USU Piano investigation ends
Editor’s note: This is an ongoing story that will continue to be updated as more information becomes available. Below is a PDF copy of the report of the investigation into the piano department at Utah State University.
REDACTED USU piano program investigation report 4-6-2018 by Utah Statesman on Scribd
The eight-week independent investigation into Utah State University’s piano program has ended and the investigator’s report has been released. The investigator’s recommendations include the dismissal of Professor Gary Amano, the current director of piano studies, who has been on sabbatical since August. The investigators also recommend that Dennis Hirst, the interim director of piano studies, be removed as acting director, citing that “for years” he “enabled Professor Amano’s discriminatory acts.” However, the report suggested that Hirst can remain on piano faculty and provides no specific sanctions for his actions.
USU hired outside investigators from the Salt Lake City firm Snell & Wilmer Feb. 15 to investigate claims made on Facebook by former students in the piano program within the music department of the Caine College of the Arts.
“This is not the end,” said USU’s president Noelle Cockett at a press conference held Friday morning. “We have many other things we need to pursue.”
Jody Burnett, chair on the Board of Trustees, speaks during a press conference announcing many changes in the university’s handling of misconduct reports as a result of the investigation of Utah State’s piano program.
At the press conference, Cockett announced that Amano retired, effective Monday and will receive retirement benefits. Hirst has also been removed as acting director of the program while the university pursues further potential disciplinary action.
She also announced that there will be “leadership changes” in the university’s Title IX office within the next few months. In the report, a former piano instructor was alleged to be involved in several sexual relationships with his piano students. There were accounts of both consensual and non-consensual sexual relations from this instructor reported by the investigation’s findings. The man’s name was redacted in the report, and Cockett said she was unable to provide further details on him, citing university privacy policies. However, she said before this investigation was launched, this individual was already barred from employment at USU.
Amy Arakelyan and Whitney Griffith, the two women whose Facebook posts led to the investigation, said no one from USU’s Title IX office or anyone in an administrative role at the university has been in contact with them since February. Arakelyan said Alan Sullivan, the lead investigator, provided her with a timeline of what would happen next but left out specifics. Cockett said at the press conference that the university elected not to reach out to anyone involved with the investigation as to not interfere with the investigator’s work.
Cockett said due to privacy policies at Utah State, she was unable to comment on specific individuals involved with the situation. She was able to say, however, that the university has provided former students who have come forward with accounts mistreatment in the piano program access to USU’s Counseling and Psychological Services.
“There is no doubt of their success or accomplishments,” Cockett said of former and current students within USU’s piano program. She also said the piano program at USU has an “incredible legacy.”
Lexie Hansen, a current piano pedagogy major at USU, said she is unhappy with the university’s response and said it was only done to protect the university’s image. Hansen’s piano instructor is Dennis Hirst and she said her experience with him has been overwhelmingly positive. Hansen said he is a “scapegoat” for the real issues, which, she said, left with Amano.
The university will consider revisions to USU policies 403 and 407, which handle faculty conduct expectations and approaches to faculty discipline, respectively. Cockett said she charged the interim provost, Larry Smith, and Faculty Senate president, Kimberly Lott to look into these policies.
Over the last 12 months, Cockett said, Music Department head Cindy Dewey and other faculty members have implemented changes to address issues the department had seen as problematic, including more clear parameters for scholarship distribution from within the piano program. Cockett also described changes the university is considering such as installing observation windows in all one-on-one instruction rooms, as well as cameras.
President Noelle Cockett announces many changes in the university’s handling of misconduct reports as a result of the investigation of Utah State’s piano program. Some of the announcements include the retirement of former piano department director Gary Amano and leadership changes to USU’s Title IX office.
A university-wide review of gender discrimination of students, staff and faculty will be implemented in coming months, Cockett said. A task force will be created and announced within a few weeks, she said.
“This is my call to action. This is exactly why I’m in this office. I don’t intend to fail,” Cockett said at the press conference.
Griffith said she’s very grateful for everyone involved and is “in awe of everyone’s bravery.”
“When I posted on Facebook I had no idea it was going to get this big,” Griffith said. “I had no idea the university would ever listen. It’s still pretty surreal.”
“What you saw is who our president is,” said Tim Vitale, university spokesperson. “She wanted this to be as transparent as possible.”
Arakelyan also spoke positively about the restructuring of the Title IX office. “I’m encouraged by that,” she said.
“I’m kind of speechless right now,” Arakelyan said. “I think it’s for the best,” she said of Amano’s retirement. “I don’t wish ill on anyone,” she continued, “but I also know [Amano] hurt a lot of people.”
Allegations investigated:
- Gender discrimination
- Sexual harassment and assaults
- Humiliation, intimidation, and vindictiveness
Gender discrimination
According to the 18-page report, students told investigators that Amano consistently told his classes men are more likely to become “breadwinners,” and should therefore get more opportunities, whereas female students “become nothing more than housewives and neighborhood piano teachers.”
The report also said that Amano appears to have regularly told students “males are more likely to become great performers because they have greater upper body strength and larger hands.”
Investigators reported that after more than 40 interviews with former students of both genders, other program faculty, and with administrators, investigators concluded the piano program has discriminated against women and favored men for decades.
“We conclude further that the main cause of discrimination has been Professor Amano himself,” the report continued. “We also conclude that until 2017 the University failed to address the problem of discrimination despite having had the opportunity to do so on repeated occasions.”
Disparities between men and women in scholarship money provided evidence of the reported gender discrimination. Investigators found that from 2009-2017, as a per capita average, female students received 41 cents for each scholarship dollar paid to males.
Sexual harassment and sexual assaults
The report details several accounts of sexual assault and harassment from former students with a piano instructor whose name has been redacted. It is said in the report that the former piano instructor carried on in consensual sexual relationships with several students he was teaching. It is also alleged that some of these sexual relationships were not consensual. When investigators asked several of the former students why they did not report the sexual misconduct to piano faculty, they said it was because they feared retaliation from Amano and other piano faculty.
Humiliation, intimidation, and vindictiveness
A Former Student 11 mentioned in the report is described as being one of the first to post her experience as a USU piano major on Facebook, one of the posts that led to the opening of this investigation.
The report tells Former Student 11’s experience in detail and later says investigators chose to describe the former student’s experience in such detail because it is “consistent with other factual allegations we heard from other former students, and it reflects a pattern of reluctance on behalf of the Music Department and the Title IX Office to confront the Piano Program with problems.”
In the report, to ensure student privacy, investigators labeled students with a random numbering system. Students are referred to as “Former Student 1” or “Current Student 1” in the report.
Former Student 11 and Former Student 1, a male, later got married to each other, but were dating during their time as piano students at USU. They told investigators that piano faculty advised Former Student 1 to terminate his relationship with Former Student 11, who was then threatened by piano faculty that she would be “blackballed” by the faculty if the relationship continued.
Arakelyan confirmed that Former Student 11’s story in the report matched what she had told investigators.
“I’m super super impressed and grateful that they have Noelle Cockett as a president now,” Arakelyan said. “I think she’s incredible and inspiring.”
laurenmarie.bennett@aggiemail.usu.edu
@laurmarben
Alison Berg contributed to this report.