The Berklee College of Music

The Berklee™ Experience

This section begins as area that troubles me. I will give an honest description of my observations and experiences at Berklee™ College of Music.
I hope to reach anyone who is considering attending Berklee™.

Getting In

It is very easy to get accepted; all you need is money.
Jazz performers may be eligible for scholarships. Non-performing composers and performers of other styles may apply for scholarships.

Boston

Boston is crowded and very expensive. One bedroom apartments average about $1500 a month.
To secure an apartment, you usually must pay the following: first month's rent, last month's rent, a security deposit (amt. of one month's rent), and a realty fee (amt. of one month's rent).
Looking for a one bedroom apartment? $6000, please. Most students will share two or more people to a one bedroom apt. While searching for apartments, one of the first questions you'll be asked is

"What do you do?" if the realtor finds out that you are a college student, you will either be asked "Which school do you attend?" or you will be told "Sorry, we don't have any student apartments." Students are discriminated against, and housing is refused (legally) to undergraduate students. Ask any realtor.
What this means is that you must find a "students accepted" building.
These buildings usually rent only to students.
They and are noisy and dirty.

Berklee™ seems to be one of the least popular schools among realtors. If you are going to admit to the realtor that you are a student, tell the bastard that you're enrolled in a graduate program at Harvard or MIT.

Students

The best players are the students. Berklee™'s one redeeming quality is that it is a magnet for good players. Some of the people who go Berklee™ are really trying to achieve greatness.
While I was at Berklee™, I had the opportunity to play and interact with some very creative and talented players. Unfortunately, many of the teachers are either not interested in teaching or lack talent. Some really bad teachers (non-teachers) I had at
Berklee™ include
John Marasco, Shawn Michaud, Skip Whitmyer, and the list goes on.

Exile

A few of the teachers made some false allegations and corroborated enough to convince the dean, Lawrence Bethune, to have me removed from the school. Bethune and (at least one) teacher tried to have me arrested. The second occasion was while I was working as a student employee. Bethune had decided that it was time to have me indefinitely suspended.

In January, 2000, while I was working as a student employee, Bethune (the dean) had the security to force me to leave the school. I did not go away, and they called the Boston police to have me arrested and taken to jail for tresspassing.
I didn't threaten anyone, I didn't raise my voice. I wasn't even rude to anyone. I was given a letter of suspension.
Currently, I am “indefinitely suspended”.

Assistant professor James "Mitch" Haupers told Bethune and others that I had kicked him. Jim Smith had also complained to Bethune, saying that I made him feel threatened.

I had criticized Jim Smith, saying that a five-year old could bang on the piano and it would sound better than what he played for us. This was only after Jim Smith had asked me why I wanted to drop his class. I was calm and relaxed when I told him this. I was trying to persuade Jim Smith to officially remove me from his roster, for which he was putting up quite a fuss. Honesty is my only excuse.

Mitch Haupers was the worst teacher I have ever had.
He seems to feel the same way about me, which explains why he failed me (grade of 'F'). Mitch Haupers lied to Bethune, saying that I kicked him —an outright lie, but Bethune believed it.

In October 1999, I received a letter from Lawrence Bethune. In that letter, he mentioned a report that he had recieved from Berklee™ security. I quote the letter:

“…you assaulted Mr. Haupers last night…” “You have had another encounter with Mr. Haupers was threatened by you a few weeks ago.”

Apparently, he didn't even consider rereading or proofreading what he said. After I responded to this letter, I met with Bethune. After the meeting with Bethune,
Bethune wrote in a letter to me that he had come to the conclusion that I did

“..threaten and assault Mitch Haupers.”
For this, I received a warning.
Based on his conclusion, I wonder why I was not arrested and expelled at that time.
Bethune mentioned that he had gotten a lot of pressure from various faculty members to have me arrested and permanently removed. He had already spoken to the police.
Someone at Berklee™ had (I believe) sought to have a restraining order placed on me.
Apparently, this failed.

Mitch and his wife have not only persisted with this story, they have augmented it by presenting even more false information to Bethune. I know this from Bethune's letters to me.
Both Mitch and his wife claimed that I threatened them, although after being suspended, I have not spoken a word to either. I have only once met his wife, and she was short with me (undoubtedly her husband had told of me to her).

Legal aspect

It is my belief that Berklee™ owes me a tuition reimbursement. However, given my financial situation, I am not able to do anything about it. I did have a lawyer who was working pro bono.
But, as the saying goes, you only get what you pay for (Not the case for Berklee™'s expensive tuition).

My attorney, Anthony Zelle, skipped a meeting that he had set up with Bethune and myself. He also recommended me to take a job that PSG
Boston (a temp agency) had offered to me.
The job was registering students at
Berklee™ College. Zelle demonstrated poor understanding and bad judgement of my situation, and I realized that I had to fire him.

Berklee™ Spreads the word to PSG Boston

Berklee™ offers a Career Resource Center to the students. They don't have many job listings. You're really on your own there. Nonetheless, I need every resource I can use.
I need a job. Even though I have spent over $30,000 at Berklee™, I am not allowed to use the Career resource center.

I have registered with many agencies, one of which is PSG Boston. One such agency, PSG Boston, had given me a few jobs. They stopped giving me jobs after a nasty chain of events involving Bethune (the dean),
Anthony Zelle (My pro bono atty), and Berklee™ HR.

A recruiter from PSG Boston had offered me a temporary job registering students at Berklee™ College. I at first declined, and then
I consulted my lawyer, Anthony Zelle, who encouraged me to take the job.
I did not get that job, for disturbing chain of events occurred.
First, Zelle informed Bethune of my intentions. Bethune consequently told Berklee™'s human resources department that I had been suspended from
Berklee™ due to an incident that I had caused during registration. Although what Bethune said is not true, the people in human resources directly relayed the message to PSG Boston.
PSG Boston will no longer give me any work.

I have gotten most of my information from Larry Bethune. I was not allowed the opportunity to speak to Haupers, I was in fact forbidden to speak to him before
I was indefinitely suspended. Haupers knows this because Larry Bethune cc'd every

letter he wrote to me to not only Haupers, but to many other faculty members.
Additionally, there have been conferences regarding my suspension. Not only was
I not invited to participate in these conferences, I was denied a hearing.

After Bethune suspended me, I called many of my previous teachers, but none of my teachers returned my calls. I wonder what they have been told.
I can't get any reply, so I don't know what they were told.

There was a time before I had been expelled that I had met with Bethune.
A while after I had met with Bethune, but before being expelled, I talked to one of my teachers about this. He told me that he had heard about it, but refused to disclose the source of his information. He declined to contact Bethune on my behalf. His name is Rick Applin.