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

[MikeRapp]

6 minutes ago, DCI-86 said:

I think people need to mindful that this behaviour has been endemic in many corps over many years, and as likely had happened at YEA, it’s been quietly swept under the carpet (until now....)

Think about other corps that had long term staff quietly disappear. It’s ironic that a number of corps are quickly publishing their safeguarding policies- as if to say “this would never happen to us”- except it probably has!!

If there is anything good to come out of this- it will be all corps cleaning house 

I think we here are all acutely and personally aware of the unique scenario in drum corps, and we all know of many situations at many corps where similar things happened. The mistake here would be to react to this as if it was otherwise. These organizations should already be proactive on all levels, and most are. But, they should also help their leaders remain in good standing with the activity.

The terrible breach of trust here is not just what Hopkins did, but what everyone around him didn’t do. George needed accountability, and no one stepped up and required it. The enabling aspect of this is the dangerous aspect. No one person should have the ability to bring down any organization, anywhere. 

[Corps_Efan]

George Hopkins must be removed from the Hall of Fame.  

[geluf]

2 hours ago, Icer said:

I'm curious - exactly what is it that you are suggesting the current board should have done?  These allegations range from 35+ years ago to more than 10 years ago.  The website doesn't list when each member started, but were any of them even on the board when the incidents in the article are claimed to have taken place?  How many of the members of the corps other than the alleged victims had knowledge of these claims during all these years?  During all the time when people were spending thousands of pages on this forum from alumni arguing about leadership style, personality, show theme, robes, vocalists, and 7th place finish, did even one person make an accusation of sexual misconduct prior to 2018?  I would venture a guess that no one knew about this except the victims and the few people whom they told (probably outside the activity). Would anything be gained by blaming alumni?  Or longtime sponsors?  Of course not.  

Now if it turns out that some or all of the current board members (all of whom are volunteers) or active alumni (you know - the ones who buy the VIP tickets and go to wine tastings in Bergen County) were aware of the incidents claimed in the article any time before the investigation began this year OR that there have been allegations of assault that occurred more recently that were known and ignored, then the story changes completely.  But unless this is the claim, this seems to be a misplaced exercise which will help neither the alleged victims nor the organization.

 

You know where they could have started?

That extremely tone-deaf non-response the board posted on the YEA site could have not existed.  How about that?

[DCI-86]

4 minutes ago, MikeRapp said:

I think we here are all acutely and personally aware of the unique scenario in drum corps, and we all know of many situations at many corps where similar things happened. The mistake here would be to react to this as if it was otherwise. These organizations should already be proactive on all levels, and most are. But, they should also help their leaders remain in good standing with the activity.

The terrible breach of trust here is not just what Hopkins did, but what everyone around him didn’t do. George needed accountability, and no one stepped up and required it. The enabling aspect of this is the dangerous aspect. No one person should have the ability to bring down any organization, anywhere. 

I agree but as I said this is going on in other corps and quietly brushed under the carpet.

I suspect all corps will be tightening their tolerance of this and bringing their safeguarding policies to the forefront 

[whitedawn]

What a disgusting statement. Victim blaming, shirking responsibility, failing to say anything at all that matters...

Embarrassed to have spent such a large part of my youth as a Cadet.

[HockeyDad]

70 pages in one day. I thought this site was dead. GH is gone. That was the right move. Give them a bit of credit here. And now, establish meaningful guidelines concerning adult/minor interactions and sexual harassment. Why did this have to happen to get them to do something?

[HockeyDad]

5 minutes ago, whitedawn said:

What a disgusting statement. Victim blaming, shirking responsibility, failing to say anything at all that matters...

Embarrassed to have spent such a large part of my youth as a Cadet.

Don't be. You have no idea the joy you and your peers have brought to music lovers like me for decades. 

[fsthnds]

2 hours ago, Tim K said:

First, there have been so many posts, I do not recall seeing that there was a lawyer on the YEA board, but a lawyer on the board or a lawyer for the independent investigators should not be writing the statement, it should be outside legal counsel. Also, I wrote this original comment prior to the release of the YEA statement. I think we’ll see the YEA response did more harm than good.They should have acted sooner and the actions taken should have been more than a prepared statement. At a minimum the now former director should have been put on leave, DCI or DCA should have been asked to recommend an investigator to remove any conflicts of interest, and law enforcement should have been notified.

The YEA Board dropped the ball on this one. DCI also fumbled on this.  I heard rumblings about this in Aug in Indy (No corp was id'ed then) . Then at the DCI winter meeting this was the "Hallway" topic for the weekend. So for DCI to say they did not know is an even bigger issue.

[Jeff Ream]

9 hours ago, N.E. Brigand said:

The fact that it often takes victims so long to come forward, because this kind of misbehavior makes victims feel like they rather than the offender have done something wrong, actually means that statutes of limitation should be longer.

when many of the incidents happened, it was a very different world. 

[TerriTroop]

Here's what I hope the board of YEA will consider doing:

1. Hire a student safety expert RIGHT NOW. Get training for every single staff member, volunteer, administrator and board member. Step up to the plate and do it for the young people (and their parents) who have put their faith in the organization. 

2. Take down that really unfortunate YEA response. Yes, it will be copied and pasted all over creation, but take it down and apologize for it. If GH wrote it himself, own up to that and stop letting his voice be heard in any way. It's only doing more damage if he's involved.

3. Issue a PROPER response acknowledging that from this point forward, safety will be more important than image. Period. Stop trying to protect the person who is accused. Let the lawyers do whatever they must but get all of GH's fingerprints off of YEA and all subsidiary organizations until an independent investigation has occurred.

That's my little 2 cents worth. I really hope YEA will do something to fix that awful response.

Edited April 6, 2018 by TerriTroop
cleaned up redundant phrases