Cleveland Institute of Music's Tumultuous Era Continues With Contentious Union Vote This Week

A year and a half of “crisis” at CIM reaches a head this week, as a vote to unionize has divided faculty. Credit: Warren LeMay / flickrcc

In April 2023, near the close of the spring semester at the Cleveland Institute of Music, some 30 students were interviewed by school officials about one of their professors, principal conductor Carlos Kalmar.

Allegations of sexual harassment circulated. Vivian Scott, CIM’s Title IX coordinator, was “horrified” at the comments made about Kalmar. Earlier this year, Kalmar was removed from the faculty, although the investigation cleared him of allegations and he brought legal action against the school from wrongful termination.

It wasn’t the only high-profile incident at the school. After 35 years at CIM, Michael Sachs, the former chair of CIM’s brass division and principal trumpet for the Cleveland Orchestra, resigned in October 2023 citing what he called baseless attacks by CIM leadership.

After nearly two years of turmoil, tensions continue at the school as faculty vote yesterday and today on whether to unionize. The lingering decision, and arguments for and against, have divided staff.

If the votes lean towards yes—which would require a majority-plus-one count—CIM’s faculty will join the American Federation of Musicians Local 4, based here in Cleveland. If the union push is successful, for the first time in the Institute’s 124-year history, a bargaining contract would be created to leverage higher salaries and better job security.

The union drive, led by oboist Frank Rosenwein, has created factions within the school in University Circle. Lengthy letters have been sent by both sides to faculty, with accusations that one or the other don’t have the school’s best interest at heart.

“We believe this unionization push has very little to do with gaining rights for the faculty or improving working conditions, and everything to do with revenge, with ‘sticking it’ to the administration,” an anti-union faculty member wrote in a letter obtained by Scene.

“It also has to do with a small group of faculty members being under the illusion that if a union is voted in, they would take over and run the whole school,” it added.

The admins in question are CEO Paul Hogle and Board Chair Bonnie Cook, who have been used in some way to pit the two factions against one another. Hogle himself (along with Cook’s predecessor, Susan Rothmann) was the subject last November of an attempted ousting by 200 CIM students following the Kalmar saga.

Tensions ran high soon thereafter. In February, Kalmar filed a $25 million suit. In March, a “no confidence” vote was made for Hogle. In April, Mark Jackobs, a professor of violin, filed an unfair labor practice lawsuit after he was fired for allegedly dishing out critical comments aimed at admins. (“He said openly, ‘We will nuke the school if necessary,'” a faculty member told Scene, ‘”and then rebuild it from the rubble.'”)

In an interview with Scene Tuesday, the anonymous leader of the anti-union committee explained that their side believed that a unionization of CIM was primarily the result of Kalmar’s and Jackobs’ departures, along with the budget struggles common elsewhere at universities around the country.

“I think that the thing that they’re promising is job security,” they told Scene. “So, like, they’re saying, oh, if the union is voted, and you can never be fired, which, of course, is never true.”

In a video statement released this week, Cook spoke out against the union and its supporters, feeling that a yes vote would hamper a CIM already scrounging for better margins.

A union costs money, Cook said. Any bargaining contract takes months—years. And it will cost its members in annual dues, too.

“I think you would agree with me,” she said in the video, published on Monday. “Faculty concerns are best improved through shared governance.”

In a statement to Crain’s Cleveland, the school admins themselves took a neutral stance.

“The CIM administration will respect the results of the vote and looks forward to working with our outstanding faculty to continue to accomplish our mission,” they said, “to empower the world’s most talented classical music students to fulfill their dreams and potential.”

Faculty can vote through 5 p.m. today.