Editor’s Note: Owen Auston-Babcock, investigations & data editor, and Kyle Galvin, investigative reporter, are respectively current and former fellows with IRW. Two sources in CJR’s coverage, Hannah Langenfeld and Maya Cederlund are former staff members of The Eagle. They were not involved in the pitching, reporting or writing of this article.
Editor’s Note: This story contains references to sexual harassment and sexual assault. Please see the bottom of this story for additional resources.
American University’s Investigative Reporting Workshop is looking to the future after its previous executive editor and AU professor Wesley Lowery left amidst allegations of sexual assault and harassment towards IRW student fellows and other journalists.
The Columbia Journalism Review released, over a three month span, a three part series covering alleged harassment, workplace mis-management and sexual assault. The initial article covered Lowery’s departure from IRW. The second article covered the resignation of Lowery from Center for Public Integrity and its subsequent shutdown. The third article went deeper into sexual assault allegations from multiple career journalists who had worked with Lowery.
Prior to his departure from IRW, Lowery oversaw 11 student fellows who worked with professional staff to publish investigative pieces and contributed to publications like The Washington Post, Illinois Public Media News and the Washington City Paper.
Lowery hired seven more students prior to his departure before laying them off, two of which stayed on as fellows and the rest were encouraged to reapply to IRW for the following fall semester.
IRW pairs student journalists with professionals in the field to produce in-depth investigations on both the local and national level. IRW has a partnership with The Washington Post and operates its offices out of the University.
Moving forward
Since Lowery's departure in March, Lynne Perri, a journalist in residence and senior professional lecturer at AU, has assumed the position of interim executive editor of IRW.
“Now moving forward means we’re also in discussions about how to hire a permanent executive editor and we will do a nationwide search again,” Perri said in an interview with The Eagle.
IRW is in the process of creating a job description, forming a search committee and hopes to conduct interviews in the near future.
For Perri, an ideal candidate for the position would be someone who either works or has worked at a university before and has a background in investigative journalism. Perri said that IRW is also looking for someone who knows how to guide students through lengthy investigations and offer mentorship to young reporters.
Lowery’s time and departure from IRW left reverberating effects, Perri said, especially for IRW student fellows.
“In the spring more students were hired quickly on the undergraduate level without, in some cases, a formal interview or without really an idea of what they would be working on and they were hired within the month or so of professor Lowery actually leaving and then were laid off,” Perri said.
In the aftermath of Lowery’s departure, Perri said she has met with each student and either encouraged those who are already working at IRW to continue or encouraged hopeful candidates to delve deeper into their reporting courses before reapplying.
In addition to Lowery's absence, multiple IRW staff left during his tenure, including a senior editor, a financial manager, an editor at large and a development director. Perri says she has hired a new operations manager to oversee finances and human resources in an effort to rebuild the infrastructure at IRW.
“There are just some things that need to be repaired and also just some good stories that were started but never finished,” Perri said.
According to Perri, during his time at IRW Lowery created a hostile workplace, leading to the staff departures. She said Lowery made the majority of executive decisions without counsel and had a general “distrust of those around him.”
Katherine Dailey, a master’s student at Northwestern University who started her IRW fellowship in the summer of 2024, said in an interview with The Eagle that she had overall positive experiences working with Lowery and was shocked and dismayed when she heard about the allegations.
“To learn that someone who I had liked and respected so much could do such terrible things, it just felt like I was betrayed,” Dailey said.
Dailey expressed that the sudden nature of Lowery's departure also left her in a place of instability at IRW, as she continued to work remotely in the fall and spring and is now working part time for IRW this summer.
“I didn’t know if IRW was paying me. I didn't know if I could still log hours. I didn't know if I should keep working on the story that I was working on,” Dailey said.
Perri reached out to Dailey personally after Lowery’s departure and ensured that her projects continued to be supported, and reaffirmed Dailey’s position at IRW.
