UPDATE: Juilliard professor caught in the act is fired
NewsWe gather that Juilliard has summarily fired a professor of violin after he was caught in what is said to be ‘a lewd act’. Apart from two witnesses who opened the door of his studio and reported the act, no other person was involved.
An email has gone out to parents. Around 30 students have been left without a teacher. Other professors are being urged to take one or two more onto their roster. The sacked professor’s named has been deleted from the Juilliard website.
We await clarification.
The professor has a distinguished record. His past pupils play in major US orchestras.
UPDATE: Juilliard has confirmed that the sacked professor is Li Lin. He was on the faculty for ten years.
Oh dear oh dear, auntie Ethel caught him wanking in the cupboard eh! Didn’t Bruckner have a similar experience? If it had been me that opened that door I would have closed it quietly and gone off to find a copy of Playboy Magazine to restore my mental equilibrium.
Its sad that he forgot to lock his door. I eonder if he’s cute. Few trained musicians are. But why at work. And why is this public. And what arse students would report such a thing. Dey moose night likem berry mucho?
Is he cute? What an odd query.
Teaching rooms in Music Conservatories almost universally have doors which cannot be locked from inside, presumably in order to discourage any form of ‘intimate’ behaviour, whether consensual or non-consensual.
Surely the proper response would be to just say “Professor, put it away and get on with the fiddling we pay you for”?
He betrayed the students and their parents’ trust for him. The endless stream of self-aggrandizement ruined him. It’s not easy, but we need to remind ourselves the limits of our power and reach.
Relation to LL Cool J?
I prefer we don’t mass debate about this
Did the professor intend to be seen engaged in a lewd act on campus?
If there were only witnesses who opened the door, it’s like those zoom incidents during Covid when people allegedly “forgot” or “didn’t know how” to mute or turn off the camera, and were masturbating or just being pantless, who were suspended by their employers but subsequently and quietly rehired after being publicly shamed on TikTok, it all depends on the intention of the professor.
So it’s okay to masturbate at your workplace…unless you intend to be seen? Huh?
What makes you think it actually happened and wasn’t another weaponized false allegation by activists?
He didn’t masturbate. Just some naughty pics when he thought nobody was around and some old dude just walked in on him
Who was that old dude?
One could imagine a few lewd acts involving a violin, but none of them pleasant.
But then again, one could do a lot with steel strings and horse hair.
Not to mention the dreaded viola. Viola-ted?
A viola is a violin on steroids.
And size matters after all.
Or an underfed cello.
U talking about choking the chicken with a violin string that’s gotta hurt
Who is it?
Li Lin. It is Li Lin. Very disappointing.
Wasn’t he a giant panda in the Smithsonian Zoo at one time?
No, you’re thinking of Tai Shan
The story behind the music of Shostakovich is lewd due to it conveying the idea of bestiality. It requires a mature audience to appreciate such background. It could be that Li Lin has psychosexual problems and like an alcoholic should be allowed time off for treatment. Such a Puritanical response to the incident is highly arbitrary and reflects the idea of sex as a shameful behavior in the eyes of the religious. Women have abortions and kill an unborn life that has all the DNA to be human regardless of the tri-mester. His behavior pales in comparison given the moral relativity of gender politics. Do women get fired for having an abortion? An abortion procedure was posted on Youtube and essentially is advocating killing like it was no big deal. The empirical evidence is undeniable but women lie about it. Then the talk about how sex is about power. Abortion is about the gross exercise of power as well. Call a spade a spade? There is unfinished business regarding the debate over the nature of human sexuality. Women have pocket rockets in their purses. You mean to tell me a woman has never pleasured herself inconspicuously as did Li Lin in an inappropriate place. But i belabor the point regarding hypocritical standards.
That’s why you knock.
Well, it’s ONE reason why you knock.
Or lock the door
Fired? If he was with an underaged student, the administration would have done everything in its power to protect him. If history is any guide.
?? With what evidence do you come to your assertion?
This seems a little harsh, if there was no-one else involved.
