Will nobody think of the rapists?

[mme_hardy]

In the last month there has been a long sequence of ugly allegations (by multiple people, backing one another up) of sexual abuse by teachers at the Royal Northern Academy of Music. One former professor has just been arrested for rape. Another has revealed that he resigned in protest after his protests against hiring a known abuser were ignored.

The head of the school is, as you would expect, concerned.

Merrick, a professional clarinettist who took up her role on 10 January, said many teachers were now terrified that they could be falsely accused of abusing students. "I've had a lot of male staff coming to me and saying, 'There is no way I would ever, ever, ever condone this sort of behaviour, ever be in that sort of position, but I am really nervous about doing my job,'" she said.

"Remember, they've had a close colleague who had worked with them for quite a long time who was arrested completely out of the blue.

"Of course people are thinking: 'Well, it could be me. What if somebody raises an allegation against me and there was no substance in it?

What if -- and I realize this is just a woman's unsubstantiated whimsy -- students are thinking 'Well, it could be me. What if my teacher harassed me? Would I be believed, unlike the women who went before me?'

Somehow that doesn't seem to be the nightmare scenario most on Principal Linda Merrick's mind.

"As a "good employer", she had to protect her staff against false allegations, Merrick added. "The safeguarding issue goes both ways."

The current heightened sensitivity had not yet led to a witch-hunt, she said. "But I think there's a danger it could become that."

For years two different teachers at her school sexually harassed their female students. One woman committed suicide shortly after testifying at the trial of her teacher (he was convicted). One teacher resigned in protest when a known sexual harasser was appointed as the head of the string department.

As for any damage allegedly caused by RNCM teachers in the past, Merrick said she "may well" write to those women who claim they were abused or taken advantage of sexually at the college.

"When it's died down and we're clear who we are apologising to for what, then yes, we might well do that," she said.

You could start, of course, by apologizing to the people whose testimony led to the conviction, in a court of law, of one of your teachers. That one is pretty damn clear, no matter how much you'd like it to be ambiguous. While you're at it, you could apologize to Martin Roscoe, who tried to keep your institution out of the mess in which it now finds itself.

Comments

[mme_hardy]

Yes. It does, unreasonably, particularly piss me off when it's a woman whose entire concern is with the feelings of the men who might be accused.