NEW HAVEN (CT)
Yale Daily News
November 21, 2017
By Adelaide Feibel
In response to last week’s news of former Yale Divinity School and Institute of Sacred Music professor Jaime Lara’s history of sexual abuse as a priest, Divinity School alumni sent a letter with over 120 signatures to Dean of the Divinity School Greg Sterling and Dean of the Institute of Sacred Music Martin Jean, urging them to take concrete actions to foster a “just, hospitable and equitable” learning environment for students and a climate of accountability for faculty and staff.
The letter was distributed starting last Wednesday in what Katey Zeh DIV ’08, one of the letter’s authors, called “a grassroots effort.” By signing the letter, alumni pledged to withhold financial support from both the Divinity School and the Institute of Sacred Music until the administrations of the two institutions address the letter’s requests “in good faith.”
“While we and many other alumni benefitted from amazing educations and transformative experiences during our time on the Quad, we are disappointed by what this news reveals — unhealthy and toxic power dynamics that too frequently characterize faculty-student encounters and relationships at YDS and ISM,” the letter states.
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