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

[Terri Schehr]

Just now, Fran Haring said:

"Independent counsel Carlo Gambino today announced that the entire YEA board was persuaded to resign after he held a closed-door meeting with the board members. 'It took about five minutes,' Gambino said. 'Once I laid out their options, which included the possibility of spending the rest of their time on this planet either above or below the surface level of the Schuykill River, the board members decided to step aside."  

“Either your signature or your brains are gonna be on this contract”. 

[BigW]

2 minutes ago, mcjordansc said:

People's passion for hyperbole is on full display in this thread.

People tend to assume the worst-case scenario. Maybe it's how we're wired from the hunter gatherer days as a survival mechanism. With the exception of say, Cannae and Midway... the worst case rarely plays out.

[BigW]

2 minutes ago, Terri Schehr said:

I’m sure Jim heard that term from his Marine Corps and drum corps dad!  :-)

Heard it from the old,old school guys in the activity like Tom P.

 

Used it at work to describe the caps, get a lot of laughs.

[George Dixon]

42 minutes ago, Sideways said:

The past is the past in regards to on-the-field related things and I do not see how revisionist history serves the healing process or the future of DCI.  If DCI wants to make an example out of Cadets reduce their performance fees by 50% this season and do not allow them to perform at Indy.  This would again be punishing the kids albeit still letting them tour and compete but also send a loud a clear message to all organizations to clean their own houses.

oh lord no

things are getting a little bit over the top in this thread! (IMO)

[garfield]

7 minutes ago, BRASSO said:

 Penalties for failure to do these things are unfortunately not provided here.

 We can assume that DCI  does not have the legal authority to specifically demand and enforce the replacement of any Corps Board of Directors.  However, it seems to me that DCI has the legal authority to protect both the brand and reputation of its DCI afiliations if it is determined that any of its member Corps has violated policies and procedures regarding its membership in DCI. if true, DCI is not simply a bystander in all this, imo.  They have oversight authority and a fiduciary DUTY it would seem to me to impose some sort of sanctions of some kind should ( for just one example ) the current YEA Board refuse to resign, step down.

 

Now, ya' know...hold on... dogonit... if you want me to leave you alone, then stop saying stuff like this.

In the first sentence you finally came to the realization that I was right - and have been right - all along.  DCI has no mechanism in these documents or in practical application to take the punitive, demanding role you've assigned to them.  Good.  Now you'll see that DCI will be exactly what the other directors can legally desire it to be.  If the member corps want to exclude them from competition, they will ask Dan and his team to do so.  But they have no power to demand removal of a board - only to do so should a corps want to partake in DCI events.  They absolutely have the power to exclude them because their board is not up to the expectation codified in DCI's R&R's, just like they could exclude them if their cook truck was unsafe.  But they can't demand Cadets change their board.

"They have oversight authority and a fiduciary DUTY...".  Now, just stop that.  No they don't.  Sure, they have some oversight that corps meet the minimum requirements to handle the tour, but DCI has no fiduciary duty, even if you want them to have a moral duty.

I haven't even read the rest of your post, but I will.

[George Dixon]

1 hour ago, Terri Schehr said:

At the risk of being redundant, I guess the thing that is sticking in my craw the most right now, is why is the Board of Directors still in place?  I’m sure there are outstanding alumni and other leaders in our little world who would step forward.  Especially now.  It seems to me this is not a good step toward the healing process.  

because they haven't been convinced to resign just yet - I believe they will be this coming week

call it "just a hunch"

[mingusmonk]

22 minutes ago, BigW said:

Yeah, Big time. Another experience I had several years ago: Guy after a show with the staff looked familiar. I couldn't place him. I just knew I knew him, been a long time. Chief Judge comes to me.

 

"You know who that is?"

 

"I should but can't place him."

 

"He's Mister X, the guy at Y who got canned because of relationships he had with 5 girls. They cut a deal to drop charges if he surrendered his Teaching License and paid for the counseling of his 5 victims!"

 

THEN I remembered- it'd been over 10 years or so. He'd crossed the state border to a nearby competitor and was there on staff.

 

My voice goes up three octaves, Dunno if Jeff has head that when I panic. I pray he hasn't.

 

"WHAT ARE WE GONNA DO!?"

 

"Talk to the director. Now."

 

The Chief Judge told the director what we both knew, my head moving like a bobblehead.  The director told us,

 

"It's okay, I know, I keep an eye on him." I blurted out about four octaves higher now

 

"YOU CAN"T KEEP AN EYE ON A GUY LIKE THAT! EVER!"

 

The chief judge says...

 

"He's right. You can't. Either you fire him now, or we both go to your band parents and tell them everything."

 

My head is still bobbleheading and I squeak out,

 

"YEAH!"

 

The guy was fired pronto, then and there. I hope and pray he never got a crack at any students. I hope my friend and I caught him in time. Man, I still panic thinking about the whole thing. I do feel good that we hopefully prevented a disaster for some young women. It does leave me wondering whether the guy is staffing programs under the radar and his name isn't announced , nor does he show up at contests for fear of being recognized. I don't know, it's chilling. One of those times I sit back and know for once... I helped do something good.

Interesting and relate-able tale. If anyone has been around the activity a good chunk of time they, like me, have seen instructional staff "promoted" to design roles and non-teaching roles because inappropriate contacts. Hush hush and nobody got their hands dirty. I guess folks within probably thought they were good at self-policing within the community. But they weren't. At least now it seems most people know better.

[Jeff Ream]

5 hours ago, Fran Haring said:

That might be kinda cool, going back to picking the winner the night before the show!!! 

According to some here that happens now

[Sideways]

5 minutes ago, George Dixon said:

oh lord no

things are getting a little bit over the top in this thread! (IMO)

I honestly do not think there will be any significant sanctions to the corps proper as long as yea continues move quickly and responsible (re. cut the victim blaming).  The negative publicity alone should be enough to motivate corps to sweep out their closets and do the right thing.

If not DCI will need to do something drastic...as I suggested in that previous post.  

[Incognito365]

3 hours ago, footform said:

Maybe not too far. Would they (any of them) have said something? Mostly, no. Few of the students will bring it up, based on long experience. We, as staff, are the adults and we have to pay better attention.

This is something that staff must consider, even if we never did before. I started teaching marching in 1974 and even last summer, I still had to check myself. I staged a guard scene where a member (male) grabbed another (female) by the neck and cast her down. It was only after I was flying home that I really thought about the possible response to that. At the next opportunity, I checked with the grabbed one to be sure it wasn't going to be a problem for her. Even with that being okayed, did I need to stage it that way? This is now a part of my checklist for all of my actions. It has to be.

Casting someone down by the neck is completely different than all but hunching on the field. It's pushing someone down versus sex. Like I said, if they had a problem with that I'm sure they would've spoken up. These are 90% adults were talking about. It's not a bunch of high schoolers who go with the flow and have little to no understanding of what's acceptable. Then again, here we are discussing something when we don't know the full story. Maybe the two in Crown 2016 were dating? Maybe they were both gay and comfortable enough with their sexuality to do it. There's many possibilities one needs to consider before casting a stone, and the op of this Crown topic didn't.