Yamaha, NYU drop ex-CCM professor Bradley Garner after sexual harassment investigation

World-renowned flutist Bradley Garner is no longer teaching at New York University or working for Yamaha as a musician after an Enquirer investigation published Wednesday detailed allegations of sexual misconduct.

NYU spokesman Jordan Bennett said the university was "unaware of allegations" surrounding Garner until an inquiry from an Enquirer reporter. A University of Cincinnati investigation in late 2016 found nine students who said the longtime flute professor inappropriately touched them or said or texted inappropriate things. The Enquirer interviewed two more students who made similar allegations. Garner retired from UC in December 2017.

"As of today, Mr. Garner is no longer an adjunct faculty member at NYU," Bennett said Wednesday in a statement. "Providing our students with a safe space to learn is our priority, and sexual misconduct of any kind is not tolerated."

Likewise, Yamaha Corp., which employed Garner as a promotional artist, has "officially terminated its relationship, completely and fully with Bradley Garner," Tom Sumner, Yamaha senior vice president, said in a statement Thursday.

The Juilliard School also issued its first public response Thursday to the allegations against Garner, who taught in its prep program for 8- to 18-year-old students for almost three decades. 

"At this time, we are not aware of any reports of sexual misconduct involving Bradley Garner at Juilliard," Alexandra Day, a spokeswoman, told The Enquirer in a statement. "Juilliard is committed to ensuring the safety and well-being of all members of the school community and has a zero-tolerance policy for sexual misconduct and harassment."

Garner taught at Juilliard Pre-College until December 2016, when the school learned informally of the University of Cincinnati's Title IX investigation, Day said. Garner was immediately placed on leave and did not teach at Juilliard in the spring 2017 semester. His annual contract expired in June 2017 and was not renewed, she said. 

Meanwhile, Wildacres Flute Retreat, a Western North Carolina flute camp, is standing behind and continuing to employ Garner, despite the allegations.

Garner faced allegations of sexual harassment of students spanning two decades during a University of Cincinnati investigation in 2016. The investigators found evidence of "unwanted sexual advances and verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature," as well as a "hostile environment" in the flute studio at UC's College-Conservatory of Music.

Considering the pervasiveness of the harassment, The Enquirer continues to ask the University of Cincinnati leadership, faculty and administrators at CCM about the culture and how this could’ve gone on for so long.

Administrators at the UC, however, have remained mute. 

The Enquirer sought comments from UC President Neville Pinto; former CCM Dean Peter Landgren, who is now president of the UC Foundation; Interim CCM Dean Bruce McClung; Randy Gardner, current chair of winds and percussion department; and others in CCM.

None responded.

More:Why University of Cincinnati professor accused of sexual harassment wasn't fired

Meanwhile, the chatter on social media flourished.

Stevens, a flute teacher at the American Music Institute in Illinois, also helped start a petition to the National Flute Association asking that Garner is "banned for life from teaching, presenting, or performing at conventions."

The petition currently has more than 270 signatures.

Jointly starting the petition was Mary Hales, a master's student at the University of Missouri in Columbia. She said she never studied with Garner, but knows many of his former students. 

"My initial gut reaction was I was just sick to my stomach that this was happening at all," Hales said. "Everyone seems to know that it was going on and no one was doing anything about it."

She hopes getting the National Flute Association involved would make a difference. Garner served on the association's board in the 1990s.

"It's been made pretty clear in a lot of industries that we are not going to tolerate harassment and assault," Hales said. "It's the flute world's turn."

Flutists around the country also took to Twitter to express their concern that Garner was still teaching and employed by Yamaha as one of the musical instrument company's promotional artists.

In North Carolina, Wildacres Course Director Anna Thibeault said Garner has taught at the camp, which draws students from all over the United States and the world, for 15 years. 

"I know the easiest way would be to say, ‘Brad, I think maybe you had better not come back,' but I’ve got more of a moral backbone than that," Thibeault told the Asheville Citizen-Times in an interview in which she referred to a 15-year-old girl as "a Lolita."

"I think it’s very, very unfair, and I’m so disgusted," Thibeault said of the investigation into Garner.