Curtis Institute will use a hotline service to handle reports of harassment

The Curtis Institute of Music distributed a letter Wednesday night to the Curtis community from the institution’s president and CEO, Roberto Díaz, announcing that, going forward, the school will use a third-party hotline to handle "reports of misconduct.”

“The purpose of this service is to ensure that any community member wishing to make a report of misconduct can do so in a safe space, without fear of reprisal,” Díaz said in the letter, which lists a 24-hour, toll-free phone number, a website, an email address, and a fax number where students and others can reach out.

“As president and CEO of Curtis, I have a responsibility to ensure a healthy school culture in which our community members feel safe, supported, and heard when they voice concerns,” Díaz wrote, describing the hotline as an additional resource beyond the school’s “existing channels.”

“We will take every report made to the hotline seriously," Díaz wrote. "The reports will be reviewed and investigated and, if the circumstances warrant, we will bring in an outside investigator to conduct an investigation.” The letter did not go into greater detail about that process.

A Curtis spokesperson said in a statement that the hotline allows Curtis community members “to report past or present wrongdoing, including sexual misconduct, anonymously and from any location.” She said Curtis would not be providing any comment beyond what’s in the letter.

The announcement is the latest response by the prestigious music school after an Inquirer investigation into sexual-assault allegations at the school, principally by the violinist Lara St. John, who said she had been sexually assaulted as a Curtis student in the mid-1980s by her teacher, Jascha Brodsky.

Wednesday’s letter describes the third-party hotline operator, Lighthouse Services Inc., as a provider of independent hotline services to nonprofits, institutions of higher education, K-12 schools, and youth services organizations, among other clients.

“If a community member does not wish to make a report to the hotline, but would like to speak to someone at Curtis, he or she may reach out to me, Senior Director of Human Resources Patricia Lombardo, or Associate Dean of Student and Academic Affairs Nicholas Lewis," Díaz wrote. The letter lists phone numbers for all three administrators.