Magazine blows whistle on sex-abuse cover-up at Juilliard
NewsThe Berlin-based VAN magazine has run a huge investigation today, accusing New York’s Juilliard School of covering up a long and continuing roll of sexual crimes and misdemeanours. Names are named and department heads shamed.
One department head is alleged to have pursued sex with composition students over two decades, seeking favours for advancing their careers.
Juilliard today hastily appointed an independent law firm to investigate.
You can read the full report here.
Juilliard has long been accused of lack of pastoral care. These complaints, though, go much further.
I was there for six years but never witnessed or heard about anything like this going on. #metoo has literally given women license to exaggerate or make false accusations without consequence. It’s ruining lives.
“It didn’t affect me so by that logic it can’t have happened”
The poster never said that it didn’t happen but rather that they never heard of anything going on. As they spent six years at the institution, it’s likely that they would have at least heard rumors if any sexual assaults had occurred. Of course anyone guilty of sexual assault should be held accountable and women should not be scared to come forward. But there have been many cases where women, especially those with mental issues, have made completely false accusations simply to ruin someone’s life. “Normal” people have a hard time understanding this, but it does happen. Ask a cop, probation officer, DA, lawyer, or judge. They know.
The poster said “exaggerate or make false accusations”, so yes they are saying that it didn’t happen.
As for your comment, “it’s likely that they would have at least heard rumors”…who says? It’s exactly these assumptions that allow people to get away with harassment, predation, etc.
And if you read the article, yes there were rumors as well.
Yes. Your comment makes total sense. Thank you! Best wishes.
The number of women who have been assaulted or abused and then ignored or minimized is far more than anyone realizes. When it does happen, and it does, women don’t speak up because of statements like the one made above.
They have every right to speak up if something did happen. But there are more and more cases of women taking advantage of the #metoo movement. Women who turn a blind eye to this fact most likely hate men in general because it’s absolute hell when a completely innocent person is accused. There absolutely ARE cases where men have been falsely accused and it normally stems from undiagnosed mental issues. That said however, women who have been victimized have absolutely every right to come forward and hopefully have enough proof so that the accused is successfully fired and/or prosecuted.
Although this article is right to point out Corigliano’s denial of female-identifying students, I wonder if there has been any investigation into the allegations made about him and his male students?
A few points here, from a colleague of John’s:
1.) The VAN article was not, in fact, accurate. Corigliano had three, not one, female students, doing the period in question. And one reason for this is..
2.) Corigliano’s full-time job for 48 years, until 2019, was a Distinguished Professor at Lehman College, CUNY, where he taught class, nor private, composition, in which there were many female students enrolled.
3.) Because he was Distinguished Professor, the terms of his contract limited his outside teaching to part-time. Until 2020, Corigliano took only three students a year at Juilliard. It was only after his retirement from Lehman that, he told me, he doubled his teaching load to six, of which two were women until one graduated last year.
4.) It’s also a Juilliard policy that both the student and the teacher have to agree to work together. Over the years John mentioned to me, more than once, how interested he was in certain female candidates; but the student ended up choosing to study with another Juilliard teacher–at which point the teacher has no redress. The choice is the student’s.
Worth noting.
I’m shocked, shocked, to find that gambling is going on in this establishment.
birds do it, bees do it, every conservatory in the world does it
Are you kidding me, that is the tiniest sliver of the surface of the constant predation of disgusting old lechers at Juilliard. I’ll mention Harvey Shapiro and Julius Baker since they’re both dead. I’ll keep away from some other names to avoid any defamation issues.
I have a friend who is a well-known musician and conservatory teacher in NYC. She told me that when she was 13 she took a lesson with Baker. He began abusing her, took off all of her clothing, then suddenly burst into tears. Apparently a moment of conscience. I think she was harmed by other people as well.
This is hearsay and might be defamation. Contact the victim and ask her if she would be willing to step forward with these claims. The transparency would be appreciated. Literally anyone can say anything about anyone and ruin a life or tarnish a legacy. As it stands, your statement is is about as substantial as “Well, over on planet Venus, there was this time when six monkeys were dancing on the head of a pin, and…”
I totally agree. I’m glad the article was written, and many of the instrumental faculty and professors were sometimes more outlandish than those in this article. I hope things have changed!
