The Barbed Wire, in collaboration with The Rice Thresher, posted an article earlier this month about the decades-long abuse suffered by female musicians at the hands of William “Bill” Vermeulen, the horn professor at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music since 1990.

VerMeulen apparently had a history of sexual harrasement allegations dating back to the mid-1990’s, but the school seemed unable (or unwilling) to act to protect students until photos of VerMeulen emerged last year.

In the eight months since VerMeulen’s retirement, 15 of his former students came forward to The Barbed Wire with allegations of sexual misconduct in his studio. Four women told The Barbed Wire that VerMeulen sexually solicited them or physically forced himself on them when they were current or recent students — describing experiences of unwanted touching, groping, and kissing. One was so traumatized by her experience in the late 2000s that, after speaking with reporters for months, she decided she was not emotionally prepared to detail her story publicly — but consented to being anonymously included in a total of survivors, since she does not want any other women to experience what happened to her.

Eleven of those former students — who studied under VerMeulen as early as 1995, and as late as 2019 — said they witnessed sexualized jokes, overtures, innuendos and a broader culture of misogyny apparent in VerMeulen’s lessons. His studio, “the Crew,” became a microcosm of the larger brass world, those former students said: male-dominated, crude and often cruel, especially toward female students.

At varying times, students had approached the Rice administration with allegations of sexual harassment, but (until recently) the administration always sided with VerMeulen.

“The school protects the teacher because they have an investment in the teacher…The investment in the student is minimal.

His behavior was such a poorly-kept secret that students in the studio often took it upon themselves to take care of their female colleagues who were being harrassed:

VerMeulen’s alleged misconduct apparently hadn’t gone unnoticed by other members of the studio, either: Two men who studied in the studio that same year would often “work out a schedule” to attend Crago’s private lessons, she told The Barbed Wire. VerMeulen was still employing his open-door policy, which allowed any students to observe their peers’ lessons. She didn’t realize until they told her, months later, but the two students had taken turns observing her lessons — quietly watching over her in fear that VerMeulen might soon “target” Crago.

As an aside, one of the Rice graduates quoted in the story is Dominic Rotella – principal horn in the Richmond, VA Symphony. Dominic was an undergrad at the University of Louisville when I was getting my Master’s degree. He was always a great player and musician, but it’s comforting to see he’s also a good guy, and not afraid to call out misbehavior when he sees it.

“People still fear the influence that he has, even now. He’s risen from the ashes before,” said Dominic Rotella, who studied with VerMeulen from 2017 to 2019 and is currently principal horn of the Richmond Symphony. “He’s still employed by the Houston Symphony, and so he’s still responsible for who gets to (substitute) with that orchestra. And what’s to say that a couple years from now the temperature gets dialed down a bit and some other university hires him?”

Read the article. Call out this kind of behavior if you see it.