MA--Victims urge BU/Tanglewood to oust accused musician

For immediate release: Tuesday, June 21, 2016

Statement by David Clohessy of St. Louis, Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 566 9790,314 645 5915 home, [email protected])

A Boston University musician who faces a recent, pending civil lawsuit charging that he sexually harassed two college students apparently was or is teaching high school kids for two week at Tanglewood in western Massachusetts. This is an extraordinarily careless and reckless move.  We urge BU President Robert A. Brown (the highest paid college president in the state) to reverse this move, keep Eric Ruske off campus and away from teenagers and young people at any BU site or program and apologize for his irresponsible behavior.

In April, in a civil lawsuit, Ruske was accused of repeatedly sexually harassing two college students.

Then, after we disclosed his planned presence there, officials at the Wyoming Symphony prudently rescinded their offer to let Ruske perform with them.

http://whdh.com/news/bu-professor-uninvited-to-play-with-orchestra-following-sexual-harassment-lawsuit/

http://www.snapnetwork.org/wy_victims_applaud_symphony_s_move_today

http://www.snapnetwork.org/wy_musician_accused_of_abuse_victims_respond

But now, on the “Tanglewood” section of the BU website, Ruske is a faculty member listed under: "Two Week Workshops" on their page: http://www.bu.edu/cfa/tanglewood/employees/faculty/

http://www.bu.edu/cfa/profile/eric-ruske/

We applaud the Wyoming Symphony officials and deplore the Boston University and Tanglewood officials. The former acted prudently. The latter acted irresponsibly.

Donors to Tanglewood and alums of BU should consider how they’ll feel if it turns out that Ruske sexually harasses a young teen this month at Tanglewood or at another Boston University site or program.

Some will try to paint us as vengeful vigilantes. Nothing could be further from the truth. Our goals here are simple and clear – to help protect the vulnerable, heal the wounded, expose the truth and deter more recklessness.

New again applaud the courage of the young Boston women – Eris Shyr and Maria Currie – who are exposing wrongdoing by Ruske and Boston University staff.

No matter what Boston University officials do or don’t do, we urge every single person who saw, suspected or suffered child sex crimes and cover ups at the university or its Tanglewood program to protect kids by calling police, get help by calling therapists, expose wrongdoers by calling law enforcement, get justice by calling attorneys, and be comforted by calling support groups like ours. This is how innocent kids and vulnerable adults will be safer, victims will recover, criminals will be prosecuted, cover ups will be deterred and the truth will surface.

(SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is the world’s oldest and largest support group for clergy abuse victims. SNAP was founded in 1988 and has more than 20,000 members. Despite the word “priest” in our title, we have members who were molested by religious figures of all denominations, including nuns, rabbis, bishops, and Protestant ministers. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org)

Contact - David Clohessy (314-566-9790 cell, [email protected]), Barbara Dorris (314-503-0003 cell,[email protected])