MICA professor resigns after former student alleges misconduct, says she informed college two years ago

“Regarding reports and allegations involving misconduct by others, MICA is committed to learning more about these and other issues including, but not limited to, sexual harassment, racism, and discrimination of any kind.”

A Maryland Institute College of Art illustration professor announced his immediate resignation after a Twitter post from a former student that alleged misconduct went viral.

According to a series of her tweets from last week, the woman said that about two years ago she emailed MICA’s human resources department, outlining a series of allegations against faculty member Daniel Krall. The woman met with HR but said in a tweet, “to my knowledge, nothing happened.”

The Baltimore Sun does not identify victims of sexual misconduct. She could not be reached for comment. Krall declined to comment.

The incidents began in 2014, the woman said, but she didn’t write the email to HR until about two years ago because she felt “stupid” for falling for a “notorious emotional grift.” She did not say what prompted her to post the email to Twitter, saying only, “f—- it, here’s an email I wrote almost exactly two years ago, to administration and HR at MICA.”

In the email, the woman said Krall entered into a physical relationship with her when she was a student, and that he was emotionally manipulative and abusive as he attempted to damage her career and make her feel guilty for taking other work opportunities, she said.

“When I talked to HR I got the overwhelming feeling that the person helping me wanted to do more but couldn’t implicate the college,” the woman said in the email. “They are literally contracted to protect the institution before you.”

After the Twitter post went viral, other former students cited similar allegations against Krall.

Krall, who worked for the college for over 16 years, according to LinkedIn, issued an apology June 22 after the woman’s tweets from the day before.

“I allowed myself to become a thoughtless and toxic person and I hurt people. Particularly the people who needed to feel safest in my company,” he wrote in a statement on Twitter. “There’s no good reason to have behaved so thoughtlessly and irresponsibly, and I understand and deserve the anger, loss of trust and tremendous disappointment all of you who’ve known me must feel.”

On Tuesday Krall announced on Twitter his resignation from the school. Hours later, MICA said in a Facebook post that it was accepting the resignation “effective immediately” as well as reviewing other concerns about Krall. The school also said it’s conducting a “comprehensive review” of its internal processes to “understand how they can be improved.”

“Regarding reports and allegations involving misconduct by others, MICA is committed to learning more about these and other issues including, but not limited to, sexual harassment, racism, and discrimination of any kind,” MICA said in the Facebook post.

The college said it would soon share a “safe avenue” for people to submit other concerns and information.

“I didn’t have especially weak boundaries, but Daniel groomed me for over a year, kept me in his studio until late hours (I don’t drive, he was my ride back home), and gave me hyperbolic false hope about where my career would go if I stuck with him,” she said on Twitter.

Krall said in his apology that “years of delusional excuses” led him to the “worst kind of ego trip.” He said it made him not think twice about being mean during a critique, gossip and “worst of all” partake in a romantic relationship with a former student.

“None of these things were ever excusable under any circumstances,” he wrote. “Avoidance is the worst kind of poison, and at the time I didn’t consider the power dynamic or the lasting harm that any of those things could do to someone’s sense of self worth or the development of their work and career.”

In a tweet to Krall, the woman said she did not read his apology.

—MICA in a Facebook post