What motivated the two witnesses to report the act? Hard to think of any reason other than malice.
Is it even a sackable offence?
If he was enjoying himself on his employers’ time, then maybe it was.
Either a particularly hard lesson or particularly attractive student or both, I gather? Discount lesson time…
Perhaps you could outline why you consider firing a teacher for performing a lewd act (i.e. sexual) on an underage student to be harsh? It is absolutely a sackable offence and furthermore those who witnessed it would have a duty of care to report it. The only way malice would enter the equation would be if the witnesses were to say nothing and the teacher were to continue teaching at a SCHOOL.
I certainly wouldn’t want my children anywhere near a person like this and would be glad that there are still some people around who did the right, and legal, thing and removed this person from the premises.
Since the article clearly states there was no one else involved but the professor it would be a fairly safe assumption he was alone, in an area with a closed door, masturbating. No where in the article does it say there was a student, of or under age, involved.
Officer Krupke, you’re really a square
This boy don’t need a judge, he needs an analyst’s care!
It’s just his neurosis that oughta be cured
He’s psychologic’ly disturbed!
It is, rightly, a sackable offence. Do you masturbate at work or consider if a teacher does so at a school that they should be allowed to continue?
Norman’s post made reference to contact being made to parents – presumably these are the parents of students who are underage. Also Lin taught pre-college division.
The lack of disgust at this man’s behaviour shines a real light on how far those in the music world are willing to go to overlook inappropriate, illegal and disgusting behaviour. Particularly when this took place in a school. No wonder there are so many paedoephiles protected in musical institutions.
Juilliard should be sued. Because this is what everyone assumes. He was doing nothing inappropriate! He was fully clothed. Just some pretty ladies on a screen and an old dude walked in and saw it.
Playing with one’s frog in a room, alone or otherwise, where students, staff, or the public may enter, seemingly unannounced, at any time is typically a fireable offense.
Where did it say he was playing with his frog? He was NOT. Just scrolling through some pics on a website when an old fart walked in on him without knocking. Pathetic to ruin a life over absolutely nothing. Nobody was harmed
The only person who “ruined a life” was him with his lack of self-control in a place of work. If the behaviour was allowed to continue a minor could easily have been harmed. Wise up!
You can apply “could have” to most any situation. Let’s stick with that outmoded idea; reality.
Yes, in a pathetically-PC culture it is possible.
Maybe he was rosining his bow.
Nope. He wasn’t. Just looking at some pics fully clothed
Hi the information you are reporting is not what the school has said. The email sent out to us students said that he was watching porn during a lesson with a student. It was not that he was just “walked in on”. If you want to see the email happy to provide it.
please do.
1) This brings it to another level, beyond mere self-gratifying act, when it involves a student, and perhaps even a minor.
2) That said, watching porn *per se* is not a “lewd act”, even with a student who is a consenting adult.
3) Now watching porn “during a lesson” is certainly a fireable offense because the teacher is clearly not doing what he is employed to do.
4) In high school, the English teacher showed Zefferelli’s Romeo and Juliet in class, bare breasts and butts and all, which no doubt set hormones roiling in a darken high school classroom, was that porn? (It was the 1980s, pre-internet, pre-DVD, bare breasts on a grainy VHS tape was a big deal!)
My 9th grade English teacher show that every year!!!
Accessing porn websites, even if not witnessed, using either the employer’s computer or server or internet connection service, which the employer has every right to monitor and track, is grounds enough for dismissal.
Are we SURE he watching porn and not an opera?
That would be MY defense, we were watching a Calixto Bieito staging, all in the name of the arts!
Yeah that’s wildly inappropriate. He had to go.
Does self-abuse come under Title IX?
It might come under Title LXIX.
He was just practicing the “branle” movement.
Juilliard studios have windows in the doors and he was watching porn. Yes, of course it’s a fireable offense.
The practice rooms have windows (that some students put paper over) but the teaching studios do not have windows. At least they didn’t 40 years ago when I went there.
