University of North Carolina School of the Arts settles lawsuit for sexual misconduct allegations

The University of North Carolina School of the Arts announced Friday the settlement of a lawsuit with dozens of alumni.

The lawsuit filed in 2021 on behalf of 65 alumni alleged sexual misconduct and abuse during the 1970s-1990s at the school in Winston-Salem.

“This resolution marks the end of a decades-long journey for these former UNCSA students,” said Lanier Law Group attorney Lisa Lanier in a news release. “It takes tremendous courage to pursue claims borne of past trauma and it has been our privilege to represent them in this process to bring institutional accountability for the inexcusable conduct to which they were subjected.”

The University of North Carolina System and School of the Arts has agreed to pay the alumni a total of $12.5 million over four years. The UNC System will pay $10 million of the settlement and the school will pay the remaining $2.5 million.

“The university worked diligently with us to reach this settlement, acknowledging that it was time to make amends for the past,” Lanier said.

University of North Carolina School of the Arts Chancellor Brian Cole echoed Lanier’s sentiments.

“Though this resolution cannot heal the wounds of the past, it is my deep hope that through it, the survivors who came forward feel our commitment to listening, acknowledging and doing right by them,” Cole said in a news release. “This has without a doubt been a dark time for UNCSA as we came to terms with accounts of sexual abuse, and we honor the courage it took for these alumni to share their experiences.”

UNC System President Peter Hans also issued a statement.

“Protecting the safety and wellbeing of our students is the university’s first responsibility,” Hans said. “Any violation of that trust is painful, and even more so when victims must wait decades for recognition and a measure of justice.

“I admire the courage and determination of survivors in seeking to right past wrongs, and I am grateful to Chancellor Cole and his team for confronting this difficult chapter with compassion and integrity.”

The lawsuit states, “Administrators and faculty at UNCSA turned a willful blind eye to the egregious conduct suffered by so many of the school’s students.”

According to the lawsuit, teachers would invite students to their home and serve them alcohol.

The suit also states there was “subtle grooming of young female dancers for later sexual abuse and exploitation.”

Some of the students were as young as 12 years old, according to the lawsuit. Other victims were teens, the suit states.

The suit began in 2021 with seven former students at the North Carolina School of Arts alleged what they say was years of sexual abuse.