What will happen to the Donda Academy?

That Kanye's fans are no longer willing to forgive his delusions now seems to be a fact. After the White Lives Matter t-shirt scandal and subsequent controversial statements, Ye's empire sank very quickly, first with the end of his lucrative collaborations with adidas, Balenciaga, and Gap, then with some legal problems for his mysterious private Christian school Donda Academy. As revealed in an investigation by The Cut, the school had apparently sent an email to parents last October announcing the closure of the school year and stating its intention to 'restart in 2023'. However, just hours later, the academy reportedly sent a denial email confirming the reopening later that week. It is unclear whether the school has actually reopened - according to a report by TMZ, Ye planned to move it to a church hall - but what is certain is that the lawsuits filed by two former staff members cast new shadows on the school's strange educational methods.

In April, Cecilia Hailey and Chekarey Byers sued the artist and three of the school's managers for unfair dismissal and racial discrimination. As Page Six reports, Hailey and Byers stated in court documents that they were hired in early 2023, making them the only black women teaching at the Simi Valley site in California. They also listed a number of oddities, claiming that students were only given one meal a day - sushi eaten on the floor without cutlery or chopsticks - and that they were not allowed to bring in inside food or drink, except for water. Among the many forbidden items were not only crossword puzzles, coloring sheets, jewelry, artwork on the walls, but also chairs and Nike or Adidas products, and even some history books, including Mark Bixler's The Lost Boys of Sudan, which is about four victims of the brutal Sudanese conflict. According to them, everyone had to be dressed in black and no one was allowed outside during the school day - so much so that the doors were locked from the outside, with all the risks that entailed. There was also no school nurse and medicines, including those that had expired, were kept in a storage room. Hailey also described the students as unruly and described bullying as widespread.

When Hailey and Byers raised their concerns with Principal Moira Love, she called them "aggressive" and used a term that «promotes stereotypes of African-American women being confrontational just for doing their job and voicing their legitimate concerns to ensure a safe environment and appropriate education for their students». The two women say they were fired for no reason in the car park of Donda Academy in early March and believe it was in retaliation for their complaints. Byers told Page Six, «I am very saddened by this» adding that «Ye's vision for the school looks great on paper, but it is pure chaos and mutiny». According to the US newspaper, the school would be left with 35 to 40 students paying an annual fee of $15,000. It remains to be seen whether the lawsuit will lead to the school's closure or whether the YE education model, with all its controversies, will continue unabated.