All teaching studios at Juilliard have windows, and they have more at least a decade now. But glad you think your information from 40 years ago is at all relevant.
Writer Jeffery Toobin, civil rights activist Bayard Rustin, actors Fred Willard, Paul Reubens and Hugh Grant all survived similar or greater embarrassments… although I don’t think they were in their Julliard studio at the time.
Rumors and gossip only serve to defame him. He is a great teacher, deeply loved by his students, and I don’t believe the accusations against him—there’s likely more to his side of the story that hasn’t been revealed. Over the years, Juilliard has made harsh decisions based on complaints from a single student, leading to one-sided legal actions. I believe the truth will take time to emerge, just as it has with other teachers who were previously dismissed by Juilliard.
Oh really, Nomatterwhat? Who are these vindicated former professors?
The real story is Juilliard’s long historical failure to act on credible complaints against longtime factory members. A recent record of dismissing Choong Mo Kang and, depending on what rumors you believe, maybe a few others, does not amount to an overall harsh institutional policy…
Please stop spreading misinformation. It seems like this article is based on hearsay
I hope the violin is OK.
Wow! I can’t unread that!
Leason everyone raised with Polite Manners instinctively understands: Your Sex Life Stays HOME.. Period. Or as they used to say: ‘Get A Room.’
His studio was his room.
It’s not “his” studio or room.
To whoever maintains this website… when i try to “thump up” or “thumb down” a comment, I just get a “Invalid recaptcha” error message.
This site has been doing that off and on for many weeks.
Refresh your screen. Clear your cache or maybe restart…
Juilliard = 1
Cleveland Institute of Music = 11
Lewd act, no other persons involved? Two people caught him jacking it and he gets the sack?
He wasn’t even jacking. Just looking at some pics. It’s pathetic
apparently, he was looking at the pics while a student was in the room.
Title IX should apply everywhere. Juilliard alum.
Wow. But define lewd act. Some things might be lewd for a violin professor but not a truckdriver. ( the professor has more practice with intricate fingering)I dont know any.details except he has been investigated before. Hadnt heard it was ” in flagrante”. He had to know.they were on to him and watching. The best way to prevent these things: don’t mess with your students. JUST DONT DO IT. might still be falsely accused, but how dumb is this guy?
I’m not sure that he has been investigated before. You might be confusing him with another violinist named Lin.
Li Lin is one of the most dedicated and brilliant teachers I have ever met and he is fully committed to class even after working over 10 plus hours a day at his age. His class is open and he allows students to record the entire class. Nothing is behind close door. The whole thing and the speed it evolves and became a news viral is very strange and we demand more investigation and public information before reaching a conclusion. People should stop rumoring at this stage and respect privacy of everyone involved.
Tough. He screwed up. Actions have consequences and if he was such a committed and dedicated teacher, it surely crossed his mind that viewing pornography in his teaching studio, in the proximity of minors, was grossly negligent and would rightly cost him his job.
Bruh… Seriously… I don’t know why I continue to be dumbfounded at how stupid men can be. You couldn’t be bothered to lock your door, dude? Never mind just “handle” that mess at home to begin with, but geez. Smdh.
He should put this incident on his CV, boast about it, and then run for president of the US and A.
Pretty easy to jump to conclusions without all the facts. Seems like Juilliard and similar institutions will throw teachers under the bus in an instant even at the idea of an accusation. After a lifetime of work to get to the top, there are more than a few people waiting to stab you in the back, or perhaps the teacher in question is guilty one things for certain his career/life trajectory just changed.
As a former graduate of the Juilliard School (Theater Center) when I attended the place was rife with sexual politics and sexually predatory teachers. Being a young, beautiful and innocent 20-year-old woman when I started there decades ago, I was not prepared for this disgusting onslaught. I don’t care how distinguished this guy’s career is. There’s a time and a place for taking care of your personal business. Whacking off in your studio when anybody could’ve walked in on you was probably part of what got him off, and I am thrilled that they fired his ass. I had heard things had changed in the decades since I graduated from that hell hole. I pray that that’s true!