James Rondeau, president and director of the Art Institute of Chicago since 2016, has voluntarily stepped away from his role amid an investigation into an alleged incident on a flight from Chicago to Munich in April. According to a CBS News report citing anonymous sources, police were called after a passenger reportedly stripped off his clothes following consumption of alcohol and prescription medication; sources identified that passenger as Rondeau. The museum confirmed it has opened an independent investigation and that Rondeau is taking time off during the process.
This matters because the Art Institute of Chicago is one of the most visited museums in the United States, and Rondeau has been a transformative leader there since joining in 1998. He oversaw the merger of modern and contemporary art departments, secured a record $400 million donation from Stefan Edlis and Gael Neeson in 2015, and recently attracted a $75 million gift from Aaron I. Fleischman and Lin Lougheed. The investigation comes at a sensitive time for the museum, which also faced controversy in 2024 over its handling of a pro-Palestine encampment that led to 68 arrests and internal staff dissent.