George Randolph, a fixture of Toronto’s theatre community and founder of the Randolph College for the Performing Arts, formally resigned as president of the school last month amid an investigation into his conduct, the school announced Monday.Randolph announced his plans to step down as president at a College gala on Oct. 23, explaining he wanted to focus on other interests. His departure was slated for spring of 2018.Nine days after his announcement, a formal complaint about his conduct was brought to the College’s board of directors, leading to his earlier departure from the school.“For my part, I accepted responsibility and apologized formally for my failure to meet the standards that are in place to ensure a safe and productive learning environment,” Randolph said in an email. The board hired an independent investigator to review the complaint. “What we can share with you is that the investigation concluded that there was evidence of unwelcomed comments and physical gestures towards certain staff and adult students by the former President,” the statement said.The investigation was sparked by a letter of complaint from a “non-student,” said Stephen Greig, one of the College’s four board members, in an interview with the Star on Sunday.It’s unclear whether the “non-student” was an alumni, volunteer or staff member, and the exact nature of the allegations “are held in confidence to protect the interest of the complainant as per this person’s request,” the school said in a statement.The findings were submitted on Dec. 11 to the board by an independent investigator from a human resources consulting agency, hired to review the complaint into Randolph, who is heralded in the theatre community as a “pioneer” in performing arts. Randolph founded the College in 1992, popular for bringing his innovative “triple threat” curriculum for training actor-singer-d ...
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