Allegations of Misconduct, Student Outcry Cloud Andrews’ Return as Theatre Director

The Nelly Goletti Theatre in the Marist Student Center. Credit: Emily Stellakis ‘24

On Sept. 5, 65 theatre alumni attended a Zoom call to discuss their concerns about English professor and director of theatre Matt Andrews returning to lead the fall MainStage production, Our Town.

Andrews’ three-year hiatus as director and advisor to the Marist College Club of Theatre Arts (MCCTA) began in the fall of 2020 following a series of allegations from students regarding his conduct in the classroom and the club. This September, alumni and current students contacted the unofficial head of the Marist Theatre alumni group, Jim Joseph ‘91, to express their concerns. Joseph contacted Martin Shaffer, dean of the School of Liberal Arts, and Robert Lynch, director of Student Activities, to schedule the September Zoom discussion.

“Theatre is supposed to be a safe space for personal and professional growth,” said Joseph. “It seems that too many students have had the opposite experience, and that disappoints me. The current students now feel betrayed that his involvement has returned.”

Students and alums are concerned about Andrews’ return as theatre director because of the toxic environment they feel he created in the theatre program. Andrews did not respond to requests for comment.

Andrews began teaching at Marist in 2000 and was hired when Marist’s academic theatre program was in its infancy. Andrews built up the theatre program, making it more competitive on a professional level, according to John Norton ‘07, so students would have the experience necessary to succeed in the theatre industry following graduation.

Norton was one of the alums who attended the Zoom call. He began his Marist studies as an English major with a concentration in theatre. Norton has since become a professional screenwriter and has received three awards from the Kennedy Center.

Norton says he found his calling for theatre in high school when he worked with writers, actors and directors from Broadway. Such exposure, he says, gave him high standards in the Theatre Department at Marist. Norton went on to build a professional working relationship with Andrews, who was his academic advisor.

Senior members of MCCTA warned Norton about Andrews’ temper, Norton says, but Andrews was his advisor, and they had the common goal of building a reputable academic theatre program.

“It was when I started to work with him and started being in shows with him that I realized why the seniors would warn younger students away,” said Norton. “The longer I worked with him, the more problematic issues arose. He would say offhand comments about other students, and I noted he had more of an unprofessional manner about him.”

As an underclassman, Norton did not feel comfortable speaking out to Andrews about his offhand comments. Then, Norton wrote a review of a Marist Theatre play directed by someone other than Andrews for the Marist Circle.

“A week later, Andrews submitted an op-ed to the Marist Circle attacking me and attacking my credibility,” said Norton. “This was my advisor.”

The Circle could not independently confirm that an op-ed was submitted to the Circle in 2007.

According to Norton, Andrews no longer spoke to him following the incident. Norton is entirely removed from the Marist Theatre Program and no longer receives emails or updates, something Norton believes was Andrews’ doing.

“People came and went and graduated, but because of the fact that he is the theatre program, there was not a department to keep in touch with; it was just him,” Norton said. “If he didn’t like you, he made sure you were not welcome.”

Other students say they noticed a pattern in Andrews’ behavior over the next decade, keeping the conversations to back-channel discussions amongst the theatre department.

Then, on July 10, 2020, the concerns went public. On the Instagram page @BIPOCatMaristCollege, which has since been deleted, students created a specific post dedicated to the alleged incidents they collected. One of the posts shared, “The man who is in charge of the theatre club at Marist is the reason why I dropped the theatre minor.” Other alleged incidents included his commenting on a girl’s clothes being more modest than usual and another about his comments on a girl’s accent while she was on stage.

The same day, a student started a petition on Change.org to get Andrews fired. Currently, the petition has over 800 signatories, many of whom left comments about why they signed, including students who allege their theatre scholarships were revoked.

