Juilliard, the legendary performing arts school, has just kicked out Robert Beaser from the composition faculty.
Why? An independent investigation found he was up to some serious misconduct that adversely affected students’ academic work and violated Juilliard’s “safe and supportive learning” mantra. Was also found to have “repeatedly misrepresented facts about his actions, in violation of school policy,” the report published via the Violin Channel reads.
Story timeline
Beaser, who was the head of the composition department from 1994 to 2018, was accused of some pretty sketchy behaviour. The allegations took center stage again after VAN, a classical music mag, published an article last December that claimed Beaser had a habit of making unwanted sexual advances towards students and even got into sexual relationships with some of them.
In response to the article, Juilliard put Beaser on leave and brought in the legal eagles from Potter & Murdock, P.C. to dive into the accusations. The investigation found credible evidence that Beaser had indeed interfered with students’ academic work and had an unreported relationship that broke school rules. Beaser, however, is sticking to his guns and denying all allegations.
While Beaser was in the hot seat, the investigation also discovered evidence that another former professor and late Pulitzer- and Grammy-winning composer, Christopher Rouse, had made sexual advances and comments toward students. However, they couldn’t dig deeper into these allegations because Rouse died in 2019.
Juilliard is taking this very seriously…
…They’re making changes to their policies and will prohibit all romantic or sexual relationships between faculty and students starting this fall. Previously, they only had rules against these kinds of relationships between faculty and undergraduate students.
Zoom out: This story represents an uncomfortable truth in the world of classical music education, but it’s essential to acknowledge and remove those who might abuse their positions. The issue resonates with the story of Canadian violinist Lara St. John, who also faced sexual abuse from her teacher at the Curtis Institute. It’s critical that these institutions address these issues to ensure the safety and well-being of students. Juilliard’s actions and policy changes are a step in the right direction, but it’s clear that the classical music world still needs to fine-tune its approach to handling sexual misconduct.
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