Cadets Establish Equality And Inclusion Committee

[JimF-LowBari]

15 minutes ago, PioneerWebmaster said:

It has nothing to do with being social justice warriors or being woke.  It has everything to do with listening to the members and alumni of the organization, and responding in a manner that is appropriate given the circumstances.  When you have alumni of the corps going on social media and detailing experiences that do not represent inclusiveness and equality, it would be a dereliction of duty if the corps administration didn't take a harder look at policies, procedures and the overall culture.

Also not a good sign when people go other extreme and claim members of an organization have never had a problem. Given thousands of people that have gone through a corps the odds are really against it.

[dans]

17 minutes ago, PioneerWebmaster said:

It has nothing to do with being social justice warriors or being woke.  It has everything to do with listening to the members and alumni of the organization, and responding in a manner that is appropriate given the circumstances.  When you have alumni of the corps going on social media and detailing experiences that do not represent inclusiveness and equality, it would be a dereliction of duty if the corps administration didn't take a harder look at policies, procedures and the overall culture.

OK...thanks for your honest thoughts. However, I don't believe that the current management at the Cadets are moving the corps in a positive direction. Becoming social warriors is not going to improve their current image. The Cadets are no longer considered an elite drum corps. After last season, I feel that the Cadets are more focused on being woke than putting a great show on the field. 

[Jurassic Lancer]

37 minutes ago, dans said:

OK...thanks for your honest thoughts. However, I don't believe that the current management at the Cadets are moving the corps in a positive direction. Becoming social warriors is not going to improve their current image. The Cadets are no longer considered an elite drum corps. After last season, I feel that the Cadets are more focused on being woke than putting a great show on the field. 

Let’s see what the next show is like. I like the staff they have addd. 

[N.E. Brigand]

4 hours ago, Gabe92 said:

I can't really explain/understand why there are more men than women directing DCI corps.  But from my perspective (from my own corps), the teaching staff has been not far from 50-50 for a long time. Ladies have often been in leadership roles (corps director, president, kitchen, head of staff) from the beginning of the corps 30 years ago. However, men tend to stay longer because I believe they care less about no security, small salary, 12 hours/day, sleeping in their car in order to be able to "work" for a drum corps. Could it be an explanation?  I don't know. I can only see that it is a long hour job, with a small salary, most of the time taking all the pressure AND the blame for everything (true or not). Man do not run for the job more than women. But may be women have more common sense and righly avoid it more?!?

Let's suppose that is the explanation. Is it healthy to organize an industry in such a way that people with "common sense" avoid it? 

[N.E. Brigand]

3 hours ago, cixelsyd said:

And you know this how?

Suppose we discovered that not as many women want to be a corps director.  What then?

I know it. You know it. Let's not play games about this.

[RetiredMusTeach]

I had to Google "virtue signaling" to find out what it means.  Got this: "the action or practice of publicly expressing opinions or sentiments intended to demonstrate one's good character or the moral correctness of one's position on a particular issue."

[MikeD]

57 minutes ago, N.E. Brigand said:

Let's suppose that is the explanation. Is it healthy to organize an industry in such a way that people with "common sense" avoid it? 

I think that happens a lot in many industries. How many people really want the headaches, time requirements and lack of a "real" life that happens to people who are at the top of an organization/corporation. 

[N.E. Brigand]

38 minutes ago, MikeD said:

I think that happens a lot in many industries. How many people really want the headaches, time requirements and lack of a "real" life that happens to people who are at the top of an organization/corporation. 

Sure. As I said ealier, the situation in drum corps is not unique, and I do believe that drum corps has often been better than many other aspects of society. 

[N.E. Brigand]

50 minutes ago, RetiredMusTeach said:

I had to Google "virtue signaling" to find out what it means.  Got this: "the action or practice of publicly expressing opinions or sentiments intended to demonstrate one's good character or the moral correctness of one's position on a particular issue."

And if Cadets' new committee doesn't actually do anything, that would show Bonfiglio's message was only virtue signalling.

(Speaking of jargon, I'm suprised no one has questioned my use of "BIPOC". That's a term I hadn't heard before a month ago.)

[greg_orangecounty]

8 hours ago, Tim K said:

I’m not sure that drum corps itself is more progressive, but I do think when it comes to race, in general each generation seems to grow.

Regarding race, I do think it depends on where and when you marched. There are some corps that disbanded when “the neighborhood changed.” For some it was financial. For others, it was because of who moved in the neighborhood. This happened in the late 60’s/early 70’s, but up to the early 80’s, there at least appeared to be an unwritten rule that if you were a person of color, you did not march with Corps X. This may have been more perception than reality, but it existed. In the late 80’s, there was a predominately African American corps that marched in a July 4th parade in my hometown. I spoke with some of the chaperones and their stories of the their experiences with other corps at competitions was horrifying. 

Cadets assembling a committee to look at inclusion does not mean the corps has a problem that needs to be addressed. Many businesses are doing the same thing right now. It is better to examine things now so that if there is an issue, it can be addressed. My guess is that this will not be an isolated Cadets initiative and other corps will have similar committees.

 

I'm not a DCI insider and what you're saying is foreign to me: ("unwritten rule that is you were a person of color, you did not march with Corps X").  I've never heard this.  Not saying it's not true, I'm just saying in over 50 years I've never heard it and I have dear friends that are former members, instructors, and executives in the activity.  If it is true, the activity has devolved and needs to be fixed.  When I marched (1969 - 1975) there were only three different types of people: horn players, drummers, and guard members.

That was it.