ERA Sues San Francisco Conservatory of Music for Mishandling Student Sexual Assault & Harassment Case

May 6. 2025

For Immediate Release
May 6, 2025

Media Contact
Nazirah Ahmad
[email protected]

SAN FRANCISCO — Equal Rights Advocates and the Law Offices of Wendy Musell PC have filed a lawsuit against the San Francisco Conservatory of Music for mishandling a sexual assault, harassment, and stalking case involving an undergraduate student. The suit follows a 2024 investigation by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights that found the Conservatory “violated Title IX at every stage,” was “clearly unreasonable in light of known circumstances,” and was “deliberately indifferent” to the student’s complaints.

The suit hinges on multiple reported incidents of sexual assault, harassment, and stalking of a student by a classmate at the Conservatory, only to have her reports systematically ignored or mishandled by the institution. As alleged in the complaint, despite clear and ongoing Title IX violations that were repeatedly brought to the school’s attention, the Conservatory failed to take appropriate action to ensure the student’s safety and access to education.

“The San Francisco Conservatory’s failure to properly investigate our client’s reports or provide even the most basic Title IX protections is not just unacceptable,” said Maha Ibrahim, Managing Attorney of the Ending Sexual Violence in Education program at Equal Rights Advocates. “It’s a betrayal of trust that demands accountability so that women can have equal access to a major gatekeeper school in the world of elite professional musicians. When an educational institution deliberately ignores federal and state law and its own policies in responding to sexual misconduct, it doesn’t just fail one student—it puts the entire student body at risk.”

“We expect our schools to be places of learning, not places that foster and enable harassment,” said co-counsel Katherine Smith of the Law Offices of Wendy Mussell PC. “When an institution like the Conservatory of Music disregards California laws that are required to make students safe, those colleges will be held to account. No one is above the law. California’s civil rights laws are not optional.”

The complaint details numerous violations, including:

• Summarily dismissing the student’s complaint regarding sexual assault
• Failing to conduct a proper investigation into reported harassment and stalking
• Improperly allowing the alleged perpetrator to weaponize the Title IX process against the survivor
• Neglecting to protect the survivor after multiple reported violations of the Active Avoidance Order
• Failing to provide legally mandated procedural protections throughout the process

In January 2024, the San Francisco Regional Office for the Office for Civil Rights (which has since been decimated under the Trump Administration) announced a resolution agreement with the San Francisco Conservatory of Music that required the institution to correct its policies, train employees, provide information about other potential Title IX violations, and submit to monitoring to ensure compliance.

The student is seeking monetary damages and has sought additional programmatic remedies to bring the school into compliance with state and federal law and best practices, including third-party expert review of the Conservatory’s Title IX practices, campus culture climate surveys, creation of a student advisory committee, and improved training for faculty and staff.

The lawsuit underscores the critical importance of educational institutions properly handling reports of sexual misconduct to ensure all students have safe and equal access to education.

“No student should have to choose between their safety and their education, especially at an institution dedicated to nurturing young artists,” said Ibrahim. “This student body of specialized world-class musicians deserves better.”

For additional information or to request an interview with Maha Ibrahim of Equal Rights Advocates and/or Katherine Smith of the Law Offices of Wendy Musell, please contact Blake Case at [email protected] or 601-832-6079.

About Equal Rights Advocates

Equal Rights Advocates fights for gender justice in workplaces and schools across the country. Since 1974, they have been fighting on the front lines of social justice to protect and advance rights and opportunities for women, girls, and people of all gender identities through groundbreaking legal cases and bold legislation that sets the stage for the rest of the nation.