MSU band director investigated for sexual harrassment
Boy, when it rains, it pours.
"Pics of your dress are required … Discreetly of course,” John T. Madden, the director of the Spartan Marching Band, wrote in a text message to an MSU student on Feb. 20, 2016 at about 10:42 p.m. This information was found in documents obtained by The State News. The documents were given to The State News from a victim of sexual harassment.
February 9th, 2017 at 8:02 PM ^
Wow, the hits keep on coming, as I'm expecting 3-9 more reported incidents to surface.
February 9th, 2017 at 8:19 PM ^
Now it finally makes sense why they adopted that look...
February 9th, 2017 at 11:27 PM ^
Dead on USF colors.
February 9th, 2017 at 8:07 PM ^
February 9th, 2017 at 8:16 PM ^
February 9th, 2017 at 8:26 PM ^
February 9th, 2017 at 8:23 PM ^
February 10th, 2017 at 12:06 AM ^
3-9.
If you are going to be a shit show, at least be like Baylor or an SEC team and have something to show for it.
February 9th, 2017 at 9:37 PM ^
February 9th, 2017 at 8:16 PM ^
I do not wish bad on anyone, inclding our rivals. Maybe that is the Christian in me. However, they need to get their act together in E. Lansing!
February 9th, 2017 at 8:30 PM ^
I will always wish bad on predators no matter who they are.
February 9th, 2017 at 8:23 PM ^
Don't even have a clue what to say. What a freak show!.
February 9th, 2017 at 8:32 PM ^
Too many little bro buddies who went to State to see any value in any of this. Sad for them but time to clean out the stall, and I know they feel the same.
February 9th, 2017 at 8:38 PM ^
Problem was that he made her feel like she HAD to send him pics of her due to his position of power. If they had had some sort of mutually agreed upon relationship, even with the power dynamic involved, it would have been inappropriate, but I believe it wouldn't have been harassment.
February 9th, 2017 at 8:39 PM ^
And it wasn't just the dress tweet. It was also comments about her shoes and wanting to go ice skating with here.
FFS, I've got a young daughter and I'm already freaking out about sending her to college because apparently men still haven't figured out that women are people too and treating them as such.
February 9th, 2017 at 8:41 PM ^
He was suspended for one week? That seems pretty light.
February 9th, 2017 at 9:37 PM ^
Not condoning the behavior, but come on moral police--gang rape at Baylor by half the football team, crotch grabbing in East Lansing by a wide receiver, and send me a picture of you fully clothed by a band director---one of these does not belong.
February 9th, 2017 at 10:33 PM ^
February 9th, 2017 at 8:55 PM ^
February 9th, 2017 at 8:58 PM ^
that's so creepy
February 9th, 2017 at 9:17 PM ^
February 10th, 2017 at 10:55 AM ^
February 9th, 2017 at 9:18 PM ^
yesterday. MSU is taking a zero tolerance for sexual assault now that they are about to be scorched by the Dr. Nasser lawsuits. MSU has always been quite lax in its following through on assault and harrassment cases
Friends who work at MSU have told me the whole culture is on high alert for anything even remotely resembling harrasment or assault.
February 9th, 2017 at 9:38 PM ^
February 9th, 2017 at 10:11 PM ^
cooperate. Many of us believe she had her tuition "taken care of".
If you can imagine a gymnastics coach stearing away students from reporting sexual assaults for 20 years, you can certainly connect dots on that situation.
February 9th, 2017 at 9:23 PM ^
February 9th, 2017 at 10:34 PM ^
February 10th, 2017 at 11:02 AM ^
Yeah, no. This is basically a student/teacher relationship, and a student whose leadership position would have made her have more interaction with the director than the usual student. She's absolutely right to file a complaint. The onus isn't on her to say "hey, adult professional person who has been in the public eye for over two decades, please act professionally and don't sexually harass me."
Also, there's no such thing as a "joking, cordial conversation" over text message between a male band director and a female college student concerning a dress worn to a formal dance.
February 9th, 2017 at 9:23 PM ^
They'll make him take a class and put him on probation.
February 10th, 2017 at 9:21 AM ^
Probably about right... maybe add in an unpaid suspension. In the continuum of shit that's happened in EL over the past few weeks, this ranks near the bottom. Old man in charge sends mildly suggestive texts to 22 year old student. Not saying it's right... it's not.... but nothing physical happened and the woman was never threatened or coerced. The old dude even seemed to be in th e midst of some kind of struggle with his own guilt. More pathetic and sad than dangerous.
February 9th, 2017 at 9:38 PM ^
director at OS recently have the same charges against him as well? Like last year or something?
February 9th, 2017 at 10:34 PM ^
Well, now the guy is going to be a "creepy text theater" feature with a record.
I mean, good luck finding a job.
Career destroyed? Mission accomplished.
What's more likely? They guy was a nice man turned suddenly creep? Or that these two idiots exchanged playful text messages over a long period of time. She then complies to his request for a dress photo? C'mon man.
Then she got tired of it, and on a whim declares the man a sex predator.
I don't know. Seems to me that an adult can easily invent all kinds of valid reasons why you didn't respond to dumb texts or photo requests.
February 10th, 2017 at 10:10 AM ^
I don't know anything other than what's in the article, but it does not sound like she decided "on a whim" to file a complaint. I find the suggestion that she didn't think through her own actions extremely rude and upsetting. I'm not sure how his inappropriate behaviour should be handled, but from the article it seems very clear that his behavior messed up this young woman pretty bad. For you to dismiss her emotional trauma as a "whim" is disgusting and I think you should retract your statement. I don't have a problem with or disagree with anything else you said, but your whim comment pisses me off.
February 9th, 2017 at 10:38 PM ^
February 9th, 2017 at 10:39 PM ^
This guy was a chaperone for my high school band trip to Hawaii. I think he can be fired for this but I don't think that it's a crime because she is over 18.
February 9th, 2017 at 11:09 PM ^
The thing I'm torn about is, according to the article, the guy tried to apologize and admitted that what he did was inappropriate, which it was. So I guess I question at that point if all of this was necessary? He never seemed to threaten her position in the band or anything. Yeah, he showed inappropriate unwanted interest in her and was trying to flirt with her in those texts and it all went wrong.
Not defending what he did or saying it isn't wrong. The power dynamic in play made it completely inappropriate even with her being probably 20 or 21 years old. Just saying that once he said to her "hey I was wrong and inappropriate" that maybe that could have been the resolution to the issue unless he persisted in his behavior or otherwise indicated that he was going to treat her differently (i.e. punish her) because of the incident?
Obviously there may be more to the story that we don't know.
February 10th, 2017 at 10:05 AM ^
I grew up and was around the same age as his daughter. Nice family. She played in the band and always posted pictures of him and her at games and on trips to bowl games. Makes the whole thing really, really weird.
February 10th, 2017 at 10:57 AM ^
As someone who spent four years in a college marching band, I cannot think of any reason why a band director would or should be exchanging personal, non band-business text messages with a member of the band. Yes, there are reasons why a band director would be privately communicating with a student, particularly if they're in a leadership position. But this is super weird. Not normal. And way beyond the pale.