11/19/2023 0 Comments Josh wolf showUNLV embarked on a search for a successor whose experience, scope and ambition would elevate BMI. Harter Black Mountain Institute, began making plans to retire. Harter, the founding executive director of what is now known as the Beverly Rogers, Carol C. It was in the service of a grander mission: expanding the institute - and the desert city surrounding it - into a world-class literary hub. Its headquarters were renovated and renamed the Beverly Rogers Literature and Law Building. We commit to doing better.”Ĭompany Town Top Hollywood talent agency accused of tolerating sexual harassment, misconductĬurrent and former employees of ICM Partners allege that the talent agency tolerated harassment and misconduct toward women and people of color.īMI was launched with a modest budget in 2006 at UNLV, a university best known for its athletics and hospitality programs, as a local institution with a global outlook - establishing fellowships for MFA recipients, launching a student magazine and hosting prestigious speakers such as Toni Morrison and Wole Soyinka.īetween 20, the Rogers Foundation gifted BMI $30 million, one of the largest donations UNLV has ever received. “We acknowledge that our university, and our department, have not always lived up to this ideal, and at times it has been a place where people feel unworthy, unwelcomed, or unsafe. “All members of the English Department and UNLV have the right to work and study in a professional environment that affirms their identity and allows them to grow as professionals without fear of mental, emotional, physical, or sexual harm,” said a statement by Gary Totten, UNLV’s English Department chair. The English Department, which partners with BMI, admitted to shortcomings in addressing harassment and discrimination in an email reviewed by The Times. It was only in May that one UNLV official acknowledged accountability - albeit indirectly. But five years later its well-funded institute and major magazine are without permanent leadership, while the university is unable or unwilling to account fully for why one of its most ambitious projects has floundered so visibly. He looked to be fulfilling his mandate - making UNLV a national literary center, an important Western rival to East Coast institutions. He said he was hired to reinvent BMI, and he suggested that his critics were entrenched employees who opposed his vision for it.įrom the early months of his leadership, when concerns first arose, until the video incident, Shenk continued to operate BMI despite complaints about his behavior. Shenk, speaking with The Times, denied that he had engaged in unwanted contact or propositions and ascribed other allegations to ugly office politics. Some Shenk supporters contacted The Times to advance an opposing perspective: He was hard-driving but socially awkward - the result, his therapist said, of his being on the autism spectrum. “It was absolutely part of a pattern of behavior.” “The reason this incident, even if it was unintentional, was so harmful to staff is because Josh had built this environment … of being an inappropriately casual, personal guy,” said one witness to the video exposure, who worked with Shenk. ![]() Shenk, the author of ‘Powers of Two,’ resigned as the leader of the Believer magazine and the Black Mountain Institute after a video incident. Some claim the university dismissed or failed to address their concerns.īooks Joshua Wolf Shenk has resigned as editor of the Believer magazine At least three others complained about a toxic atmosphere or requests that fell outside their duties. ![]() On at least four occasions, female staff members and students complained to faculty or administrators about touching, inappropriate comments or repeated dinner propositions. Many of those interviewed asked for anonymity, usually for fear of professional repercussions in a close-knit world and in a university that has discouraged public comment. ![]() Interviews with more than 20 people, including current and former staff and graduate students, reveal that the incident was just the latest controversy for the highly regarded literary figure, whose rocky tenure began shortly after he arrived on campus in 2015. He apologized for what he said was an isolated mistake, explaining later he had been bathing in Epsom salts to alleviate nerve pain. The incident was reported to the Office of Equal Employment and Title IX at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, which houses the literary institute, and Shenk resigned in March. During a video meeting in February, Joshua Wolf Shenk - then the executive director of the Black Mountain Institute and editor in chief of the Believer magazine - showed his genitals to about a dozen colleagues.
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