@notorious-rbn
Expelled from the Eastman School of Music after reporting harassment. Publishing the legal filing on Substack. Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression has jumped in for advocacy. Stay tuned. rebeccabryantnovak.substack.com thefire.org/rochester
5/ I’m sharing excerpts from my complaint to the New York State Division of Human Rights. 🔗 above.
Join @thefireorg.bsky.social in taking action at thefire.org/rochester.
4/ People assume abuse will fade with the last generation of men who got away with it. That’s a comforting fantasy. But I saw students in their twenties reenacting it. This isn’t a glitch in Eastman's culture—it IS the culture.
3/ An administrator worried his students would become "a lynch mob" after I reported him. The school took no steps to stop it.
One student—who had renamed our studio chat after the harassing remarks—later declared he had "no qualms" with the professor.
2/ He insisted his students were "a family." The result was cult-like behavior. Long after the formal harassment finding, his students—all men—posted signs celebrating him around their cubicles: "The Varon Zone" "Students of Neil Varon" "Which Neil Are You Today?"
1/ The cult of personality around an abusive professor didn’t just survive a harassment finding—it intensified.
#rochester #uofr #everbetter #meliora #urochesterresearch #rochesterbound #thisisROC #AcademicSky #EduSky #MeToo #highered #musicsky #musiciansky @urochester.bsky.social
4/ I’m sharing excerpts from my complaint to the New York State Division of Human Rights. 🔗 above.Join @thefireorg.bsky.social in taking action at thefire.org/rochester.
3/ The school repeatedly claimed that "policy" prevented them from dealing with an abusive prof with a confirmed harassment finding.
When they wanted to expel me with no cause or process, they practically lit the handbook on fire to get away with it.
2/ He led with "Please don’t take this the wrong way" and offered to refund my fees and expedite my transcripts.
When I published an account of the meeting, he threatened me with a lawsuit.
An investigation confirmed that the he mishandled the case. He is still the Title IX Coordinator.
1/ When I reported harassment, the school's Title IX Coordinator advised me to transfer.
In the first meeting.
#rochester #uofr #everbetter #meliora #urochesterresearch #rochesterbound #thisisROC #AcademicSky #EduSky #MeToo #highered #titleix #musicsky #musiciansky @urochester.bsky.social
5/ I’m sharing excerpts from my complaint to the New York State Division of Human Rights. 🔗 above.Join @thefireorg.bsky.social l in taking action at thefire.org/rochester.
4/ I reported it all to the school, along with his screaming and cursing in the classroom. They said there were other complaints. I declined a formal report. I just asked to limit contact. The school advised me to transfer instead. I was expelled with no process or appeal 18 months later.
3/ I didn't report at first. Then I got an unwanted text from the former prof—the one I was "impregnated" by—at my advisor's request. They had "a long convo" about me and decided I was "challenging" but "worth the trouble."
2/ Another student immediately renamed the cohort group chat after the "impreganted" comment. He thought it was “iconic.”
1/ My advisor said I was "impregnated" by a former prof while I was TA'ing 60 students. Later he kept saying "I need to get him out of you."
#rochester #uofr #everbetter #meliora #urochesterresearch #rochesterbound #thisisROC #AcademicSky #EduSky #MeToo #highered #musicsky @urochester.bsky.social
6/The policy is theater. The ideology is real. Protect men behaving badly. By any means necessary.
I’m sharing excerpts from my DHR complaint against Eastman.
Substack link above.
Join @thefireorg.bsky.social in taking action: thefire.org/rochester
5/And of course, @urochester.bsky.social protects abusers too.
Who can forget Florian Jaeger?
16 women came forward. UR granted him tenure.
He's not the only one.
4/Douglas Humpherys said student he’d make a student's life “a living hell” for reporting harassment—in a recorded conversation.
Eastman gave him a teaching award—the same year a student sued him for harassment.
3/William VerMeulen threatened to expel a student to pressure her into sex.
He stayed on Eastman's roster for years—until his dick-pics... er... I mean... "private images"... appeared online last summer.
2/A university investigation found that Neil Varon violated harassment policy in his conduct toward me.
He stayed.I was expelled.
1/ Q: How many students have left the Eastman School of Music with an NDA?
A: Too many.
#rochester #uofr #everbetter #meliora #urochesterresearch #rochesterbound #thisisROC #AcademicSky #EduSky #highered #musicsky #musiciansky #titleix #metoo @urochester.bsky.social
“But I never thought the patriarchy would eat MY face,” sobs woman who became AG for the Patriarchy Eating Women’s Faces Administration.
a line of heavily armed federal agents in riot gear standing in a field surrounded by tomato plants
The UFW can confirm farm workers were critically injured yesterday during chaotic raids in Ventura County, CA. Other workers, including US citizens, remain unaccounted for.
UFW staff is on the ground supporting impacted families.
Our full statement below. ⬇️
1/
A State Department employee shared with PBS News an image from inside the department. The image includes a piece of paper taped to a mirror with the words, "Colleagues, if you remain: RESIST FASCISM. Remember the oath you vowed to uphold."
ICE detained a Cincinnati Children's hospital chaplain, Imam Ayman Soliman.
“His supporters, including local clergy, politicians and representatives from Ignite Peace, said he was fleeing persecution in Egypt and feared his life would be in danger if ICE sent him home.”
I was going to post a beautiful Henry Nouwen quote, but it’s too long. “Hang in there” will have to do. 🫶🫶🫶
rencaz94 Back in my day, writers didn't use Al! They just stole their wife's writing and claimed it was their own, like good men!
I reached out through @thefireorg.bsky.social ‘s contact form on their website and they were great. Definitely reach out if you need help with free speech or due process.
Let me introduce you to Col Pam Stevenson, who is running for Mitch McConnell’s Senate in Kentucky. She is a firecracker and a fighter. She’s also a quilter with some absolutely gorgeous pieces under her belt — wouldn’t it be nice to have an artist on the hill?
open.substack.com/pub/jesspipe...
A gentle reminder that the VA getting rid of 30,000 people instead of 80,000 people isn’t a win.
Cynthia Olivera is a Canadian who’s been living in the US since she was 10 She’s in ICE custody, after being grabbed at her green card interview. The 45 year old wife & mother has been moved between facilities while her husband begs ICE to let her get on a plane to Canada. 🧵 They’re willing to pay. She’s willing to leave. But she can’t escape. This is why we call them concentration camps. There’s no due process. Some people go in and never come out.
Reports that a Canadian citizen who has resided in the US since age 10 was abducted at a green card interview.
Her husband is begging ICE to let him fly her back to Canada and they refuse to release her.