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The Cadets and GH history of sexual abuse (news article)


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36 minutes ago, Newseditor44 said:

As I understand it, DCIs role is an event promoter. You are correct in saying they have no way to “shut the corps down”, however, the DCI BOD can suspend the organization and remove them from the board, as well as deny them entry to any DCI sanctioned shows. The bigger question is, what does doing this this resolve? What kind of impact will this have on the students and the activity? There is an opportunity to do something that is constructive and to heal. Denying them the opportunity to perform would be a knee jerk reaction and the wrong decision, IMHO.

I don't know about that.  With Hopkins resignation, some people seem to have forgotten the other key questions in this:

1. Who else knew about this and tolerated it over the years?

2. If it was tolerated, could there be others still in the organization who were doing similar behavior?

Judging by some comments I've read elsewhere, I wouldn't instantly assume the answer is to either question is "no".  Either DCI can take the approach that the Cadets can "self-police" to get their house in order or that DCI must exert pressure from the outside to get them to do so.  There are few weapons in DCI's arsenal other than denying a corps competition.

The worst thing to happen is for DCI to do nothing and some more revelations come out in the future.

Do you think Hopkins' resignation resolves everything?

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1 minute ago, Jeff Ream said:

i get moving forward. but no new investigation?...at least admitting it?????

Admitting anything at this point could open another huge legal can of worms. It could be legal counsel has advised them to keep quiet so that a statement isn't made that could be drug into court as corroborating evidence..

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20 minutes ago, Eleran said:

Until the Band Directors tell them that there are few if any viable alternatives for competition in their region.

right it depends on the area. PA, NJ, NY, MD, DE, WV, VA all have other circuits to choose from.

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In almost every case I have followed where Sexual Misconduct by a teacher/instructor  has been ALLEGED a pattern of behavior starts to come out of the woodwork. MORE victims come forward telling their stories that were afraid to before the arrest/allegation. 

 

NOT saying this is the case here. There have only been allegations so far and I am more than willing to wait for the investigation to unfold . 

 

I am no Fan Boy of GH. I hate what he did to the World of Drum and Bugle corps. With that said I would totally expect George Hopkins to have a consensual romantic relationship over his 30 something years with a staff member over the LONG summer months. I mean its his really only contact with someone while he is on the road. If it was not forced,,,,totally consensual and not somehow a product of Sexual Harassment or Harassment from a Authority Figure then I really don't have a problem with those type of relationships. That would have been between him and his consensual partner. 

 

Totally NOT cool with him having any sort of relationship with ANY marching member regardless of age. Totally inappropriate. Perhaps LONG after they aged out or something like that but even then its sort of iffy. 

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16 hours ago, fireshane1 said:

This is my concern as well. He “resigned,” but is really just going to run YEA/Cadets from behind the scenes. As long as the puppet BOD is in place, there WILL be contact with Hopkins and there’s more than a good chance he’ll be briefed on the day to day operations of “his” Cadets.

**For the record, they are not, nor were they ever, his Cadets.....ever.**

Nothing to worry about here.

One would be foolish not to think that each and every one of Cadets' Board members are in contact with counsel.

It may not be completely obvious, but I would suspect that an attorney would view contact now between their client and Hopkins would not be a good idea.

A sharp lawyer might recognize the PR disaster, and legal mess, it would be for his client to be exposed as having contact with GH after his resignation.

There are a couple of lawyers who frequent here - maybe they'll chime in.  But I'd bet a good lawyer would advise his client to not have any contact with GH for any reason, period.

I think your concern is overdone, but I'd guess it's fair to assume that each BoD is focused squarely on how to not be held accountable and fiduciarily responsible for any damages awarded.

 

Edited by garfield
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4 minutes ago, Jeff Ream said:

right it depends on the area. PA, NJ, NY, MD, DE, WV, VA all have other circuits to choose from.

 As well as Ohio and the Carolinas off the top of my head. Also the MAC in Connecticut.

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5 minutes ago, camel lips said:

In almost every case I have followed where Sexual Misconduct by a teacher/instructor  has been ALLEGED a pattern of behavior starts to come out of the woodwork. MORE victims come forward telling their stories that were afraid to before the arrest/allegation. 

 

NOT saying this is the case here. There have only been allegations so far and I am more than willing to wait for the investigation to unfold . 

 

I am no Fan Boy of GH. I hate what he did to the World of Drum and Bugle corps. With that said I would totally expect George Hopkins to have a consensual romantic relationship over his 30 something years with a staff member over the LONG summer months. I mean its his really only contact with someone while he is on the road. If it was not forced,,,,totally consensual and not somehow a product of Sexual Harassment or Harassment from a Authority Figure then I really don't have a problem with those type of relationships. That would have been between him and his consensual partner. 

 

Totally NOT cool with him having any sort of relationship with ANY marching member regardless of age. Totally inappropriate. Perhaps LONG after they aged out or something like that but even then its sort of iffy. 

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lets remember at the time it was not un common in many corps...I remember one of my staff members married to a girl 10 years his junior who was marching in a corps out west

It's hard to judge something of many many years ago based on today's standard. Not rape of course, At no time, was this ok BUT most of our parents would be in jail for child abuse by today's standard..lol

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2 minutes ago, garfield said:

I think your concern is overdone, but I'd guess it's fair to assume that each BoD is focused squarely on how to not be held accountable and fiduciarily responsible for any damages awarded.

Maybe they should have been concerned about this prior to this utterly predictable nuclear explosion? It staggers my mind how any group of adults could have been so willfully enabling. 

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New England has  other sanctioning bodies “circuits” as well.

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