thoroughly 
investigate 
sexual 

misconduct.

***
David 
Daniels 
joined 
the 

Music, Theatre & Dance School 
faculty in 2015. One of the 
University’s most famous alumni, 
he enjoyed a quick rise to fame 
after graduating with a master’s 
degree from the vocal program 
in 1992, making his Metropolitan 
Opera Debut only five years after 
graduation. Daniels was well 
known in the opera sphere as the 
“world’s leading countertenor.” 
He’s so famous that Justice Ruth 
Bader Ginsburg officiated his 
wedding to Walters.

Daniels’s reputation has largely 

benefitted the University — it’s 
attracted 
several 
prospective 

students. Student 1, a student 
in the voice department who 
requested to remain anonymous 
due to privacy concerns, recalled 
when she auditioned for the 
program and the excitement 
surrounding Daniels joining the 

faculty.

“There 
were 
a 
lot 
of 

countertenors 
there 
(saying), 

‘Omg I just can’t wait to see if I 
can study with Daniels! I hope 
he’s in my audition room!’” 
Student 1 said.

Student 2, another student 

in the voice department who 
requested 
anonymity, 
was 

Daniels’ student. He said part 
of why chose the University was 
because he felt he meshed well 
with Daniels, and he knew he was 
a huge deal in the opera world.

SMTD Faculty Member 1, 

who also requested anonymity, 
expressed the strong sense of 
pride among the Music, Theatre 
& Dance School community that 
such a famous alum came back to 
teach at the school.

“We had such high hopes for 

him,” Faculty Member 1 said. 
“Everybody was so proud that he 
was on the faculty.”

Student 2 said part of why he 

was drawn to study with Daniels 
is because of his friendly, bubbly 
personality. Student 1 agreed and 
said her interactions with Daniels 
were nothing but positive. 

“Daniels was very openly 

friendly,” 
Student 
1 
said. 

“Cracking jokes, always had a 
huge smile on his face … (if asked) 
who was the most positive energy 
source in the program, I would 
probably say him as a professor.”

And yet, these faculty members 

and students agreed Daniels’s 
humor was often overtly sexual. 
Lipian’s lawyer Deborah Gordon 
writes in the lawsuit that she 
spoke with a faculty member who 
noted Daniels’s overtly sexual 
humor. Faculty Member 1 echoed 
this sentiment.

“It’s one of those ‘in retrospect’ 

things,” Faculty Member 1 said. 
“He would make jokes that I 
wouldn’t have been comfortable 
making.” 

Student 2 described how in his 

lessons, Daniels’s humor became 
increasingly sexual over the 
years.

“In 
lessons, 
he 
would 

pretty often talk about sexual 
things, which made me very 
uncomfortable,” Student 2 said. 
“I never expressed to him my 
sexuality at all but sometimes he 
would make assumptions about 
my sexuality and make comments 
as if I would laugh about certain 

things that might be popular 
in gay culture, in gay sexual 
cultures.”

This same student noted on 

several occasions, Daniels made 
sexual 
comments 
regarding 

other students.

“I 
remember 
times 

specifically, it was after one of 
my performances, (Daniels said) 
‘Who was that boy who played X 
role? How old is he?’” Student 
1 
said. 
“(He 
was) 
making 

comments about how attractive 
the person is. I don’t know, it just 
made me sort of uncomfortable 
that he was talking like that in 
front of me.”

Looking back, these students 

and faculty said it isn’t hard to 
imagine, then, that this kind of 
behavior was a hint at something 
more insidious.

***
Student 3, who requested 

anonymity due to privacy and 
safety concerns, said he was 
messaged on Grindr—a dating 
app geared towards gay and 
bisexual 
men—by 
someone 

with the username #GoBlue 
on March 26, 2018. #GoBlue 

offered him money to come 
over to his house and engage in 
sexual activity. After some initial 
conversation, #GoBlue let him 
know he was a faculty member at 
the University about to get tenure 
in May, and said because of this, 
they would have to be discreet.

The student told #GoBlue he 

thought he was messing around 
with him, and so #GoBlue 
revealed he was David Daniels. 
To confirm this, the student asked 
him to send a picture of himself 
touching his nose in real time.

The student provided The 

Daily with some of the text of this 
Grindr conversation, as well as 
the picture of Daniels touching 
his nose.

Daniels: Looking to make 

a 
hot 
dad/son 
fantasy 
to 

happen!$$$$$$ 
Does 
that 

interest you?

Student: Face? depends if I’m 

into you lol

Daniels: You come to my west 

side hotel , sit back to some porn, 
let daddy suck you off! You leave 
each time with $200 bucks. Very 
discreet here. U ofM affiliated so 
need to private (sic) and discreet 
about this.

The 
student 
was 
very 

distressed by this incident and 
confided in a friend. It was this 
friend who, on March 29, filed a 
report on behalf of the student, 
keeping the student anonymous. 
The student was unsure where 
the report went after that. He 
was not contacted by anyone 
until July, when DPSS detective 
Maureen Burke spoke with him 
over the phone.

In 
the 
Pittsfield 
police 

record, Burke and another DPSS 
detective, 
Margie 
Pillsbury, 

wrote that after they learned 
about 
Schultz’s 
allegations 

against Daniels in July, they 
learned of this student’s March 
allegation—though there was no 
explanation for the delay. Burke 
and Pillsbury contacted OIE 
Senior 
Investigator 
Elizabeth 

Seney and learned the student’s 
campus 
security 
authority 

had been forwarded to OIE to 
investigate the incident.

2A — Friday. November 2, 2018
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
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Regent Andrea Fischer Newman, running for re-election to the Board of Regents this November 

DANIELS
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Every Friday, one Daily news staffer will give a behind the scenes 
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Business sophomore Rachel Cunningham, “Community members 
gather for vigil after Pittsburgh synagogue shooting”

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