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And the floodgates are opening


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23 minutes ago, Lance said:

The handful of people you're responding to would never ask these questions of real victims they were face to face with.  Imagine any of them sitting face to face with the dozens of USA gymnastics survivors who didn't speak up for decades, both minors and over 18, now well into adulthood, and telling them "Well young lady/man, you should have gone to the police or adult supervisor or blah blah blah".  Wouldn't happen because they wouldn't be behind the safety of a keyboard.  Think of that instead of responding to them.  

Same with Epstein's victims.

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3 hours ago, Sutasaurus said:

That person leaves tour and reports said incident to the authorities.  Mms are sent home from tour all the time for various reasons.

Have a nice summer everyone. It’s been an interesting discussion but one I’m afraid won’t move the needle as far as DCI is concerned.

The problem is that the assaults and talent night events occurred at all, not in her not escaping them soon enough, FFS.

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Well, this is all quite something, though, unfortunately, I don't find any of it much of a surprise. In a lot of ways, I believe this is a mess that was bound to explode at some point.

DCI made a deliberate business decision to present themselves as an educational extension of scholastic programs some years back. This made a lot of sense as a market with real growth potential, but the problem is they didn't make a concurrent effort to clean out a lot of the "old guard" types from the much more rough and tumble days of the activity. Nor did they crack down on behavior and establish strict policies/reporting to keep things on the road more in line with what was expected in public school band programs. There has been some improvement since the Hopkins issue, but obviously not enough.

Anyone who has been involved in any level certainly experienced or heard stories about all sorts of "stuff" going on. A lot of it is the not unexpected result of having large groups of barely-clad people of a certain age in close quarters for months, with largely exhausted and underpaid staff. I remember one, unauthorized, initiation-type event which occurred and when the staff found out about it we were livid, and royally chewed out the organizers. The worst part was the ones conducting it were kids we had regarded as being far more responsible than that. So, yes, kids do dumb things. When these things really becoming threatening to other kids, then you have a big problem.

My initial thought, and I saw this mentioned by someone else also, is I don't see how DCI has any choice but to make World Class 18-22 only. That's largely the case with the upper tier anyway, with just a few younger in the mix. When stuff is being thrown around about illegal interactions between adults/minors (all being members, not staff involvement), there is a very messy situation. The reality is, there may just be a few months separating the individuals involved, and the younger may even be the more mature party, but the legal definition is what it is. The organization will have enough trouble saving face, creating new policies and establishing better reporting procedures without the additional legal horror on top of it. 

The world has changed a lot, but DCI really hasn't. Under the slicker veneer is still a lot of the wild west environment of decades past. Can they really clean things up? I don't know, but that is what they are marketing themselves as, so they need to find a way if they are going to survive. 

 

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7 hours ago, keystone3ply said:

This timeline to me is the bigger issue for SOA.  There are conflicting or clarification post on the inter webs from other members about the events that unfolded at "Rookie Talent  Night".  

But it still shouldn't have happened & the RTN event should be shut down.  From my limited law classes, this timeline & the way it was handled will probably lead to civil litigation.    

SOA released a statement today also giving some timelines. IMO today's statement should have been the first statement they made. Again, everything they do is reactionary as opposed to grabbing the bull by the balls and being proactive

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7 hours ago, Terri Schehr said:

Up until 2020, I used to spend about $5k annually on drum corps between donations and shows.  Now, nothing.  Not even a subscription to flomarching. 

well, i'll keep Flo because of WGI, which seems to be doing things right

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15 minutes ago, Jeff Ream said:

SOA released a statement today also giving some timelines. IMO today's statement should have been the first statement they made. Again, everything they do is reactionary as opposed to grabbing the bull by the balls and being proactive

Agreed that today's statement should have been the first note, but it should have come in November, after the EquitAbility report was given to the DCI Board.  The timing now seems a mea culpa in response to being publicly called out rather than a proactive statement of findings and plan for improvement. 

Edited by Slingerland
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7 hours ago, cixelsyd said:

And I sympathize, to a degree.  I would prefer we at least stop at "burn down DCI and the 20 besmirched corps", rather than "burn it ALL down".

That said... 

Your posts are usually very well thought out and articulated.  Maybe this one requires a rethink.

First, the Spirit situation now has a lot of detail and a lot of corroboration, including admissions by the corps and DCI.  So there is some factual basis for reactions at this point.

Second (and more importantly) - you must be aware that drum corps tour is not something you can easily "walk away" from.  You have committed your entire summer, every ounce of energy you have, and all your personal freedom (and often, your life savings) to march drum corps.  Once you are on tour, it is essentially a hostage situation.  You may be over a thousand miles from home, often with no contact with the outside world.  The pay phones you had in your day are gone.  Some areas do not have wireless 911 service.  Some areas do not even have network coverage.  Neither of those help if your abuser(s) take or break your cell phone (assuming you had one to begin with).  Even if you have the courage to report an abusive situation, you may get further abuse from the rest of the now-hostile corps (and possibly staff) instead of the expected investigative/disciplinary response.  So precisely how does someone "walk away" from that?

and one more thing...the young lady in question was 16. not a college student

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5 hours ago, Sutasaurus said:

That person leaves tour and reports said incident to the authorities.  Mms are sent home from tour all the time for various reasons.

Have a nice summer everyone. It’s been an interesting discussion but one I’m afraid won’t move the needle as far as DCI is concerned.

your last sentence speaks volumes as to the problem at hand.

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22 minutes ago, Slingerland said:

Agreed that today's statement should have been the first note, but it should have come in November, after the EquitAbility report was given to the DCI Board.  The timing now seems a mea culpa in response to being publicly called out rather than a proactive statement of findings and plan for improvement. 

Yep SoA and DCI released statements (within an hour or so of each other I believe) after if started blowing up on social media. Not sure when it originally hit on Reddit but not long after here, Twitter and FB.

Edited by JimF-LowBari
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2 hours ago, Fran Haring said:

Yep.

And I hope no one takes my post as self-important... "geez... who cares if you're involved or not? Don't let the door hit you on the way out."

Because I know I'm not important. LOL. In the big picture, I'm barely a blip on the radar screen. But just saddened by the current state of the activity. 

you were the voice of DCA, the voice several generations came to know and listen for. you're more important than you give yourself credit for, and the way you were pushed out sucks.

 

which makes it better when corps keep reaching out to you to record their introductions

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