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During her first semester pursuing a doctorate in conducting at the University of Rochester’s Eastman School of Music, Rebecca Bryant Novak reported sexual harassment by Professor Neil Varon and asked that the school limit her contact with Varon. But Senior Associate Dean and Title IX Coordinator John Hain rejected her request. According to Bryant Novak, Hain said the school trusted Varon — because he’s faculty — and told her to consider transferring somewhere else. 

In May 2024, Bryant Novak published their exchange on . Hain’s response? He threatened her with a defamation lawsuit.  

So she reported Hain’s handling of the complaint to the university’s administration and, after a yearlong investigation, the university determined Varon had indeed violated its  — and that Eastman had badly mishandled Bryant Novak’s complaint. 

Yet Eastman allowed Varon to retain oversight of Bryant Novak’s academic trajectory. It restricted her performance times, allowing her to avoid him but costing her conducting opportunities. When she protested, Eastman did nothing. 

Running out of options, Bryant Novak once again escalated her complaint about Eastman’s alleged retaliation to the University of Rochester, Eastman’s parent institution. The university launched a second investigation of Eastman in December 2024. 

In February, Bryant Novak wrote about it on her Substack. Days later, Eastman expelled her. 

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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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The school cited Bryant Novak’s supposed failure to make academic progress in its expulsion letter. Yet Eastman completely disregarded its own  regarding academic progress reviews. Apparently, just days after she took her complaints public, Eastman’s alleged concerns about Bryant Novak suddenly became so acute that it felt it needed to just go ahead and entirely skip over the two-semester review process required by its own policies before dismissal. 

Bryant Novak got no warning. No appeal. And the range of allegations Eastman cited for her expulsion didn’t even meet the  to put a student on warning status, let alone dismiss them. FIREhas plenty of experience in investigating cases, but one does not need to be Sherlock Holmes to figure out what was going on with Eastman and Bryant Novak.

Today, FIREwrote a letter to the University of Rochester, urging it to reinstate Bryant Novak: 

Eastman’s failure to follow its own policy in any respect, the temporal proximity of Bryant Novak’s dismissal to her public disclosure of Rochester’s investigation, and Eastman’s contentious history with Bryant Novak — including Hain’s lawsuit threat against Bryant Novak and the conflict of interest inherent in allowing Hain’s direct report, Ardizzone, to retain authority over Bryant Novak’s academic standing — all strongly suggest that Bryant Novak’s dismissal was retaliation for speech explicitly protected by Rochester policies.

The University of Rochester is a private institution, which means that unlike public universities, it is not a government actor obligated to uphold constitutional free speech rights. Nevertheless, it  students protection for their speech — including protection from retaliation for complaining about harassment. 

But no one protected Bryant Novak. When she spoke out about harassment, Eastman retaliated. When she protested the retaliation, Eastman expelled her. Let’s tell the University of Rochester to reinstate Bryant Novak and provide her the due process it promises all its students. 

Eastman tried to make her story an example. Instead, it should be a rallying cry.

FIRE defends the rights of students and faculty members — no matter their views — at public and private universities and colleges in the United States. If you are a student or a faculty member facing investigation or punishment for your speech, . If you’re faculty member at a public college or university, call the Faculty Legal Defense Fund 24-hour hotline at 254-500-FLDF (3533). If you’re a college journalist facing censorship or a media law question, call the Student Press Freedom Initiative 24-hour hotline at 717-734-SPFI (7734).