Jump to content

Oregon Crusaders to focus on cultural sensitivity


Recommended Posts

As many of you know, Oregon Crusaders is my home corps.  My son marched with this corps for five years and had the time of his life.  And as a corps volunteer for those same years, I have to say, so did I.  

The ED and several board members are still people I can walk up to and say "Hi, how are you doing?"

All the talk about some horrible thing that went down with OC has been deeply disturbing to me.  I know this corps and whatever the nitty gritty details are, I know that at its heart, this is a corps that has always strived to put the member experience first.  I know some of what went down this year, but not all.  I can only say that OC will learn and grow from the experience.

I would like to share this letter sent out by the board president.  This is the reaction that I would absolutely expect.

The Oregon Crusaders would like to thank the over 200 people who were part of the OC family in 2018. It truly takes a village, and together we have created memories that will last a lifetime. 

The drum corps activity, and the Oregon Crusaders specifically, is always in motion, as are the Oregon Crusaders. Just as the fleet returns home and the members have said their goodbyes to their friends, it’s time to review the past season and then look ahead to plan the next step in our journey. 

In evaluating the 2018 season, there were many people, several members and staff included, that didn’t feel heard or supported this season.
The Board of Directors and administrators want to provide the most progressive, positive, and fulfilling culture in all of drum corps.  In order to accomplish that, we are planning several steps to improve communications channels.
 
Among other activities that we’ll outline in the coming weeks,
we will be creating overarching staff and administration sensitivity and cultural training.  We will also be chartering a Human Resources Committee of the board that will serve as a common channel for all personnel-related policies, practices, and escalations of staff and member concerns. 

While many of the relevant human resources policies already existed, the Board strengthened them this past spring in response to Drum Corps International’s efforts in this area (
http://oregoncrusaders.org/policies-and-procedures).  We have also reached out to other drum corps leaders to ensure that we include the best practices available in the activity. We are pleased to announce that Donna Batchelor, co-chair of the Drum Corps Board Consortium, will serve as an independent consultant with the Oregon Crusaders’ board and administrative leadership throughout this process.


We will also re-emphasize the qualities that we as Oregon Crusaders value most -- love, support, equality, understanding, teamwork, strength, confidence, and professionalism. Our OC team will be the first to dedicate ourselves to those qualities, and if you have an interest in being with the Oregon Crusaders for the 2019 season and becoming a part of this renewed and exciting cultural focus, we welcome you!

Thank you, and we look forward to seeing you on the road ahead.

 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

From my understanding, with the increase of #MeToo from the George Hopkins fiasco at Cadets, many of the staff will not be with the group next year. I don't know specifics, and frankly I don't want to because I don't want the negative press to have the spotlight on OC, but hopefully with the huge changes, they can get back on their feet for 2019.

I want my daughter to march OC in a few years (Started 6th Grade Band this school year as a drummer!), but I won't allow it if this is the kind of thing I need to worry about it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

33 minutes ago, OC Euph said:

From my understanding, with the increase of #MeToo from the George Hopkins fiasco at Cadets, many of the staff will not be with the group next year. I don't know specifics, and frankly I don't want to because I don't want the negative press to have the spotlight on OC, but hopefully with the huge changes, they can get back on their feet for 2019.

I want my daughter to march OC in a few years (Started 6th Grade Band this school year as a drummer!), but I won't allow it if this is the kind of thing I need to worry about it.

I’m not sure we know exactly what is happening at OC. Lots of peoplehave “heard things,” including some of the more knowledgeable posters on DCP, but I’m not seeing a great deal of consensus except something is very wrong. At the end of the summer it sounded like bullying by an instructor and when complaints were made, it was handled in a manner similar to Pioneer. It also sounded like a mishandling of sexual harassment. There also seem to be complaints about a staff member but the complaints are being ignored. However when I hear words such as “sensitivity” and “cultural training”  it may deal more with racial issues and sexual identity issues. It sounds as if there could be a racist, homophobic, sexist staff member whose an equal opportunity offender. I’m not seeing the GH and Cadets connection yet.

 My thought is when an entire staff quits and many marching members vow not to return, it is sometimes a protest action and the difficulties  can be resolved if issues are addressed. This is what I hope is happening with OC.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 hours ago, Tim K said:

I’m not sure we know exactly what is happening at OC. Lots of peoplehave “heard things,” including some of the more knowledgeable posters on DCP, but I’m not seeing a great deal of consensus except something is very wrong. At the end of the summer it sounded like bullying by an instructor and when complaints were made, it was handled in a manner similar to Pioneer. It also sounded like a mishandling of sexual harassment. There also seem to be complaints about a staff member but the complaints are being ignored. However when I hear words such as “sensitivity” and “cultural training”  it may deal more with racial issues and sexual identity issues. It sounds as if there could be a racist, homophobic, sexist staff member whose an equal opportunity offender. I’m not seeing the GH and Cadets connection yet.

 My thought is when an entire staff quits and many marching members vow not to return, it is sometimes a protest action and the difficulties  can be resolved if issues are addressed. This is what I hope is happening with OC.

I think it's important to recognize the fact that there is a lot of poppycock floating around concerning OC.  Not everyone who comments knows what they are talking about, and in some cases, not even the more 'knowledgeable' posters, or even OC members or staff to some degree.  There are issues of privacy that make some details impossible to make known. 

OC will rally and get past this and be better for it.  Count on it.  

Edited by luv4corps
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, OC Euph said:

From my understanding, with the increase of #MeToo from the George Hopkins fiasco at Cadets, many of the staff will not be with the group next year. I don't know specifics, and frankly I don't want to because I don't want the negative press to have the spotlight on OC, but hopefully with the huge changes, they can get back on their feet for 2019.

I want my daughter to march OC in a few years (Started 6th Grade Band this school year as a drummer!), but I won't allow it if this is the kind of thing I need to worry about it.

I would not hesitate to have my child march OC again.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

All the sensitivity training in the world is not going to solve this problem.  The corps director needs to resign and then the healing process can begin. PERIOD.

  • Thanks 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

i'd like to know more details before i form an opinion about this

  • Like 3
  • Thanks 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Finally found out what's going on at OC via Reddit and... Wow.

Looks like Tricia has yet another corps to expose within the next month.

  • Sad 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Update on facebook reacts. There's 186 people who reacted to the post and 140 are angry reacts.... 

 

also... Check this out...

 

https://www.wattpad.com/557874623-mike-stevens-case-testimony-my-story

  • Sad 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...