Eastman is Dangerous
No safety. No accountability. No adult in the room.
I’ve been illegally expelled from Eastman for more than 90 days.
For the past 30 days, I’ve provided the University of Rochester and Eastman with dozens of notices and hundreds of pages of documentation—from a legal filing I submitted to the New York State Division of Human Rights under penalty of perjury.
Forty-five people—including 26 Eastman faculty and UR’s senior leadership—now have documentation of an unambiguously illegal expulsion that happened during an open investigation.
Nobody has responded.
Except the university’s own investigative team. They replied promptly to confirm that the investigation into Eastman leadership is still ongoing—and that the investigators were not aware of my expulsion until I contacted them.
I pointed out that this represents a catastrophic failure of the Title IX process and asked—again—for an independent investigation.
Then the investigative team went dark. I haven't heard from them since.
Same for the senior leadership, department chairs, tenured professors, faculty senators—all of them mandated reporters—who have now received multiple notices and documents over the past four weeks.
If you want to see every communication I've had with UR and Eastman in the past 30 days, I've posted all of it at the link below.
📑 View Documents Here
View-only, expires 6/10, reach out for extended access.
Here’s an example:
There has been no response.
Even worse—shortly before the expulsion, I notified multiple faculty and university investigators that the hostility was escalating. I explicitly asked for intervention. Nobody stepped in. Nobody asked what happened.
Let this sink in:
Eastman leadership expelled a student who repeatedly spoke up against verified faculty harassment and administrative misconduct.
They violated all university policy to do it—while they were being investigated for the second time.
Nobody asked why the student disappeared.
Nobody acted after they found out.
What this means:
Eastman and the University of Rochester are openly violating their own policies—and state and federal law—by ignoring a report of serious, sustained misconduct by Eastman leadership, related to a still-open harassment case.
Eastman and UR’s published procedures for handling harassment and discrimination complaints—or any breach of policy or ethics—are meaningless. There are dozens of safeguards on paper. There are zero in practice.
An administrator can terminate a student’s academic standing at any time—potentially cutting off their housing, income, health insurance, and visa eligibility. They can do it without warning, process, oversight, or any intervention from UR as an institution or from the individuals within it—even during an active investigation.
This is not hyperbole or alarmism. I spoke up before it happened. I’ve offered clear documentation since. Nobody has defended Eastman’s actions. Nobody has corrected them. The only response has come from a single investigator who said, There seem to be some new concerns.
Eastman has extraordinary talent and resources. But as things stand, attending school there—or anywhere at UR—means gambling with your security at best and your safety at worst.
If you're a professional musician, it's irresponsible to recommend Eastman—collegiate level, summer programs, or community school—to your students. If you're a donor, community member, or alum who cares about student welfare, your time, dollars, and attention belong elsewhere.
Share with others and reach out to Eastman admissions or advancement to let them know.
If you’re an Eastman or UR student, pay attention and look out for each other. Support the Graduate Labor Union—which is fighting for student protections, against massive resistance from UR. If you need support, the University Counseling Center is a safe, confidential resource.
More soon.
[Update: The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) has taken on this case for public advocacy. FIRE defends free speech and due process in higher education and beyond. They jumped in as soon as I sent them the story.
You can take action by:
Going to thefire.org/rochester to demand accountability from Eastman and UR.
Amplifying the story on this platform and others.
Becoming a free or paid subscriber.]
I’m glad you’re sharing this all publicly, and I’m so sorry you have to go through it. I admire and applaud your dedication to getting justice.
Eastman grads who attended while Syd Hodkinson was a composer and conductor there may recall his motivational exclamations, which he shouted while conducting an orchestra of young people. "Make me cream" was the one I remember most vividly. At the time, we all laughed at this. Looking back on it now as an adult, I realize how incredibly terrible all of this was. The fact that I remember this after all of these years is a testament to how scarring those experiences were.