Despite Lowery's departure, Dailey said that she hopes the School of Communication will continue to support the work IRW does, especially its reporting work in the D.C. community.
“I think it would be a real disservice to get rid of IRW or to really drastically change the way it functions,” Dailey said. “I think there are definitely ways that it can improve.”
As interim executive editor, Perri has restored staff meetings and is trying to renew a sense of camaraderie and transparency within the IRW office.
“I want to enhance the student experience, I wanted to protect it for the last couple of years,” Perri said. “And I want to restore their sense that we have a plan here.”
Lowery’s allegations
Alongside internal conflicts that Perri is now working to mend, an article published in the Columbia Journalism Review in March revealed the Lowery had three different Title Ⅸ complaints of inappropriate sexual behavior towards female staffers at IRW.
Two students and one editor that Lowery managed alleged in the first article CJR published that Lowery made explicit sexual comments towards them during their time at IRW. Another student and three other journalists not associated with IRW came out with further allegations in a second article CJR published in May.
One student, Sophia Lehrbaum who worked at IRW during the summer of 2024, told CJR that Lowery made sexual jokes in one-on-one meetings together, but when Lehrbaum filed a Title Ⅸ complaint, the Office of Equity and Title IX said that Lowery's actions did not fall under the duties of the office. They have not followed up with Lehrbraum since, according to CJR.
This was the response given to every other subsequent complaint made about Lowery. The office’s website says it covers and seeks to resolve cases of “discrimination, harassment and sexual violence.”
Matthew Bennett, vice president and chief communications officer of AU, gave no comment on complaints like Lehrbaum’s in a statement to CJR and claimed he only knew of Lowery’s voluntary departure. “That is all the information I have,” he told CJR. American University did not provide any additional comment when asked by The Eagle
Maya Cederlund, a recent graduate of AU and an IRW fellow, said Lowery made sexual references when giving Cederlund advice on how to consult victims who had experienced trauma. Another recent AU graduate, Hannah Langenfeld, said she felt uncomfortable when she attended Lowery’s office hours for his investigative reporting class as he talked about her personal life, lit candles and made a move to sit directly next to her.
Repeated instances like Cederlund’s and Lehrbaum’s led Cara Kelly, a professor of journalism at the University and a former editor-at-large at IRW, to ultimately leave her position. Kelly said she filed multiple complaints with the University over Lowery’s “hostile and abusive” behavior towards her. Similar to Lehrbaum, Kelly heard very little from the University on the complaints and said she was ultimately disappointed in their response.
In an interview with CJR, Lowery said none of his comments met Title Ⅸ’s standards for sexual harassment, although he said he regrets if any of his comments made students uncomfortable.
In an interview with The Eagle, Perri said she has talked to students and let them know that she was “sorry that you went through something inappropriate. I am also sorry for all the people who were over promised mentorship, and editing guidance.”
Dailey said that ultimately Lowery's actions should not take away from the work that IRW does.
“I’m really proud of the work I’ve done here and I think a lot of people are really proud of the work they’ve done here and the feeling that someone can take that away from us isn’t a good one,” Dailey said. “You can’t take away the hard work that we’ve done, it is really important work.”
Students who have experienced sexual assault or harassment can seek support through confidential resources such as the University’s Center for Well-Being Programs and Psychological Services, the Student Health Center or the following hotlines:
- Collegiate Assistance Program: 1-855-678-8679
- Rape, Abuse, Incest, National Network (RAINN) anonymous chat: online.rainn.org
- RAINN hotline: 1-800-656-4673
- DC Rape Crisis Center: 202-333-7273
Other resources include:
Non-confidential resources include the University’s Office of Equity and Title IX and AUPD.
Correction: A previous editor's note on this article incorrectly identified Kyle Gavin as a current fellow at the Investigative Reporting Workshop. It has been updated to correctly identify him as a former fellow.
This article was edited by Abigail Hatting and Walker Whalen. Copy editing done by Sabine Kanter-Huchting and Emma Brown.
