OT- Ohio St Band Director Fired for "sexualized" Culture

Submitted by michchi85 on

Link.  Some pretty alarming issues here, especially midnight practices in underwear and having one girl to imitiate a sexual act on the laps of several band mates, including her own brother.  

MGoBender

July 24th, 2014 at 1:32 PM ^

Underwear practice in the stadium with booze... How in the hell does that happen? Who in charge doesn't think "I would lose my job for this"

GoWings2008

July 24th, 2014 at 1:34 PM ^

As much as I'd love to roll in on making fun of our rival, this really isn't that big of a deal as far as I'm concerned.  Its college.  Hope none of the people who complained have never or will never attend a local HHH event.

Edit:  Except for the girl who had to interact with her brother.  That's gross.

stephenrjking

July 24th, 2014 at 2:09 PM ^

1. Some of us don't know what HHH is, other than a Minnesota politician and a juiced-up wrestling heel. A google search suggests an activity related to "hashing," but I can't tell if that is what you're talking about.

2. If HHH events really are notorious for that kind of activity, it's a good bet that people who dislike such activities would give it a wide berth. However, it is not widely thought that marching bands are a place where that should be expected; indeed, a lot of people from different ethnic, moral, religious, and political backgrounds may in fact grow up thinking that being in the Michigan or OSU band would be a dream come true, without considering that they may be asked to simulate sex acts on family members.

And they shouldn't be forced to deal with that kind of thing just to march on a field and play a fight song.

stephenrjking

July 24th, 2014 at 1:50 PM ^

Yeah, there still are some backward prudes who aren't comfortable marching around with 250 compatriots in their underwear while the booze is flowing freely. With the explicit endorsement of band staff that is present.

See, if the culture is corrupt enough to make that "ok," it's also quite possibly ok with the idea of humiliating new members in ways that can be sexually degrading. And those prudes who don't like it can either suck it up and keep quiet, or they can quit and give up the life-long dream of marching in the band before your favorite team's home games and maybe even dotting the "I."

Great set of options there.

champ009kd

July 24th, 2014 at 1:37 PM ^

Was he also the band director at Great East Falls High School? I once overheard a redhead say she did some very questionable things at band camp with her flute. 

JamieH

July 24th, 2014 at 1:42 PM ^

Can't speak for the Michigan Marching Band recently, but I know when I was in it in the early 90's there was NONE of this kind of s*** happening.  Hell, one guy got suspended for just making a loud public sexual innuendo towards a girl during a group meeting, and honestly everyone knew he was just being a stupid goofball.   But it just wasn't tolerated. 

Also, we were told that if we were caught drinking on bowl trips we'd be put on the next flight home.  Doesn't mean it still didn't happen, but it was explicitly forbidden, and there was no wink-wink nudge-nudge going on. 

I'm not saying we were perfect or anything, but there is no way in hell stuff like this would have ever been tolerated.  We were told that we represented the University, and ANYTHING done that would shine a negative light on Michigan was pretty much a zero tolerance zone. 

 

 

MMBbones

July 24th, 2014 at 2:42 PM ^

Apparently the Glock Bus, bus 6 when traveling, was no longer an entity at Michigan by the 1990s.  It was a guys-only bus. The motto was "what goes on the Glock Bus stays on the Glock Bus," long before Vegas started using that line in its marketing.  We sang tasteless songs, did tasteless things, but it was all in good fun and as soon as we got off the bus we were excessively straight-faced about the whole thing.  When Wisconsin's band came to Michigan in 1984 their whole band behaved publicly like we behaved privately on that one bus.  We gave them an appropriate Michigan welcome into our practice facility -- we stood aloof.    I was in the band from 83-87.

UMQuadz05

July 24th, 2014 at 4:22 PM ^

Bus 6 is still the "rowdy" bus (or was 10 years ago), and it's co-ed, but you are correct:  No one is there that doesn't want to be there, and when that thing stopped moving, everyone knew they were about to represent the "M" in public and acted accordingly. 

JamieH

July 24th, 2014 at 5:16 PM ^

The Glocks were still a think in the early 90's but I never did ride on their bus.  So maybe some s*** went down on that bus that I never heard about--can't say that it didn't.  But there was certainly never anything at a practice or anything that anyone on the staff was ever aware off that was tolerated or tacitly approved of.  

I mean, I'm not saying people didn't make sexual jokes--c'mon this is college we're talking about.  I'm saying there is a definite difference between people making some crude jokes on a road trip and the stuff talked about in that report. 

MMBbones

July 24th, 2014 at 5:36 PM ^

Yes, that's exactly how it was in the 80's, too.  There was zero tolerance for anything remotely inappropriate being done anywhere it could be witnessed by a non-MMB member, and anyone who rode bus 6 was informed of its reputation before riding. We referred to ourselves as "The Gentlemen of Bus 6."  And really, what happened on the bus was quite tame; just bar room silliness types of things.  "The drinking age of the Michigan Marching Band is 65" was the official line the director told the whole band.  Keeping any violations completely secret was part of the fun.

mvp

July 25th, 2014 at 12:05 PM ^

Just after that time, on a band trip, the busses were stopped and several cases of adult beverages were found and removed from bus 6.  After that the Glocks were still Glocks, but there was no longer an official Glock Bus.  And things were toned down quite a bit.

I marched in the '89 through '92 seasons.

I suspect the Glocks have faded into memory.

A couple times, between the OSU game and the end of the semester, when we knew it would be inside rehearsal only, a few of us went to Dominic's before rehearsal.  But thinking about a full rehearsal drunk makes me think about throwing up... :)

MMBbones

July 25th, 2014 at 1:34 PM ^

Ahhh.... That explains it.  I had heard rumors to that effect.  RIP Glock bus.  I think the Glock bus was a throwback to the days when the band was all-male (which it was into the early 70s, I believe).  Apparently the tunnel before pregame was a bawdy place in those days, but no old-timers I ever spoke with were willing to divulge details.  Amazing the Free Press never got hold of that story.

Bando Calrissian

July 24th, 2014 at 3:12 PM ^

It never happened. Ever. It was actual really impressive, given the hazing culture surrounding band just about everywhere. That's not to say it never existed in the past, because it did, but not now.

FreddieMercuryHayes

July 24th, 2014 at 1:40 PM ^

See this is the kind of shit that happens when you let Ohio State exist. Hopefully someone will finally do something. Stupid politicians worrying about budgets, immigration, health care and all that other crap while they ignore the greatest scourge to out society: Ohio State. Time to wake up America!