An accordion teacher groped at least four students at the Fontys Academy of Arts in Tilburg until 2008. This happened systematically during one-on-one lessons. One of those students was a minor. This is evident from a broadcast of the KRO-NCRV research program Pointer.
The teacher was reprimanded, but was able to stay on at the Fontys Academy of Arts until his retirement. The teacher’s behavior first came to light in 2008. This happened after the parents of one of the students, who had already graduated, filed an official complaint with Fontys University of Applied Sciences.
Their daughter was a minor at the time of the incident. She then came home upset with stories about ‘another lesson’. That lesson took place without an instrument and outside the school schedule. This happened several times and resulted in the student being groped by the teacher.
Regret
The complaint was heard by the Fontys complaints committee in 2008, declared well-founded and assessed as sexual harassment. The teacher was also reprimanded. The complaint also shows that the teacher admitted that he gave ‘the other lesson’ to at least one other student.
Pointer spoke in recent weeks with those two students and two other former accordion students who also became victims. The three students, including the student the teacher confessed to, say they never heard from Fontys about the matter. The current management of the college does not want to respond.
The former teacher says in a written response that he is deeply ashamed. “I deeply regret that because of my working method, students – who, believe it or not, have always been my first priority – have suffered.”
Utrecht
Pointer’s research also shows that the Utrecht University of the Arts (HKU) has engaged an external agency to investigate possible misconduct by a saxophone teacher at the Utrecht Conservatory. The school has announced that the teacher has been suspended until further notice.