The University of Connecticut has released a report by an independent counsel who looked into allegations of sexual misconduct by the former head of the school's music department and found that UConn's response to allegations of sexual misconduct were grossly inadequate prior to the current administration.
Robert Miller, of Mansfield, has been on paid leave since July while police and school officials investigated allegations of sexual misconduct with university students and decades-old molestation involving children, including boys who attended a camp for ill children.
DrinkerBiddle, the firm that put together the report, said Miller declined to be interviewed through his counsel.
Investigators interviewed 57 witnesses and reviewed thousands of electronic and hard copy documents.
They found that Miller "likely had" inappropriate contact with at least one middle school student in 1969, resigned from the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp because of inappropriate contact with certain minor campers and had inappropriate contact with the minor son of a fellow music professor, according to the report.
The report claims that Miller provided alcohol to underage university students and had inappropriate contact with several university students.
"Professor Miller took University students on trips to his vacation home in Vermont, including after he was advised not to socialize with students," the report states. "Professor Miller more likely than not danced in his underwear in the recording studio in the music building with a University student who also was in his underwear."
The law firm suggested that the former dean of the music school ignored or overlooked allegations of sexual misconduct.
Local
Investigators said no current or former UConn students were identified as victims, there was no pornography on Miller's computers and there was no evidence to support the allegation that Miller was visiting dorms and supplying University students with drugs as a means of seducing them.
Among the report findings were emails sent in November 2006 to the Department of Music from someone who alleged that Miller sexually abused him while he was in middle school in Virginia.
At this time, the former dean had been told of two prior allegations of Miller's sexual misconduct with minors but it appears he did not inform anyone, the report said.
There was some consultation about how to respond to the allegations, but university police were not informed, no investigation was performed and the advice the Assistant Attorney General assigned to the university provided was not followed, according to the report's findings.
In January 2008, the student who claimed Miller abused him in Virginia again sent an e-mail.
Campus officials tried to limit Miller's social interactions with students, but the directive was neither followed nor enforced, according to the report.
On December 12, 2011, the former head of the department of music received an anonymous letter with allegations that Miller had molested a camper from the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp, but the letter was not brought to the attention of the appropriate university officials until February 2013, according to the report.
When the letter was finally brought to the dean's attention, the school responded "appropriately and aggressively" to the allegations, the report found. From there, a criminal investigation was launched in coordination with state and Virginia police.
Miller has not been charged with any crime. State police have said the statute of limitations has expired for allegations in Connecticut but not for accusations involving a 13-year-old boy in Virginia four decades ago.
The report says no allegation known to university administrators contained sufficient detail to have been actionable under policies existing at the time.
Miller is barred from the Storrs campus and hasn't commented publicly on the allegations.
The report is scheduled to be presented Wednesday to UConn's Board of Trustees.
Icon set up a website detailing information about the ongoing investigation.
