“After telling its community to not talk publicly about an Inquirer investigation of how the Curtis Institute of Music handled an alleged sexual assault of a student, the school has sent out an apology,” report Peter Dobrin and Tricia L. Nadolny in Saturday’s (7/27) Philadelphia Inquirer. “ ‘Yesterday we communicated with all of you in a way that was not consistent with our values. We have understandably lost your trust and for that I am profoundly sorry,’ wrote Curtis president and CEO Roberto Diaz in an email sent late Friday night to parents, students, alumni and others. The school will also set up an anonymous reporting hotline … Diaz’s message comes after … an account by violinist Lara St. John saying she was sexually assaulted over a period of months in the mid-1980s by her teacher, Jascha Brodsky…. Four other women told the Inquirer they had also been pursued sexually by Brodsky, a revered pedagogue who taught at Curtis and elsewhere … He died in 1997…. Diaz’s apology refers to Curtis’s first reaction to the story, sent in an email asking that the school’s constituents ‘refrain from discussing this matter publicly, online, or on social media’ … The school on Thursday night announced that its board and senior Curtis leadership would be reviewing its policies and procedures around sexual assault and harassment, and would make changes.”
Posted July 29, 2019
