Music academy professor fired following alleged sexual harassment scandal / Article

Māris Kupčs was one of the teachers whose name came to light following allegations of sexual harassment and boundary violations against female students. Earlier, in a conversation with Latvian Television, he said: “I certainly did not commit any acts of a sexual nature. I categorically deny it. No contact, God forbid.”

Representatives of the Academy of Music had no additional comments on the dismissal. Police said an investigation was still ongoing. Māris Kupčs told Latvian television that he knew nothing about the dismissal, that it was the first time he had heard about it and therefore could not comment.

It was previously reported that in March this year, following accusations of sexual harassment against female students at the Music Academy, Māris Kupčs was temporarily suspended from his duties as head of the Department of Early Music. The maximum suspension period could have been three months.

At the end of March, the Ombudsman, the State Police and the Board of the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music (JVLMA) received another petition calling for an assessment of the suitability of suspended professor Maris Kupčs. The application was personally signed by 28 current and former students and professors of the Academy, and accompanied by 11 specific signed testimonies about the experience of cooperation with this lecturer, Latvian Television's “De Facto” reported.

The applicants' experiences range from the very recent past to much more distant, a decade or more, underscoring that the events were not random.

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