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A water polo player who was allegedly the victim of racism and repeated sexual assault at his $50,000-a-year private school in Los Angeles, has graduated after fleeing overseas.
In a post on Instagram, Aidan Romain proudly walked across the stage at his college in Barcelona to get his degree after being forced to relocate there to continue his water polo training in 2024.
“Thank you to Dwight Global for providing a rigorous education while giving me the flexibility to pursue my dream and play professional water polo,” his post read.
“One of the best parts of this journey was meeting friends from all over the world and learning alongside such an international and accomplished community. Thank you for everything.”
The move to Spain followed the alleged vile attacks against him which included daily racial slurs and digitally penetrating him on campus, by teammates of his Southern California school, according to court documents.
The suit alleges his teammate Lucca Van Der Woude and two other teammates repeatedly subjected Romain, who was a minor at the time, to racist and sexual abuse between August 2022 and February 2024.
Harvard-Westlake School, which has annual fees of $52,500, allegedly failed to report, investigate, or take protective measures after being told about the reported abuse, according to the suit.
“Van Der Woude harbored and expressed racist, antisemitic, and white-nationalist beliefs during the period in which he sexually and physically abused” Romain and other students, according to the revised lawsuit.
“Van Der Woude regularly used the slur ‘n—–,’ made denigrating comments regarding Black people and slavery, and engaged in racially hostile conduct” directed toward Romain and other minority students, the suit alleged.
The papers also said Van Der Woude “made repeated antisemitic statements toward Jewish students and individuals within his social circle.”
“According to witness reports, Van Der Woude referred to a Jewish peer using antisemitic slurs and stated words to the effect of: ‘You stupid Jew, die in the oven,’” the suit read.
The suit said that he also “frequently glorified sexual violence against women, made repeated comments referencing rape, regularly used racial slurs, and made offensive comments concerning slavery and racial domination.”
“Indeed, Lucca Van Der Woude’s sexually violent behavior was not a secret,” the paper read.
“VanDer Woude’s sexually aggressive conduct and inappropriate touching of teammates were widely known within portions of the Harvard-Westlake and Los Angeles Premier (“LA Premier”) water polo communities before Harvard-Westlake took meaningful action,” the suit alleges.
In addition, the school is accused of “retaliating” against the victim after he reported the alleged repeated sexual abuse.
“This environment emboldened perpetrators, discouraged reporting, and contributed substantially to the continuation and escalation of abuse against Plaintiff and other students,” per the paper.
“In February 2024, after water polo practice, a second teammate cornered Plaintiff in the campus outdoor showers and brutally attacked him – grabbing his penis and striking him repeatedly in the testicles over a perceived verbal slight,” per the suit.
A text from Janine Jones, who served as Harvard-Westlake’s assistant head of school for community and belonging, is mentioned in the court papers, following the alleged attack.
Jones allegedly sent Romain’s parents the message after they reported via email that their son had been sexually assaulted in February 2024 by a teammate in the school’s outdoor showers.
“I should be seeing Aidan shortly … but I don’t want to make him uncomfortable by checking on him,” the text begins.
“I know your email was directed towards Terry, Matt, and Jack re not discussing the assault but I wanted to check with you just to make sure. I just want him to know I’m here for him.”
Harvard-Westlake, through its lawyers, denied it received any report from Romain’s parents that he had been sexually assaulted, according to the lawsuit, which points to the text as “contemporaneous evidence.”
A Harvard-Westlake spokesperson told The California Post that it “unequivocally disputes many of these allegations that mischaracterize facts and the school’s actions.”
“The school treated reports of inappropriate behavior in its water polo program with urgency and seriousness, promptly initiating an investigation and complying with its mandatory reporting obligations,” the spokesperson said, adding that the school “also cooperated completely with law enforcement.”
The severe emotional distress eventually forced Romain to move to Spain in 2024 to continue his training in a safe environment, per the suit.
Van Der Woude, once considered a future Olympic prospect, is in hiding after the bombshell lawsuit was exposed.
The 18-year-old, who is the son of longtime film assistant director Thomas “Basti” Van Der Woude, was nowhere to be found when The Post visited his parents’ palatial home in Costa Mesa.
English (US)