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Sexual Assault: Spirit of Atlanta 2021


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6 minutes ago, IllianaLancerContra said:

Question on current practices:  BITD if a member went from one Corps to another after a certain date, the member had to have what was called a 'letter of release' from the Corps they were transferring from.  The member couldn't march in competition with the gaining Corps until the release was obtained.  Penalty for marching unreleased member was DQ at competition member marched in.   So, is there still a similar practice?  If the contract is pulled is there a way to keep the member from joining another Corps?

It may be easier to keep the member as an alternate/pit equipment mover/prop mover.

Or better yet, lets shut down SoA for apparent stupidity in violating common sense member safety and prevention of bullying/sexual assault rules.

I remember hearing about it but don't really know if it was even active when I marched, much less enforced. It's essentially a non-compete clause as we have at my company but for different reasons. Ours is because of the whole "intellectual property / insider industry knowledge" BS. 

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The Letter of release form pertains to financial obligations (you can't get contracted to a new corps if you still owe money to a former corps). 

It can and should be amended to ask if the member has been disciplined or credibly accused of physical or sexual assault while with the previous organization. Falsifying the info would be cause for revoking the contract, and if a corps director at a previous corps was complicit in downplaying or falsifying info, it should be cause for a ban from the activity. 

The corps, through DCI, need to get serious about this. None of it's hard, it's all common sense. No excuses. 

Edited by Slingerland
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44 minutes ago, Brian Tuma said:

That comment makes me ill. Did you see the person who made that comment will be a returning guard member for the ‘22 season? This pattern of unacceptable behavior runs deep within SoA. Shut it down!

And to be fair, in other corps as well. I'm not an immediate advocate of shutting down corps. I'm just not. In this case, if the board can't manage to come to some very quick changes and have the fortitude to enforce them, then that may be what's best. 

Ultimately, DCI should mandate, track and follow up on training for ALL members, staff and volunteers and have the will and power to enforce those mandates and hand out any measures for noncompliance. And if corps want to survive, they should welcome this type of action because if for no other reason, it makes it easier for them if something does happen. Part of the willingness to enforce action comes from the ability to make that enforcement easy to make actionable.

What I DO believe is that sweeping changes have to be made across the activity. What happened was not "all in good fun" nor was it something that I witnessed to anywhere CLOSE to this extent when I marched. Hell, we thought we were bad ##### for sneaking off to the swimming pool at a housing site. 

 

Edited by Weaklefthand4ever
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1 hour ago, Terri Schehr said:

An apologist for bad behavior has chimed in here. 

And some idiot on FB posted “glad we didn’t have Facebook BITD” because of the stories that would come out. Admin turned off commenting there but wanted ask if being able to hide harassment and assault so potential members would be unaware is a good thing. Then they topped that by another post “I could have reported everybody 😆” Just reported that one to the mod. 🤬🤬🤬

Edited by JimF-LowBari
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I just realized a way this could be properly fixed:  I wonder if the insurance companies that DCI and the Corps use know about this ongoing problem.  As they would get involved if there was a claim against DCI/Corps for damages, they need to be aware so as to appropriately set the cost of the insurance.  Perhaps they need to be informed.  

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10 minutes ago, JimF-LowBari said:

And some idiot on FB posted “glad we didn’t have Facebook BITD” because of the stories that would come out. Admin turned off commenting there but wanted ask if being able to hide harassment and assault so potential members would be unaware is a good thing. Then they topped that by another post “I could have reported everybody 😆” Just reported that one to the mod. 🤬🤬🤬

It was easier to cover up the bad behavior when people weren’t communicating on social media.  Some people would prefer it stay under the rug.  That way nothing interrupts their drum corps. Which is way more important than human beings being damaged. (Sarcasm off)

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3 minutes ago, IllianaLancerContra said:

I just realized a way this could be properly fixed:  I wonder if the insurance companies that DCI and the Corps use know about this ongoing problem.  As they would get involved if there was a claim against DCI/Corps for damages, they need to be aware so as to appropriately set the cost of the insurance.  Perhaps they need to be informed.  

Point I totally forgot about. When my church started procedures to cut down chances of child abuse, it was suggested by the insurance company. Church had asked about ways to cut the premiums and this was one of the suggestions. Sad part was if anyone squawked about the new policy we’d say “it can save us money” and then it would be ok.

On the other hand, I’d think corps getting caught like this would cause their rates to skyrocket. Anyway to check this on the 990s or other paperwork?

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5 minutes ago, anomaly said:

Hey everyone!

 

I just wanted to introduce myself. My names McKenzee, I'm the 2021 SOA member who came forward the other day regarding all of this. I wanted to thank those of you that have supported me and spread the word. If you have any questions pertaining to what happened, I'd be glad to answer them. I cannot name names, but beyond that I'm open to talking about my experience. Thank you.

 

Do Better SOA

 

https://t.co/JovLdmjGBM

https://m.facebook.com/100001523737826/posts/4838454732881937/?d=n

https://chng.it/hDfGzdRG

We got your back over here. 🤗♥️

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