Latvia’s former culture minister Helena Demakova is standing down as Chair of the Council of the Jazeps Vitols Latvian Academy of Music (JVLMA).
Demakova informed LETA that she is resigning because this “time is emotionally too hard” for her. She also does not want the quality of her lectures at the Art Academy of Latvia to suffer.
“Whether the entire council should carry on is up to the council to decide. I have informed the other members of the council on WhatsApp. I am sorry because I have let down the culture minister and the girls who suffered” sexual harassment by their professors, Demakova said.
As reported, the State Police has launched a criminal investigation into alleged sexual harassment of female students by JVLMA academic staff.
The JVLMA Council has expressed no-confidence in the academy’s rector Guntars Pranis and called for him to resign amid the allegations of sexual harassment of female students by the JVLMA’s academic staff, but Pranis has refused to stand down.
So far, one associate professor of the JVLMA has received disciplinary punishment and one has been suspended and banned from contacting his students.
According to information available on the JVLMA website, associate professor Maris Kupcs has been removed as head of the JVLMA Department of Early Music. His name has been mentioned in relations with the allegations of sexual harassment at the academy. Associate professor Rolands Kronlaks, meanwhile, has lost his job as head of the JVLMA Department of Music Technology.
Source: BNS
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