Former U of M Students File Sexual Harassment Suit Against ‘Professor of Rock & Roll’

Several former students at the University of Michigan say they were sexually abused or harassed by a popular professor who was known as the 'Professor of Rock and Roll.'

The lecturer, whose real name is Bruce Conforth, resigned in 2017 after he is said to have admitted to allegations that were made against him.

Who is the Professor of Rock and Roll?

Conforth was an extremely popular professor in American culture on the university's Ann Arbor Campus and had a bigger-than-life personal which students say allowed him to groom victims.

He's accused of propositioning women, sending inappropriate emails, and in some cases even going as far as sexual assault.

In the video below, WDIV spoke with two of the former U of M students who are represented in the civil lawsuit. The suit is being filed on behalf of eight former students.

“He broke me down through encrypted aliases, increasingly requiring that I report anything I did with outside friends, scorning me for it, and then requiring that I service Bruce sexually as a way to redeem myself," Isabelle Brourman tells the TV station. "I grew scared, fearful to take missteps. I came to the university to learn and grow and instead one of the most popular professors used his knowledge, authenticated and raved about by the university, to stunt my growth, violate my body and to ruin my life out of jealousy.”

Brourman reported the professor's actions to police but a local prosecutor in Washtenaw County failed to move forward on the case.

University of Michigan Responds

A university representative issued a statement saying in part that U of M was preparing to fire Conforth had he not resigned in 2017.

The university took the necessary actions, outlined in a separation agreement, to permanently remove Mr. Conforth from the university community and restrict him from any further contact with students.

The full statement can be seen here.