The Cadets are being sued by a former member for alleged sexual abuse in the 80s

[JimF-LowBari]

15 minutes ago, karuna said:

High school programs were using the background check process well before drum corps.  Has it eliminated abuse there?    As I said it's mostly a legal CYA action.  

I was talking about organizations that didn’t even do background checks. Usually some religious groups that went with the “God will protect us” mentality.

Yes background checks only work after someone is caught and reported. But figure how bad it would be without that check. Biggest problem I see with background checks is places don’t want to report because of the effort or possible legal action 

Edited November 14, 2023 by JimF-LowBari

[karuna]

11 minutes ago, bluesman said:

Are we now living in a time where "The sins of the father are to be laid upon the children"? I'm sympathetic to anyone who has been the victim of sexual assault or harassment, but this was almost 42 years ago.  Some kids aren't going to get to march because of something that happened before they, or in some instances before their parents were born.  I'm sure I'm going to get blasted for this, but the alleged incident happened more than 4 decades ago. 

There's truth in what you're saying.  Up to the legal system to determine what responsibility today's Cadets (Cadets A&E) may have for the actions of the Garfield Cadets so long ago.  

Edited November 14, 2023 by karuna

[TheOneWhoKnows]

Sadly, I foresee this being the end of The Cadets. Unfortunately, instead of going after those that are guilty of crimes, we have to tear down the whole organization. 

[MikeN]

41 minutes ago, bluesman said:

Are we now living in a time where "The sins of the father are to be laid upon the children"? I'm sympathetic to anyone who has been the victim of sexual assault or harassment, but this was almost 42 years ago.  Some kids aren't going to get to march because of something that happened before they, or in some instances before their parents were born.  I'm sure I'm going to get blasted for this, but the alleged incident happened more than 4 decades ago. 

Counterpoint (and not aimed at you specifically) - at what point does their trauma and justice stop mattering?  Just because an org has ignored, covered and deflected for so long, do we just throw our hands up and say "nothing else to do"?

Mike

[IllianaLancerContra]

51 minutes ago, karuna said:

Maybe.  Please submit a DNA sample, fingerprints, retina scan, professional qualifications, resume with cover letter, background clearance, 200 personal references,  power of attorney and a $100000 application fee and send it to....

We’ll, I’m a retired military officer.  Been through quite a bit to obtain & maintain security clearances.   Most of this, save application fee, in fact.  

[TheOneWhoKnows]

9 minutes ago, MikeN said:

Counterpoint (and not aimed at you specifically) - at what point does their trauma and justice stop mattering?  Just because an org has ignored, covered and deflected for so long, do we just throw our hands up and say "nothing else to do"?

Mike

At what point do we recognize that the organization that exists today isn’t the same organization that existed then? Why is it we have to tear down what is the organization and instead of directing blame and action against those that are actually at fault?

[MikeN]

That's one of the arguments to be decided in this particular arbitration / mediation.  In much bigger settings, USA Gymnastics and the Catholic Church could not get them separated.  And I assume that's also why this suit names the ten individuals it does separately as well. 

Mike

[JimF-LowBari]

21 minutes ago, IllianaLancerContra said:

Well, I’m a retired military officer.  Been through quite a bit to obtain & maintain security clearances.   Most of this, save application fee, in fact.  

Taking for granted FBI still has my  records even though I’m retired and no longer have a security clearance. Late wife’s Cousin works for FBI and joked that he’d check my file when he went back to work. My in laws heard that and kind of freaked “why would the FBI have a file on you?” 😱

[Tim K]

1 hour ago, karuna said:

High school programs were using the background check process well before drum corps.  Has it eliminated abuse there?    As I said it's mostly a legal CYA action.  

Have background checks eliminated abuse? No, nothing is fool proof. Have they reduced abuse? The theory is they keep potential predators away, however it is always the case that the background checks along with checking personal references and close supervision are necessary. The supervision is probably the most critical component. Any time you take a training to spot predators, the first thing often mentioned is that predators are usually expert manipulators.

[cixelsyd]

2 hours ago, karuna said:

It sounds easy to have a shared database of "problem" members.  But accountability is a real thing (for the entity maintaining the list and for the corps submitting data to the list).   Good ideas are good until you get down to implementation.  Then reality sets in.   

So true.

There is another aspect of this that bites DCI in the rear.  The whole operating model of DCI is based on "haves" and "have-nots", "members" and "non-members".  Always has been.  We are down to 37 corps, and still DCI divides them by class, and further excludes several of the world-class from "membership".  How many times has someone slipped through that gaping crack because information is not shared between haves and have-nots, and vice-versa?

(Speaking of which, add all-age to the divisional communication network now.)