Former USU student files lawsuit against piano professor seeking more than $300,000
A former Utah State University piano student has filed a lawsuit against Associate Professor Dennis Hirst, claiming he sexually assaulted her in 1994, when she was 17 and he was 23.
The lawsuit, filed by Jaime Aikele Caliendo Sept. 17 in the Cache County First District Court, alleges Hirst sexually assaulted Caliendo on three separate occasions.
On the first occasion Caliendo went to Hirst’s apartment, where he helped her with homework and the two watched a movie. Rather than drive home late at night, Hirst invited Caliendo to sleep over. Though no physical contact occured between them that night, the complaint states Hirst later told former piano program coordinator Gary Amano that he ejaculated while she was asleep.
JAIME CALIENDO Lawsuit v. R. DENNIS HIRST, by Utah Statesman on Scribd
Amano told Hirst he “did not want to hear more” and “Dennis should tell Jaime not to come to his apartment again,” the complaint alleges.
Unaware of what took place the first night, Caliendo went to Hirst’s apartment again, where he confessed romantic feelings for her, then kissed and groped her, despite her objections. At the end of the night, Caliendo told Hirst she did not want a romantic or physical relationship with him, and Hirst said he understood.
The two remained friends and in late May of 1994, Caliendo went to his apartment a third time. After listening to a CD, Caliendo fell asleep in Hirst’s apartment.
She woke up in the middle of the night with “sharp, repeating pain,” and saw Hirst thrusting his fingers in and out of her vagina, the lawsuit states. Caliendo eventually left his house and bled for three weeks, the lawsuit states.
Once school started in the fall, Hirst kept his job and Caliendo was assigned to a practice room in another building. Caliendo was also required to perform in front of Hirst, who graded her work on a panel with other faculty.
In the years following, Caliendo regularly contemplated suicide and became “afraid to sleep because of the nightmares and afraid to be awake because of the flashbacks,” the complaint states.
According to the lawsuit, Amano told Caliendo’s mother about the assaults in June, 1994. Caliendo’s parents took her to file a police report and receive a sexual assault examination. While the gynecologist who performed the examination concluded that Caliendo was sexually assaulted, charges were never filed against Hirst because he refused to speak with police, the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit was filed just a few months after multiple students spoke publicly about sexual misconduct in the piano program, and multiple USU employees left the university after an independent investigation concluded the officials acted in or enabled wrongdoing.
Hirst was reprimanded officially by Utah State – months after the piano investigation wrapped up – earlier this month, for his enablement of Amano’s abusive behavior toward students. The documents did not mention Hirst’s alleged behavior in 1994, although university spokesperson Tim Vitale has since confirmed an investigation was launched into the allegations made against Hirst over the summer. Hirst still remains on the piano faculty at Utah State and Vitale said he was unable to provide a timeline of the investigation.
In the complaint, Caliendo mentions five “causes of action” – one of sexual assault, two of sexual battery, one of assault and one “intentional infliction of emotional distress.”
Caliendo seeks more than $300,000 in the suit.
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Lauren Bennett contributed to this report.