IllianaLancerContra

Where do I apply? I am retired military O-5; I could do this. I used to deal with behavior BS daily.

These are the terms DCI requires of SoA. Aren't these just a rehash of policy put in place after the Hopocalypse? Shouldn't Corps be doing this anyway? The terms of the probation require, among other things, that Spirit of Atlanta: Demonstrate that it can comply with the DCI Code of Conduct in all areas of its operation. Engage an independent third-party consultant to review Spirit of Atlanta’s organizational and training processes, clarify its accountability structure, and create and implement policies and procedures that ensure Spirit of Atlanta’s code of conduct and other policies align with or exceed the requirements of the DCI Code of Conduct. Create a senior leadership position whose principal focus is to ensure that staff, volunteers and performers are provided with a positive working environment and have appropriate training and resources to ensure the health and welfare of all involved.

Yup

Compliance officers will need to have authority to kick out offending member, fire offending staff, & if need be shut down the Corps mid-tour. Anything less will be lip service.

Maybe that would be good. I would think Varsity would have the intestinal fortitude to actually penalize or disqualify a Corps that allows members to be repeatedly assaulted.

I marched in the early 1980s & there were rumors about other individuals, some who are/were well known in the activity having inappropriate relationships with members. But I have no first-hand knowledge. If I did I would report it

It goes back further than that.

Yup. I suspect I know who you are referring to - both literally and figuratively

Well, if this turns out to be the case it is yet another slap to the face for all the Corps members (DCI-wide) that have been abused, mentally or physically (including sexually), whether due to Corps management/staff active participation, negligence, or some combination of the two over the last 50 years.

So DCI has put SoA on ‘probation’. From a practical standpoint what does this mean? No (or reduced) appearance payments? Going on first at every contest? Mandatory disclosure to potential host schools that they are on probation for not properly addressing sexual assault of a member? What happens if within the probation period another incident happens? Similarly, what happens if SoA fails to accomplish what DCI has told them to during the probation? I’m not trying to be a smart-*ss. I really just want to know the answer.

You beat me to it

From an old Contra player to a much younger one - I am proud of your standing up for the OP and shedding additional light on this dark topic.

Someone mentioned title IX on the reddit thread & that gets me wondering. Title IX only applies to educational organizations that receive federal funding. DCI (& the Corps) claims to be educational organizations, & DCI & some Corps received federal funding as part of the Covid response. So, would TitleiX apply?

If police/DA's office investigated & found holes in the Cadets member at Indianapolis story, OK, that happens. But it should be the authorities in Liberty, AL, and Dora, AL that conduct an investigation. The statute of limitations for misdemeanors in AL is 12 months; for felonies 3 years.

It occurs to me that because DCI is based in Indianapolis, perhaps the Indianapolis Star should start an investigation. They have the expertise concerning the investigation of sexual assault in a competitive artistic youth activity- it was their reporters that broke the Larry Nassar/USA Gymnastics story.

Shut. Them. Down.

