Tag: Complaint

  • University of Rochester student expelled after detailing school’s mishandling of harassment complaint on Substack

    University of Rochester student expelled after detailing school’s mishandling of harassment complaint on Substack

    ROCHESTER, N.Y., June 18, 2025 — The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression is urging the University of Rochester to reinstate an Eastman School of Music student who was expelled after blowing the whistle on a professor who sexually harassed her.

    The case lays bare a university system that moved quickly to protect itself at the expense of a student’s right to voice criticisms — even though an internal investigation found the professor responsible for violating the harassment policy.

    TAKE ACTION: Tell Rochester to stop muzzling its students

    “There was no due process or hearing,” the student, Rebecca Bryant Novak, said. “The university’s administrators were more concerned about protecting the faculty than adhering to their own rules and addressing bad behavior. They basically tried to destroy my career beyond all comprehension.”

    Shortly into her first semester as a Ph.D. student in fall 2023, Bryant Novak complained about abusive behavior by a professor who she said would scream at students and make lewd, sexist comments.

    After a yearlong investigation, a panel of faculty and administrators agreed that the professor had indeed violated Rochester’s harassment policy and that Eastman’s Title IX coordinator had grossly mishandled her complaint.

    Despite all this, Eastman allowed the same school authorities to retain oversight of Bryant Novak’s academic trajectory — with one official telling her that the school restricted her performance times because of her complaint against the professor. 

    When Bryant Novak complained, Eastman did nothing. As a result of the alleged retaliation, Rochester opened a second investigation into Eastman’s mishandling of the situation in December 2024, and Bryant Novak publicly disclosed the university’s new investigation in a Substack article on Feb. 10.

    Tell Rochester to Stop Muzzling its Students

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    Tell the University of Rochester: Reinstate Rebecca Bryant Novak, restore due process, and stop muzzling students into a culture of silence.


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    Two weeks later, Eastman abruptly expelled Bryant Novak, citing a failure to make academic progress. In doing so, the school ignored its written policy that calls for students to be given ample notice if they are in danger of falling short of academic standards.

    “Rebecca’s expulsion smacks of retaliation for speech that is explicitly protected by the university’s policy,” FIRE Program Counsel Jessie Appleby said. “This is a profound violation of her free speech rights and sends a chilling message to every student at Eastman.”

    FIRE is calling on university President Sarah C. Mangelsdorf to immediately reinstate Bryant Novak and ensure that she is able to complete her doctorate under the oversight of Eastman faculty and officials who are not already subject to investigation for misconduct in her case. 

    “I hope that by taking a stand here, I can help force Rochester to extend the kinds of protections to other students that were denied to me,” Bryant Novak said.

    The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to defending and sustaining the individual rights of all Americans to free speech and free thought — the most essential qualities of liberty. FIRE educates Americans about the importance of these inalienable rights, promotes a culture of respect for these rights, and provides the means to preserve them.

    CONTACT:

    Karl de Vries, Director of Media Relations, FIRE: 215-717-3473; [email protected]

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  • DOD Fails to Update Postsecondary Education Complaint System

    DOD Fails to Update Postsecondary Education Complaint System

    Is the US Department of Defense (DOD) actually handling complaints from service members and their spouses who are using DOD Tuition Assistance and MyTAA (the education program for spouses)? It’s difficult to tell, and it’s unlikely that they’ll tell us. 

    DD Form 2961 is used for servicemembers and their spouses to make complaints about schools. And it appears up to date.  And on their website, DOD still claims to help consumers work with schools about their complaints. 

    But information about the US Department of Defense Postsecondary Education Complaint System (PECS), the system that handles the complaints, has not been updated in about a decade. Here’s a screenshot from May 25, 2025.  

    What we do know is that DOD VOL ED and the DOD FOIA team have stonewalled us for eight years to get important information about their oversight. We also know that DOD VOL ED has allowed bad actor schools to violate DOD policies as they prey upon those who serve.  Over the years we have notified a number of media outlets about these issues but few if any have shown interest. 

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  • NLRB Region Files Complaint Against the NCAA, Pac-12 and the University of Southern California – CUPA-HR

    NLRB Region Files Complaint Against the NCAA, Pac-12 and the University of Southern California – CUPA-HR

    by CUPA-HR | December 21, 2022

    On December 15, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)’s Region 31 announced it will pursue a complaint against the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the Pac-12 Conference and the University of Southern California (USC) for violating the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) by misclassifying student-athletes as non-employees, unless the matter is settled. On February 8, the National College Players Association filed an unfair labor practice (ULP) charge with the region alleging that USC; the University of California, Los Angeles; the Pac-12 Conference; and the NCAA are “joint employers” who violated the NLRA by “repeatedly misclassifying employees as ‘student-athlete’ non-employees.”

    Region 31 is part of the NLRB’s Office of General Counsel, which is responsible for receiving charges from employees, unions or employers that allege violations of the NLRA. The region decides whether to issue a complaint on charges it receives. If the region does not issue a complaint, the matter is generally closed. If the region decides to file a complaint, however, the case is litigated before an administrative law judge.

    Region 31’s complaint is the latest development regarding the employment status of student-athletes. The National College Players Association’s February 8 charge followed NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo’s memorandum issued last September in which she argues that student-athletes are employees under the NLRA and are therefore afforded all statutory protections as prescribed under the law.

    The region’s decision in response to the February ULP charge means the NCAA, Pac-12 Conference and USC can either settle or litigate the case. A final ruling could take years to come to fruition, however, as both parties in the case could appeal the decisions made by the administrative law judge to the five-member NLRB. The NLRB’s decision can be appealed to federal appellate courts  and from there all the way up to the Supreme Court.

    The news of the region’s complaint follows the announcement earlier in the day that Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker would be the NCAA’s next president in March after his last term in office expires in January. Baker, a Republican, is known for his work to build bipartisan consensus on policy in Massachusetts, which the NCAA may recognize as a strength as they continue to engage Congress on other issues related to student-athlete compensation. It is unclear what, if any, impact this will have on the ULP charges.

    CUPA-HR will continue to keep members apprised of this case and others involving student-athlete employment classification that may emerge in the future.



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