‘This is enough’: Demonstrators protest how Wheaton College hid sex abuse allegations
Mixing angry chants with prayer, about 60 demonstrators on Saturday protested how Wheaton College leaders handled — and hid — sexual misconduct allegations against a former administrator for decades.
“This is enough,” Wheaton resident Christy Hemphill told the crowd while standing on the rim of the fountain in Adams Park. “We want people to know what’s happening.”
The protesters were moved to action by ongoing revelations about Dennis Massaro, who in 1998 was forced to leave his job as the evangelical Christian college’s director of the Office of Christian Outreach after allegations of abuse from multiple students surfaced.
The college didn’t publicly acknowledge why Massaro left, nor did it alert the public to the abuse, until 2024. That’s when Wheaton President Philip Ryken and board Chair Dale Wong emailed students and employees following an independent review of the decades-old events.
In their 2024 email, Ryken and Wong acknowledged that keeping the reasons behind Massaro’s departure secret could have exposed others to harm. They also acknowledged it was wrong not to ban Massaro from campus, which allowed him to visit and interact with students and alumni for years.
Additional allegations have since been reported by investigative journalist and Wheaton College alum Julie Roys through her Roys Report, as well as by the Wheaton Record, a student-run newspaper at the college.
The DuPage County state’s attorney’s office has no record of charges ever being filed against Massaro, a spokesperson told the Daily Herald.
Wheaton police found no cases involving Massaro in their archives.
Attempts to reach Massaro for this story were unsuccessful.
Kathy Gallagher, Massaro’s ex-wife and a former college employee, addressed the crowd at Adams Park. In a lengthy prayer, Gallagher spoke of injustice, complicity and a cover-up.
It’s important to believe Massaro’s victims, Gallagher said.
“This has to be exposed,” she said.
Many of the demonstrators had signs with messages including “Wheaton College Silence Was Complicity,” “Stop pretending your silence is biblical” and “Transparency.” As the group walked to the Meyer Center, several demonstrators shouted “No more lies.”
Some people driving by honked car horns in support.
Reached via email, Wheaton College spokesperson Joe Moore said school leaders “understand the pain” behind the protest and take it seriously.
“As we have previously expressed, we are deeply sorry for Dennis Massaro’s abuse of students in the 1990s, for deficiencies in the College’s response at the time he was terminated, and for the pain experienced over the ensuing years by his victims and his family,” Moore said.
rlissau@dailyherald.com