How is this not defamation? They’re not here to defend themselves against your claims but their families may be still around.
I have the same issue with the claims against Rouse. True or not, they smack of unfairness.
I’m with you, Carl. How your comment could get 30 dislikes (at the time this comment was posted) is simply the sign of the times. Women do not have the right to exaggerate or outright falsely accuse just because they didn’t get in a conservatory or because they have “buyer’s remorse.” I honestly believe that windows and security cameras should be installed in all teaching studios and that teachers should make it a point to either be in view of a camera or in a public place when with a student. It might be tragic for some though…what will the victims do without victimization?
You can’t legally “defame” someone after death in the US. Also, even if alive, the claims have to be false.
Good morning Class.
You’re first assignment will be to write out a theme and variations on The Hokey Pokey.
If you need any personal help, my office hours (at home) are printed in the syllabus.
Typical of these cases, there was systematic failure at every level, where to even begin?
What I found most noteworthy was that the NYT dropped the ball on this, despite vetting the story, and that a German magazine scooped the NYT in its own backyard.
Then again, the NYT ignored the whole James Levine thing for decades even though its classical music critics admitted they were aware of the rumors but decided it was gay baiting not worth pursuing.
The NYT has a certain blind spot, a certain weakness, regarding things sexual that occur in Lincoln Center.
Whenever the theme of sexual abuse in classical music comes up, heads go into asses so fast it creates a sonic boom of silence.
Reporters at The New York Times, The Washington Post, and elsewhere tried for years to nail down a story about James Levine, but nobody who would talk knew anything but rumors, and no one who knew anything more than rumors would talk.
Until they did.
Exactly. It’s easy to dump on the NY Times or WaPost but they have rigorous editorial processes – involving fairness, vetting and potential slander – that smaller outlets may not have.
So in the name of “rigorous editorial processes” you let the perpetrator slide for a couple more decades and victims pile up.
You know who loves “rigorous processes”? Convicted felons in prison appealing up and down every court.
No, but I wouldn’t drag dead composers’ names through the mud either. They’re no longer a threat to anyone. Save your outrage for those who still can cause actual damage.
no, you don’t get it… in the name of “rigorous editorial processes” you actually can’t print accusations for which you don’t have evidence. Makes sense no?
It is also accurate to say that these are complaints from women who didn’t get what they want.
Vivian Fung didn’t get what she wanted? She’s brilliant, famous, and successful.
Others are left unnamed. Maybe they’re successful too.
Your statement is not accurate at all.
Just for the record, I am a male “identifying as male.” I find this article tediously laboring over obvious and immutable gender attributes rather tedious. Well, maybe that’s just me. Have a nice day!
Exactly. If you are “female identifying” then you are female. No need for writers to put “identifying” as a qualifier.
Some people might suggest that if you don’t have female body parts and the requisite XX chromosome markers, you’re scientifically not a female. In this case I’m going to “follow the science.”
It is all very spurious and dubious. When ambitious young women throw themselves in the path of men of influence, it is a two-way street. If Corigliano prefers not to teach young women, that should be his right. Young people go to Juilliard because they think it is a magic wand that will give them the life they want. They go solely for the reputation. I chose my teacher because she was the best in the world for me, not for the school where she taught. I would have gone anywhere for her, and she gave me a priceless treasure. I don’t know one Juilliard student who could say that. Maybe Persichetti was that good of a teacher, but he is long gone. The ire of students who do not get in is limitless, and they have no perspective as to whether they could have really gotten in or not. The story was gutless and it is pretty sad to feature it as a big headline.
You and Guest, above, should get together and talk bitterly about women, like thwarted women and women who “throw themselves” at men and how women are really just out to ruin blameless men and so on. You’d have a great time.
Well I’m one Juilliard student that is saying that. I would have studied with my teacher at Curtis as well. Many students follow their teachers around. You might find out once you leave your armchair.
