An expulsion at Eastman

In the fall of 2023, Rebecca Bryant Novak became a first-year doctoral student studying orchestral conducting at the Eastman School of Music, one of the few women admitted to the program over the course of its history. Accepted with a full scholarship, teaching assistantship and a unanimous orchestra vote for her admittance, Bryant Novak says the program was the next step in her professional career following a master’s degree at the University of Cincinnati.  

Now, her career path has taken a dramatic, unexpected turn. Expelled from the Eastman School, Bryant Novak is fighting back in a case involving questions of due process and First Amendment rights. 

On June 18, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression sent a letter to the University of Rochester in support of Bryant Novak. The letter, which urges her reinstatement, argues that the expulsion was without due process and seemingly in retaliation for Bryant Novak’s public disclosure of an ongoing investigation of her treatment by Eastman faculty and administrators. 

UR has since responded to FIRE, stating that it would review the letter and respond by the end of July. 

Bryant Novak was only six weeks into the doctoral program when she reported a list of concerns to Eastman about Neil Varon, professor of conducting and music director of the Eastman Philharmonia, Eastman School Symphony, and Chamber Orchestras. Bryant Novak’s complaints included hostile behavior, unprofessional comments, and alleged sexual harassment. She claims Varon fostered a hostile studio environment for his students—he allegedly once remarked that Bryant Novak had been “Gibson impregnated,” referring to her former conducting adviser in Cincinnati, Mark Gibson. She had completed her master’s degree under Gibson, which she describes as “an experience which caused lasting professional harm.” 

Bryant Novak then went to John Hain, Eastman senior associate dean of academic and student affairs and Title IX coordinator, with her complaint, which wasn’t well-received, she says. (Title IX is a law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in any education program or activity that receives federal assistance.)

As she worked with Hain and through the Title IX reporting process, Bryant Novak published blog posts on her Substack “The Queen of Wands,” recounting her experience at Eastman and conversations with Hain. 

In an entry entitled “Maybe You Should Transfer” posted in May 2024, she stated that her requests for limited contact with Varon were rejected due to Hain’s trust in him as a faculty member, and that Hain suggested Bryant Novak transfer from Eastman to prevent “things (getting) bad for (her).” 

Shortly thereafter, Bryant Novak received a cease-and-desist letter from Hain’s attorney, Morgan Levy, who rejected Bryant Novak’s claims on Substack, stating Bryant Novak “grossly mischaracterized (her) conversation with Mr. Hain and (the post) contained a number of false and defamatory statements.” 

“Yes. Eastman’s Senior Associate Dean and Title IX Coordinator is threatening to sue a student who reported concerns to him, reported his mishandling of those concerns to the university, and published her own first-hand account of the events. This is how things are going at the Eastman School of Music,” Bryant Novak wrote in response online. “This letter is the only significant response I have received from anyone on Eastman’s leadership team since publicly raising concerns about a total lack of safety nets for its students. That’s right – a cease and desist letter with the threat of a lawsuit – against me.”

The letter threatened a defamation lawsuit if Bryant Novak didn’t retract “all your false and defamatory statements and immediately cease and desist from making any further false and defamatory statements” regarding Hain. While Bryant Novak removed the post, she said that after receiving legal advice, she learned that “sharing my account of events is not defamatory or illegal, and that the letter from John Hain’s attorney (was) primarily intended for intimidation.”

“When I got the cease and desist, I sent it to FIRE, they said it was nonsense, they referred me to a couple of attorneys, and I just kind of let it sit,” Bryant Novak told the Beacon. She says she had hoped her situation would improve through internal action with the university rather than external legal aid. 

UR investigation

Following the letter from Levy, Bryant Novak reported Hain’s treatment of her complaint to UR, opening the case formally. According to Bryant Novak, the case closed after a year-long investigation. FIRE’s letter to UR notes that the university found that Varon had violated university policies and that Eastman had “grossly mishandled” the case.

“University leaders are extremely limited in being able to comment, due in part to federal privacy laws that restrict colleges and universities from publicly disclosing or discussing the academic records of students and former students,” says Sara Miller, UR spokesperson. “However, the University has complied with all state and federal laws in its handling of the issues raised by Ms. Bryant Novak.”

On Feb. 10, Bryant Novak disclosed the university’s new investigation into Eastman’s handling of the situation under Dean Kate Sheeran, one that Bryant Novak says the university initiated without her involvement. 

Bryant Novak says she worked to resolve the matter internally with Eastman’s administration. However, on Feb. 25, after she expressed an intent to file an official complaint with the state Division of Human Rights if the matter wasn’t resolved, she received an expulsion letter. 

