Second-year doctoral student Rebecca Bryant Novak stood in front of Eastman School of Music’s concert hall last Monday to protest against misogyny.
Novak organized the protest in response to how the University had responded to her Title IX complaint filed against one of her professors. The Title IX complaint included accusations of sexism, misogyny, and gender-based harassment against a faculty member from her time as a first-year doctoral student.
After nine months of little to no concrete progress in addressing her complaint, Novak began to document her story on her substack, The Queen of Wands.
“When I felt that nothing was happening, I started to share the story publicly, and Eastman’s Title IX coordinator threatened me with a lawsuit for defamation,” Novak told the Campus Times.
Though she has redacted them, Novak has not removed her posts in response to the cease and desist order from J. Morgan Levy — former Title IX coordinator and John Hain’s lawyer — writing that she believes that the order was intended to intimidate her.
“I think that’s just a common theme of these situations,” Novak said. “It’s sort of like war by attrition. You know, just like hoping that someone will get tired and stop the process and walk away.”
Despite low attendance, Novak did the opposite of walking away in her protest; she wanted to raise awareness about a culture of silence at Eastman.
“I put [my story] online, just to say that it shouldn’t be secret,” Novak said. “It shouldn’t be something that we’re not talking about. We have to talk about it for it to get better.”
University Spokesperson Sara Miller, on behalf of Hain and Dean Kate Sheeran, declined to comment on the specifics of the case citing confidentiality, but explained, “We can confirm, however, that the University is committed to addressing reports of such matters appropriately and in accordance with University policies and procedures.”
The respondent in the Title IX case did not respond to a request for comment.
Editor’s note: Headline was changed from “Eastman students lambaste administration’s Title IX response” to better reflect the number of students at the protest. J. Morgan Levy’s title was corrected from “Title IX coordinator” to “former Title IX coordinator.”