The MCCTA board emailed Shaffer, and Thomas Wermuth the then-vice president of Academic Affairs, about compiling reports on the BIPOC Instagram. The investigation was launched following the BIPOC posts, but Shaffer and Wermuth told the theatre Board that they needed students to submit official reports to the school through Marist’s website for them to act. Ultimately, two official reports were submitted to Title IX and further investigated in 2020, according to Joseph.

“It was agreed in 2020 that he needed a “hiatus” from running the program,” Joseph, the alumnus and organizer of the Zoom discussion, said. “The college felt he had ‘too much power’ as he was overseeing the academic theatre program, MCCTA, and was also in charge of assigning theatre scholarships.”

When he returned to direct the MainStage production this fall, alumni expressed concern for the current students that Andrews would return to the position of power they had worked to reduce.

A theatre student from the past four years who worked closely with Andrews heard the news of his return at the end of the spring 2023 semester. The student requested anonymity because of the trauma she says she faced following her experiences with Andrews and fears retaliation for speaking out.

“After Matt Andrews was no longer the head of the theatre program and the head of the theatre club, he was outspoken [about] not supporting the theatre club or program,” she said. “He told me privately to let the club fail.”

“You can’t say no to a power figure, especially in theatre; you never want to upset someone because then you won’t get cast in a show,” she said.

Current students echo the sentiment. Students express concern that Andrews has made himself so essential to the theatre program that the program or the club may not survive Andrews’ removal.

She is still recovering from her Marist theatre experience and is just now finding her love of theatre again. She helped current students send an email to Shaffer and Lynch. She was present at the Zoom meeting and contacted Joseph about how alums and students were reacting to the news.

She felt that she had to be there for current students and other alums who have experienced the environment created by Andrews.

“I cried all of the time because of the theatre,” she said. “[Andrews] pitted students against each other because he created such a competitive environment that kids would start to hate each other because they wanted a role and to be liked by him.”

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In 2020, a group of students collected 16 additional reports from alumni and current students explaining personal incidents with Andrews, which were then organized and given to Lynch, Shaffer and Wermuth – respectively the director of Student Activities, dean of the School of Liberal Arts and the then-vice president of Academic Affairs.

“Some of these included homophobia, sexism, fatphobia, racism, all of which are inappropriate for a professor,” the anonymous student said.

The reports included screenshotted text messages of Andrews becoming angry when a song rehearsal ended early after a student hurt her knee. Another recounted a conversation he had with female students about getting into better shape. One of the other reports, sent by a student from Mexico, alleged Andrews said “build the wall,” when the student told him where he was from.

Some students chose to take a step back from theatre because of Andrews’ return as director this semester. Nicholas Donohue ‘24 has participated in theatre since his freshman year. Donohue said he was in denial all summer that Andrews would be directing the fall MainStage his final year.

“I got here, and said I am not auditioning,” said Donohue. “I am not going to touch this show with a 10-foot pole.”

Donohue was among the students who believed that despite Andrews’ tenure, the petition and the reports submitted by students would result in Andrews’ dismissal from Marist or at least the theatre program.

However, the Marist Faculty Handbook, which governs the employment rules for faculty, lays out how tenured professors will only be terminated due to “professional incompetence or misconduct” or “serious personal misconduct detrimental to the College (moral turpitude),” something the investigation into the official complaints failed to prove. Students say the investigation brought attention to the theatre program’s reliance on one professor.

Shaffer believes that one of the goals of studying theatre is to work with different types of directors. Therefore, Shaffer and Lynch decided last spring to institute a rotating system where play directors switch off each semester.

“Every director has a different style,” said Shaffer. “It is important to work with different types of professionals. [Andrews] has directed plays here for a long time, and for the fall play, it seemed like a success.”

Shaffer hopes students understand that any decisions made are meant to protect the quality of the student experience in theatre.

“The decisions that had been made were not made in a cavalier way and factors were discussed that could not be shared,” said Shaffer. “Student concerns are being heard.”

Factual edits have been made to the article since the publication of the print version on Oct. 31.