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

[84BDsop]

7 hours ago, Brass Lover said:

I agree with the HOF idea completely, but revoking championships is the most ludicrous idea I've heard so far. Those wins belong to the kids that worked all summer to be the best they could be.

And I certainly don't want the 84 title awarded to me in that fashion.

[camel lips]

PRt 2 to the news article was supposed to come out tonight .

 

anyone seen it ? 

[jwillis35]

39 minutes ago, BRASSO said:

 As an outsider, one would like to give the Cadets YEA Board the initial benefit of the doubt regarding their levels of " integrity " on this. But in their first public released response statement, the YEA stated they conducted ( their words)" a professional and vigorous investigation" of these allegations of multiple episodes of sexual abuse .

 Sorry, but its just not at all believable that they conducted  a " professional and vigorous investigation ".

 That YEA Board has got to go, imo. Every one of them.

 

I agree. I want to give the BOD some level of respect. I do not believe they intended to allow someone to continue a pattern of sexual abuse, and perhaps they really didn't know this was going on until January. But they enabled GH by giving him too much control and power. That is never a good approach and DCI will be better off now because of the lessons learned from this horrific episode alone. From this point forward I doubt any director of a corps will have this kind of power ever again. 

More to the point, as much as I believe the BOD are good people who would never want such horrible things to happen to these young ladies, the bottom line is the news broke while they were in control.  In the end, that is enough to have them step down and allow for a new BOD to move the organization in a new direction. Those are the breaks for people in charge. In an indirect way they were enablers. They didn't mean for this sort of thing to happen, and we all hope they didn't know about this until January.

Now, if any of them did have prior knowledge of these criminal actions by GH before January -- and rumors have suggested that some did -- then they are guilty of not blowing the whistle on a sexual predator. That is serious stuff and most certainly calls for stepping down and potentially could lead to law suits.  I hope for their sake this is not true.

Edited April 9, 2018 by jwillis35

[JMS1995]

http://digital.olivesoftware.com/Olive/ODN/PhiladelphiaInquirer/Default.aspx

 

This appears to be the digital edition of the 2nd article, dated today.

[Terri Schehr]

6 minutes ago, camel lips said:

PRt 2 to the news article was supposed to come out tonight .

 

anyone seen it ? 

I’m checking Philly.com on Facebook and the app.  If it pops, I’ll post the link. 

[mjoakes]

1 hour ago, PeterGibbons said:

You can be a 501(c)(3) and be a membership organization that has its board elected by the membership. I know because I work for one that has ~30,000 members.

Good point and thanks for correcting. The difference is purpose (education, religion vs, social clubs) not membership. I've way over-generalized what I thought applies to social clubs.

Edited April 9, 2018 by mjoakes

[rysa4]

Ok I have collected my wits about me a bit after learning all of this this afternoon;

1. The Cadets as an organization ( and YEA) need to try and get out in front on this.

2. The board does need to announce their resignation effective as soon as a functional caretaker board is in place.

3. The interim board needs a new leader. The focus would be on a known and trusted character from someone in the world of marching bands who is impeccable and a demonstrated all around leader. I already have one such person in mind.

4. I did read the list of current board members - are they all men? I might be wrong - but we do need a board that actually represents the activity as a cohesive whole.

5. There does need to be a reaching out to the women who have come forward - our extended Cadets family needs to try and be one. Healing. Perhaps as the season draws near a meaningful gathering can occur to demonstrate that the historical whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Fear of legal action is a fools gold. Open the conversation - work with our extended injured family and lets see what all of us want for the corps in the future. Open idea exchange. What needs to happen going forward?

6. Obviously the previous ED must be kept far far away from the organization permanently except for any long distance keys to the castle issues. No self-serving psychological catharsis this time. None. And no attendance at any DCI/marching band shows for life. Complete banishment. Any remaining dual relationship reminders need to leave the Cadets as well. Sorry color guard. The reminders will be too painful.

7. Finally, the Cadets are going to need to make a "burnt offering" to the drum corps world. This doesn't need to be a bad thing, but it is time for humility, humbleness, and equanimity by those of us around long enough to show it.

My thoughts only.

[JimF-LowBari]

never mind as can’t make a point without saying one of the accusers name which I won’t do. 

Edited April 9, 2018 by JimF-LowBari

[JimF-LowBari]

On 4/5/2018 at 12:32 PM, dbc03 said:

What background check would have prevented this? To my knowledge he doesn't have a criminal record.

Background checks aren't going to catch most sexual predators because most sexual assaults aren't reported

In this case taking steps that members and staff know what to do if they feel anything questionable or uncomfortable is going on. That includes what they might see or hear or have it happen to them. Not to mention ye olde spelling out of what is not allowed. Sounds like talking down to people but don’t forget lot of these young people are away from home for the first time on tour. Kind of personal here as had an adult volunteer get over “huggy” with female teenagers at our church when I was on council. Went on for years because no one thought they could report it. We literally found out by accident.

Edited April 9, 2018 by JimF-LowBari

[NakedEye]

20 minutes ago, jwillis35 said:

I agree. I want to give the BOD some level of respect. I do not believe they intended to allow someone to continue a pattern of sexual abuse, and perhaps they really didn't know this was going on until January. But they enabled GH by giving him too much control and power. That is never a good approach and DCI will be better off now because of the lessons learned from this horrific episode alone.

And that's a major centerpoint of the whole issue. Even if they can credibly claim ignorance of the unsavory sexual details (doubtful), it is really a stretch to claim that no one noticed the consistent pattern of abuse of power over decades. There has been so much hard evidence, from the Glassdoor YEA reviews and constant office turnover/searches for new employees, abrupt firing of instructional staff, mass exodus of longtime and extremely well-regarded design staff, press releases written by the Director (referring to himself in the third person) while launching barbs at those who have left, etc. etc. 

It all painted a picture of an individual who had too few checks and balances and way too much autonomy and freedom to act on whims. Extremely dangerous and it is hard to see how the Board can make a case of ignorance of that. 

Hopkins may have committed the acts (allegedly), but the Board created the environment in which he operated. There is no fixing that without complete replacement and starting on unsoiled linens.