On the heels of a recent external report detailing sexual abuse allegations against a former rector of a men’s dormitory, the University of Notre Dame has placed the supervisor of a women’s residence on leave while it investigates anonymous social media posts accusing her of sexual misconduct.

Elizabeth Greenop, who has served as the rector of McGlinn Hall since 2024, was placed on leave by the university on June 29, shortly after several posts purportedly written by dorm residents appeared on an online platform that shares anonymous stories of alleged sexual abuse from the Notre Dame community.

As rector of McGlinn, Greenop has lived in the dorm of some 270 female undergraduates for the past two years, responsible for overseeing operations, upholding community standards, and providing emotional and spiritual support to students.

The anonymous posts allege that Greenop sexually abused multiple residents of the women’s dorm. Through her lawyer, Greenop “categorically denies any wrongdoing.”

“No finding of any kind has been made, and Ms. Greenop is entitled to a presumption that she has not violated any policy,” said Greenop’s lawyer in an email to the Register.

In an official statement provided to the Register, Notre Dame said that it “takes allegations of sexual misconduct seriously, particularly when persons in positions of authority may be involved and is conducting an investigation” into the complaints against Greenop.

A university source close to the investigation who requested anonymity to speak freely said that no official complaints have been made directly by alleged victims at the time of this article’s publication.

“At this point the allegations are entirely anonymous,” the source told the Register. “We don’t know the identity of the alleged victim[s]. We also don’t know whether the allegations are true. That’s the point of the investigation, to get to the bottom of those questions.”

The source also confirmed that Greenop is cooperating with the investigation, and, contrary to an anonymous post on social media that claimed she “fled” Indiana, remains in the state.

Accusations Made Online

The allegations against Greenop come in the wake of a Notre Dame sex-abuse scandal involving a longtime rector of a men’s dormitory, Zahm Hall. On May 28, the university released the report of an independent investigation alleging that Holy Cross Father Thomas King abused at least 15 students as rector of Zahm from 1980-1997. The report also included details of sexual abuse allegedly committed by three other priests at Notre Dame, including Holy Cross Father David Porterfield, who had been the rector of Sorin Hall from 1978-1983.

While the investigation into Father King involved 101 interviews with potential witnesses and victims conducted by an external law firm, to this point the complaints against Greenop have been made entirely anonymously, with no firsthand allegations of abuse made to Notre Dame or other investigators.

Notre Dame’s investigation of Greenop began after the Share Your Story Notre Dame Instagram account posted several allegations that the rector sexually assaulted McGlinn residents. The account, which is not affiliated with the university, serves as an anonymous platform for students to air abuse allegations.

The allegations were submitted to Share Your Story Notre Dame via an online Google form, a tool that allows users to submit information electronically. A message prefacing the form states, “We believe all victims, and thus all stories will be posted (given that they don’t violate Instagram’s terms of service).” Submissions are anonymous and Share Your Story Notre Dame does not collect identifying information.

The first allegation was posted to the Share Your Story Notre Dame page on June 17. According to that anonymous post, the user alleged that Greenop had given her alcohol and sexually assaulted her while the alleged victim had been asking for advice  following a breakup with her boyfriend.

Consistent with the account’s policies, Greenop’s name and McGlinn Hall were redacted from allegations posted on social media. But after Notre Dame was made aware of the initial allegation, the account administrator told the Register, the university reached out to her on June 18 to request that identifying information be shared.

The account administrator, who says she is a current Notre Dame student but asked not to be identified out of fear of reprisal, told the Register that she was able to connect with the alleged victim of the initial post and received that person’s permission to share Greenop’s name with the university. She then shared the information with Notre Dame via the university’s online tip line, Speak Up.

Since then, several more allegations against Greenop have been made via the Share Your Story Notre Dame account. The administrator of the Instagram account confirmed to the Register that eight posts refer to alleged instances of sexual abuse committed by Greenop. 

The account administrator also told the Register that she has not verified that the allegations submitted to Share Your Story Notre Dame were made by actual Notre Dame students.

According to a report by Notre Dame’s student newspaper The Observer, McGlinn residents were informed that Greenop had been placed on leave in an email from Notre Dame’s Residential Life office June 29. The Observer published a story naming Greenop as the alleged abuser July 1.

An active Change.org petition calling for Greenop’s dismissal had received 82 signatures at the time of this article’s publication. Lauren Seib, a 2026 Notre Dame graduate who served as a resident assistant in McGlinn last year, is listed as the creator of the petition, which went live on July 3.

The petition questions Greenop’s “professional integrity” and states that “colleagues and staff have also expressed discomfort and unease due to her conduct, which has reportedly fostered a toxic working atmosphere.” Seib did not respond to a request for comment before publication.

University Encourages Formal Reports

As of July 10, the Instagram account owner’s Speak Up report was the only source for the allegations available to Notre Dame’s Office of Institutional Equity, the department carrying out the university’s investigation.

In its official statement, the university urged students to utilize the on-campus resources to make complaints of abuse, rather than using third-party outlets.

“Members of the campus community who experience sexual misconduct are strongly encouraged to report it to law enforcement and/or the Office of Institutional Equity (OIE),” Notre Dame said in its statement. “Reports to OIE can be made at speakup.nd.edu. Without reporting, our ability to investigate allegations is severely limited and we strongly encourage anyone with information to please reach out."

Greenop graduated from Xavier University in 2022 with degrees in psychology and theology, before receiving her master’s degree in theology in 2024 through Notre Dame’s Echo program, according to her LinkedIn page, which was no longer publicly available at the time of publication.

While in the Echo program, which combines graduate work in theology with teaching in a Catholic diocese, Greenop served at the Parish Community of Saint Helen in Westfield, New Jersey, as listed on her LinkedIn profile. Echo administrators did not respond to the Register’s request for comment, while the Archdiocese of Newark, to which Saint Helen belongs, referred the Register to Notre Dame’s communications department.

Greenop has previously spoken about being a conservative woman on a college campus in a profile on the Network of Enlightened Women website. She appeared on the Parish of Saint Helen’s podcast in 2023, where she discussed her desire to serve others in ministry.

McGlinn residents are currently away from their dorm for the summer. Notre Dame’s new academic year begins Aug. 24.