Here is a reply on the reddit OP, apparently from a 2007 member of a Corps that has since folded: level 1 exh78 ·1 hr. ago I'm sorry you had to go through all that. Not what the activity is supposed to be about. I had a similar experience with Rookie Talent Night at the corps I marched with in '07. It was a longer drive where we were only scheduled around 3 hrs of floor time once we got to the housing site, so we were wanting to sleep on the bus. The vets running rookie talent night had other ideas - they were getting right up beside rookies and screaming at them to wake to do their rookie talent. Lasted until around 3am, when we had a 7 or 8am wake up the next morning. I was one of the older rookies (19, it was a young corps that year) and had just finished my first year at college which included some pretty rigorous anti-hazing training with the fraternity I was in. Much of the same activity was going on - the blanket midway through the bus to block anyone in the front from what was going on, a 17 year old mello player did a strip tease as her talent which ended in her in a barely-there bikini bottom and stick tape covering her nipples. Except we had two staff members in the back participating in the "judging". They wouldn't let me recuse myself from rookie talent night, so at the end of the night, my talent was a tongue lashing. I let them all know how insanely inappropriate and irresponsible the whole thing was, reminded them of our incredibly short scheduled floor time and how important sleep was to our performance, and even called out some fraternity brothers from other schools (the anti-hazing training was a major initiative from our national office, so I knew they'd gone through it too). Instead of anything reasonable like apologies, corrective action, or even something as simple as taking a break so we could sleep and continuing rookie talent the next night, it was decided I was the one in the wrong. In the following week or two, I had both vets and staff after me, waiting for the smallest slip-up. The visual caption head took a #### on my feet in the showers. The vis techs on my part of the field neglected other sections (and notably the new members that came in mid-season to fill holes and were still learning the drill) so they could watch me like a hawk waiting for any tick. (I didn't give it to them, and they got shut down when an annual guest staffer came in and made the comment during ensemble one day that I had the best toe height he'd ever seen in his history with the corps - the vis caption head made him repeat it to make sure he heard him right). I nearly quit several times throughout the season, even had an open offer to jump to the corps I really wanted to march, but ended up getting talked out of it. Stuck it out through finals week, and in the Saturday morning corps meeting we were told the corps was folding. Inappropriate behavior has unfortunately always been part of drum corps, and believe it or not the activity is by far the tamest and best behaved now it's ever been. There's still plenty of room for improvement though. Cutting up & some shenanigans are to be expected, especially with the membership demographics, but there's always a line that shouldn't be crossed. If the membership & staff can't operate with respect and support for its members, IMO that's not a very good drum corps. I was neither surprised nor upset when we were told our corps was folding. Unfortunately some of the offending staff went on to continue at other corps, but it seems most of them washed out of the activity very shortly after. Advice to any future marching members that have to endure any of this type of ######## - if the staff doesn't take action or tries to defend bad behavior, go outside the operational organization and talk with alumni. If you want quick action, support from active alumni is always the most effective route. Every corps relies heavily on alumni for both monetary and volunteer support, and if alumni are pressuring the corps director over unacceptable behavior you're much more likely to see swift action than if it's only being reported by membership. Don't go straight to alumni for this, always try the appropriate chain of command first, but if the chain of command doesn't respond appropriately reach out to alum. We want to see the activity continue & thrive, and the members to thrive & succeed, and that can't happen if the environment isn't conducive to it. Drum corps is about excellence, and unless that excellence permeates every aspect of the organization they'll never achieve the level of excellence the membership and audiences deserve

2 things - 1. Whatever happened to Pioneer apparently did not make an impression on SoA, Phantom, Mandarins, Troopers, Perhaps others. Which is why I am saying perhaps it is time to act decisively: Do not allow SoA to participate in DCI.and ban everyone, from the BoD, Director, down to potato peeler on the food truck from DCI. 2. The OP of the accusations should keep a log of who said what & when. This info may be useful to DCI or law enforcement as the situation is investigated further.

This is what you call competent leadership.

Ok. I didn’t know that part.

This is Drum Corps. Just because it is hard doesn’t mean you don’t try.

IMHO DCI used the abuse allegations as a convenient excuse to get rid of a Corps that didn’t fit the brand. Cadets situation was a whole lot worse, and even after reorganization & new BoD there were ‘member on member’ accusations in Indy that are similar to those described above. And nothing happened. What kind of message did that send?

I’m afraid I have to disagree with you. Many other Corps have fired staff, written policies etc. Yet this type of abuse continues. It is time for bold action. The staff firings & policing apparently do not work. SoA needs to be shut down. As well as permanent staff ban. If after a few years off if, under completely new management, perhaps they could be allowed too reapply. As open class, just like every other new Corps.

We need to nominate her for DCI Hall of Fame.

Does anyone know Tricia Nadolny's current email address?