arts. In 2005, that teacher sexually abused him.

Busch, now 37 and living in Nashville, is describing what happened publicly for the first time after 21 years. "A lot of my desire was to prove that I was enough," he told NPR. "That I was good enough and that I was worthy of love." He said "this was the perfect condition" for someone to prey on him.

His account tracks the findings of a sweeping independent report released last month that documents decades of sexual abuse allegations at the prestigious Michigan boarding school and summer camp. Former students recount roughly 70 allegations of sexual abuse by nearly 50 adults employed by or affiliated with Interlochen between the 1950s and the 2010s. It is a jarring counterpoint to the school's long-cultivated image as an idyllic incubator for young artists, one that helped launch the careers of Josh Groban, Norah Jones, Chappell Roan, Felicity Huffman and Da'Vine Joy Randolph.

The report includes allegations of sexual abuse by Jeffrey Epstein, an alumnus and benefactor of the school, and his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell. NPR reported in February that Epstein met and recruited two young teenagers on the campus. But the allegations extend far past the financier, who died in a jail cell in 2019, and they implicate the conditions of the school itself.

Adults were routinely able to meet students one-on-one, the report found, while the children had limited contact with their families and were vulnerable because of their age, sexual identity and inexperience. Some were afraid to report what had happened. The report describes "gaps in oversight" and a "permissive environment."

Interlochen hired the Sanghavi Law Office in 2024 to investigate after an alumna came forward about a longtime faculty member and administrator who had harmed her in the 1970s. In a letter released alongside the report, the school said it is today "fundamentally different from the institution described in this report," and in a statement to NPR it described new safety measures and a support network that includes counselors, social workers and a psychologist.

In that letter, Interlochen named three former staff members and one former trustee accused of sexual misconduct. Only one of them is still alive: Thomas Clower, the ballet teacher who pleaded guilty to abusing Busch. When the report was released, Clower's name was listed as an instructor on the website of a dance school for children and teenagers in Texas. It has since been removed.

Busch is not satisfied. "They get to say, 'Case closed,'" he said. "That is completely unacceptable because — guess what? — my life is still open."

Clower had recruited Busch from a ballet studio in Dayton, Ohio, after Busch attended Interlochen as a summer music student. He arrived in the fall of 2004 on a partial scholarship as a boarding student for his sophomore year of high school. "It was, at that point, my prayers being answered," Busch said. Clower, a well-known and award-winning teacher, asked to be his mentor, taught several of his classes, met him often in his office, and within months began emailing him with questions about his personal life and sexual activity — messages Busch later described to law enforcement as inappropriate. Looking back, he said the record of his own warm replies shows "how groomed I was … and how vulnerable and dependent that I became to him."

The incident that led to Clower's conviction happened on a cold spring day during Busch's first year at the school. Clower was 44. Busch had recently turned 16. He was not alone: Nellie Salisbury, then a 15-year-old fellow student, was in the room. Clower had driven both students to his house after they received special permission from the school.

"We thought we were going over there because we were special dancers getting sort of like a treat," said Salisbury, now 36. She remembers the three of them on the couch, a chocolate bar handed to her, a movie switched on, and Clower removing the jangly silver bracelets from his wrist and setting them on the coffee table.

Busch said Clower threw a blanket over the two of them, sat close enough that their thighs touched, and then put his hand into Busch's pants. "My heart was like beating out of its chest," Busch said. "I froze." Salisbury remembers Busch turning to her once they were alone and saying, "What do I do? Help me."

Busch acknowledged that what he told NPR is more serious than what he told investigators at the time. According to the Grand Traverse County Sheriff's Office report, he denied to a school counselor that Clower had touched his genitals, saying instead that Clower had rubbed the inside of his thigh and near his groin, though his belt buckle was unfastened afterward. He said he held back because he was in denial and afraid of getting in trouble.

For this story, NPR spoke with nearly a dozen people, including Busch, a witness to the abuse, his mother, brother and sister, and one of his closest friends from the school. It also reviewed court documents, the sheriff's office report, a recording of a conversation between a Texas parent and Clower, and current correspondence between Busch's family and Interlochen. Clower did not respond to repeated attempts to reach him, including through his attorney. Interlochen declined to comment to NPR on the specifics of Clower's case.