I went to Juilliard for studies with Adele Marcus. She was brutal in her teaching, but juxtaposed that with incomparable kindness and caring. She knew the business, she knew the career, and she played so beautifully for us. It is difficult enough to stand for those values alone, let alone all this other ‘noise’. Inspiring students to carry on a legacy should be our legacy. PERIOD!
The hyphenated word “female-identifying” appears frequently in VAN’s article. Very woke, right?
For years, Juilliard faculty members were treated as “Gods”, and their naive students were pressured to revere them with religious devotion. If a student wanted to change their instrumental major teacher, they were forced to drop out of school mid-semester, and then re-apply and re-audition to get re-admitted into the school and request another teacher. (Because to change teachers mid-year would be too embarrassing for their teacher, so better that the student lose a year of their life and waste their parent’s money – to save their ex-teacher’s fragile ego from humiliation). I know – I was forced to do so when it was clear that my so-called “famous” piano teacher turned out to be total phony.
It is proper and routine for a school to not just allow a student to switch from one instrument to another without a re-audition. That wouldn’t be right. If I were a vocalist and decided to switch to trumpet, why in the world should that just be allowed without having to go through the process? Other vocalists might have been denied the place I took. Other trumpet players might be after the spot in the program that I want. Scholarships are not given for general studies. They are given for specific reasons, specific instruments, and specific talents.
I was talking about changing teachers for your major instrument – not changing your major!
Ludwig…please disregard my response to your post above. I misread it. I agree that it is not right for a student to have to drop out to switch teachers. Somehow, my aging eyes misread that. My apologies.
An actual apology on Slipped Disc?!
I’m so sorry this happened to you! So heartless of the school!
The same is the policy at the Juilliard Pre-College. Only, one teacher was so bad, the Pre-College’s former director approached my daughter and me in the hallway, and in hushed tones, told us that if we wanted to change teachers, we could.
So many of the teacher’s students changed teachers that the school had to let her go. Essentially, they forced her out without having had the courage to fire her, themselves.
Do you really think this doesn’t happen at other schools? College professors at every level are the most petty, jealous and devious group imaginable. You won’t find this any different from Juilliard to a Kansas community college.
“Elizabeth Abdnour, a former Title IX investigator and attorney, said that Juilliard should have launched their own investigation into these allegations in 2018.” Of course they should have, and – if students were their first priority, they would have done so. Truth is, Juilliard doesn’t give a damn about their students – they are too busy protecting the deities on their faculty.
John Corigliano almost never accepted female-identifying students.
This is hardly news, lol…
Ah academia, the pettier the stakes the nastier the fight, and what is pettier than a PhD in classical music composition?
I know a professor who only takes students who are more talented than him and he seeks to destroy their self-confidence and breaks them in a year crippling them from composing so they can’t take commissions and play-time away from him in the future.
That’s so immoral and reprehensible!
Is it though?
Is discouraging a kid from spending the rest of his life composing contemporary classical music to becoming a doctor a worse outcome for the kid or for society?
A doctor can always keep on composing. Few composers perform open heart surgery well.
Bloody conservatories
Who says he’ll become a doctor, as opposed to an advertising executive, a tech mogul, a political pundit, or a (new) musicologist?
What is perhaps the most extraordinary thing about it all, is how well known it all was. People like to fall all over Joseph Polisi, but the real truth is that he was guilty of having it allowed to go on and having done next to nothing about it. They fired Mark Gould for making some satirical videos but left all of these horrible people in place. Funny thing about it all, is that they have the reputation and the money to have taken care of all of this, they wouldn’t have skipped a beat in enrollments and fundraising, but instead, they were cowards.
As a music student in NYC around y2k I remember we all knew about James Levine and William Preucil. These were rumors that were floating around, but after you hear enough comments from colleagues and even professors they pass the threshold from rumor to fact. Then there is the first hand accounts of abuse from other students that I remember. All the talk about women being mentally ill and hating men as an exception, that’s all a bunch of BS made up by self centered men.