The interim head of the music academy promises to create a safe learning environment

After, at the beginning of the year, the management of the Academy of Music became aware of the possible sexual harassment of female students by lecturers, the head of the Senate at that time, Ilona Meija, initiated the creation of an anonymous student survey, which revealed the true extent of the problem. The university council has appointed Meija as acting rector, stating that she understands the necessary changes.

Meija has set the main tasks of ensuring a safe learning environment.

Ilona May

the newly appointed Acting Rector of the Academy of Music

I hope that I will be able to move the processes of the academy forward, and right now the most important priority is this safe environment. Continue all these activities with the organization of a safe environment, including state exams, graduation, and entrance exams.

The Academy has already started work on organizing a safe learning environment, including improving the mechanism for reporting various violations, including the examination of anonymous reports, which until now remained ignored. Most likely, video surveillance cameras will not be placed in the classrooms, but other solutions will be sought so that the individual work between students and teachers is transparent.

“We will focus on some rooms that are safe environment rooms, because we still believe that this environment as a whole is not damaged to such a level that we need these extremely heavy and financially intensive solutions. It must be said that the Music Academy does not have funding for such solutions, it is a conversation with the Ministry of Culture,” says Timur Thomsons, chairman of the Council of the Music Academy.

In the meantime, students have turned to the Student Self-Government, demanding other improvements in the creation of a safe environment, which they consider essential.

Jēkabs Bernats

The representative of the Student Self-Government of the Academy of Music

The biggest problem is that the instructors in the academy system can see which classes the students are in, this would be the fastest solution, so that the instructor, when entering the university late at night, does not see where the potential victim is – in which office, because the doors in the academy offices cannot be locked from the inside, and students may study alone on the whole floor, but the teacher can find them.

The newly appointed temporary head of the academy, Meija, says that the scandal has seriously undermined the atmosphere in the teaching staff, she promises to ensure that the mood among the lecturers improves. “For the teachers who have been working here for many years, sincerely and with all their heart, and it is no secret that the music field is really passionate about their work, if we look at the salary, then for many teachers, I am not afraid to say, it was insulting. And this insult still hasn’t been removed. We need to work on the code of ethics, which is outdated,” says May.

The Academy Council will soon announce an international competition for the position of rector. The previous head, Guntars Prānis, resigned a week ago, stating that staying there – after the sexual harassment scandal – makes the academy’s work more difficult. He continues his work at the university as a professor and researcher.

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