“I would say, ‘Can we sit down and resolve this?’ and they would give me an answer to a different question,” says Bryant Novak. “It was very weird.” 

Bryant Novak contends the expulsion letter came as a direct response in a thread of email messages where she urged Eastman to “sit down and talk.” The letter says her dismissal was based on “the absence of and inability to maintain satisfactory academic progress coupled with your rejection of all possible conducting faculty at Eastman with whom you might be able to study.” 

In addition, the letter cites “multiple instances of misconduct inconsistent with University values and expectations for graduate student behavior at Eastman,” though it notes these were “not specifically considered in reaching the above decision of dismissal.”

These alleged instances included misuse of UR email systems; asking her primary teacher to “lie for you”; inappropriate lecturing and reprimanding of other students; creating a hostile, uncomfortable and unsafe environment for students; and using “language that has been perceived as threatening violence in a communication to multiple faculty members and Administration.”   

UR provided “no details or substantiation,” Bryant Novak contends.

FIRE takes the case

Shortly after her expulsion, Bryant Novak reached out again to FIRE, which has now taken on the case as public advocacy and has shared its support online, encouraging individuals to tell UR to “stop muzzling its students” and email the university to advocate for Bryant Novak’s reinstatement. 

“When nothing else moves the needle, often public pressure will,” says Jessie Appleby, an attorney at FIRE working on the case. 

Along with weekly updates and messages sent by Bryant Novak to university faculty and staff, FIRE’s legal team worked to compose its letter to UR. Appleby finds the expulsion concerning due to what she describes as a violation of protected speech and a lack of due process. 

“Her speech in terms of reporting a professor for sexual harassment and later complaining about the retaliation she received … all of that was protected,” Appleby says. “The university promises to protect students from retaliation for filing a report for harassment or discrimination.

“That makes it a very strong case,” Appleby adds, “but it also aligns with First Amendment law in general. Usually, filing a report—a legal complaint of some sort—is specifically protected.”

When it comes to Bryant Novak’s expulsion on the basis of unsatisfactory academics, Eastman’s letter claims Bryant Novak declared she would no longer work with her primary teacher; would not complete Colloquy, a required course; and failed to appear for and/submit assignments “which (would) unavoidably result in failing grades.” Additionally, the letter claims that Bryant Novak “(rejected) all possible conducting faculty at Eastman with whom (she) may be able to study.”

Appleby says this reasoning violates Eastman’s own policy on insufficient academic progress for graduate students—insufficient completion of coursework (less than 50 percent) during a semester or more than six poor/failing credits during the course of one’s degree program.

“One of those two standards has to be met in order to even put a student on (required) warning status for academic progress, yet the university here didn’t actually allege that Rebecca had met either of these two standards,” she says. “They made a lot of other allegations against her in their expulsion letter, but none of them actually had anything to do with these two standards, one of which has to be met for the school to take any action against her on the basis of insufficient academic progress.”

UR’s Miller asserts that Eastman “is fully committed to being a community that is safe, welcoming, and respectful to all and strives to follow and act in accordance with applicable state and federal laws. In keeping with this commitment, the University does not tolerate harassment or retaliation. We make robust and supportive resources and processes available to actively address any report of such behavior.”

Human rights complaint

Along with her outreach to FIRE, Bryant Novak has filed an over 200-page complaint with the state Division of Human Rights and several smaller agencies after her expulsion. The complaint isn’t public, but Bryant Novak continues to publish excerpts on her Substack and social media, from her home in Tennessee, hoping to further amplify her cause and story. 

“I walked through the U of R’s entire Title IX reporting process, and it ended with my expulsion,” says Bryant Novak. “It would be bad enough if it just didn’t work, which many Title IX systems don’t, but to actually harm the person reporting, that’s deeply unethical in every conceivable way.”  

In the Division of Human Rights complaint, she seeks injunctive relief, as well as compensatory and punitive damages.

Bryant Novak is now considering hiring an attorney, a move that she feels would “probably change the game.” 

“It speaks really poorly of the process if the process doesn’t work unless you hire an attorney, but that’ll be the next step,” she says. 

Assuming probable cause is found from Bryant Novak’s Division of Human Rights complaint, the case would end in a public hearing if not resolved otherwise. 

Returning to Eastman would be an option if there were protections in place, Bryant Novak says.

“I don’t wanna paint it with too broad of a brush, but obviously there are some serious, serious problems there and they would need to be addressed,” she says, “not just for me, but for the safety of all of their students.”

Alex Holly is a member of the Oasis Project’s second cohort. 

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