In a public Facebook post from 2012, violinist and teacher Dan Flanagan, a current UC Berkeley employee, wrote of fellow violinist Lara St John "she's a beast...and she ought to be euthanized. And contrary to popular assumption, she's not pregnant." According to St John, Flanagan subsequently attempted to pass off his comments as being written on a satirical review page, despite it being posted publicly for several hours on his profile.

When St John contacted Flanagan's then-employers, UC Davis, no action was taken, and he also continued to perform for several years with the California Symphony Orchestra, despite the orchestra's conductors claiming that he would no longer be hired.

As a proud Berkeley alumni and music major, I'm appalled that this person was hired to teach at such a respected university. There should be zero tolerance toward such misogynistic and dehumanizing language at any institution, but especially one like Berkeley that claims to be focused on gender equality.

We, the undersigned, demand that:

1. Dan Flanagan must be removed as soon as possible from his position at Berkeley, not only because of his own behavior, but because of how it can affect the young people he teaches - especially female students. The Berkeley music department will not be a safe place for anyone as long as he remains there.
2. If this behavior was already known when Flanagan was hired, an internal review must be conducted to determine why that decision was made and ensure that it never happens again.

Pranav Sivakumar, Berkeley '21, B.A. Music (composition)

M.A. Composition student at Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre