We recently covered the University of Connecticut’s new ban on sex between faculty and students, which had its origin in a case involving a music professor.

Colleen Flaherty of Inside Higher Ed does an in-depth review of similar cases of music-program mayhem, such as a College of Charleston music professor who has resigned after that institution’s investigation into sexual misconduct allegations against him. She also focuses on school policy changes related to how music departments handle student instruction.

The College of Charleston already has changed its music program policies in light of the Graf case. Students aren’t allowed to practice one-on-one with faculty in rooms with locked doors or blocked windows, McGee said.

With more students coming forward with allegations of misconduct, Botstein said he’d heard of music instructors videotaping lessons to protect themselves. While that’s going “too far,” he said, he advocated that institutions have clear, objective standards for professor and student conduct. And because the instructor-teacher relationship is more complicated when the student is an adult, he said institutions might consider explicitly training and empowering students to “head off” romantic advances. (Anything more aggressive or violent requires a third-party intervention, he noted.)

…Other best practices to prevent and stop professor sexual misconduct include having an easy means of reporting, such as through an online system; having department-level discussions on sexual assault and harassment; and dedicating a web page to those issues, with listed resources for the student, friends and family, Swinton said.The accused perpetrator should be suspended while the investigation is pending and, in other cases or if the professor returns to campus, the student accuser should be allowed to switch course schedules to avoid forced interaction with him or her.

In both UConn’s and College of Charleston’s cases, early warnings of child abuse also were seemingly ignored. Swinton said that although they didn’t contain information about students at those colleges, “institutions have an obligation to investigate the matter.” Allegations of child sexual abuse must be shared with law enforcement officials, as well as the institution’s Title IX coordinator.

The female trombonist said she advised students who have experienced professor misconduct to speak out. Since 2011, she said she’s heard of other musicians whose aspiring careers have been “ruined” by such incidents. They don’t report what happened but remain so disturbed that they eventually give up their instruments, she said.

“I can’t imagine living everyday and not coming forward to tell someone, while [the perpetrators are] still living their lives, and nothing’s changed for them — while they’re still sitting in the back of a prestigious orchestra playing concertos,” she said.