By: Denis '89

Denis '89
Sun, 27 Jul 2014 18:01:31 +0000

It is a shame this happened to such a creative individual, but tOSU had very little choice given the current atmosphere created by a number of factors concerning the current litigious nature of society and relatively recent events at both Ohio State and at other institutions regarding the cover ups of student misconduct and hazing gone very wrong. I have sympathy for “Mr.” Waters (sidebar: seriously, Ph.D Candidate, it seems to lack perspective to choose this issue to carry on so about erosion of the branding of “Dr.”/”Doctor” when far more serious matters at being discussed) because I know first hand that it can be very easy, when you’re put in that situation, to not want to be the person to rock the boat or throw others “under the bus”, even if you are the one in charge, especially since I would expect that all the other band he’s been associated with probably had their own traditions of hazing and/or prurient behavior.

It is interesting to read some of the comments, including those of individuals associated with the band, past or present, and your typical haters. It should be kept in mind that, while the situation should be taken seriously and has been, I would not consider it to be egregious and calling people out as “perverts” or other epithets is not needed or helpful. I am equally certain that most institutions of higher learning have many of the same issues with trying to control hazing. No human is perfect and, when you cram so many together in the same place, there are bound to be some problems.

However, the knee-jerk defense of either the university or the band in this situation is not warranted either. It is human nature to close ranks and to “cover the backs” of your fellow group members by hiding or minimizing poor behavior, but that is precisely what allows it to grow and, sometimes, to become truly barbaric (such as what happened at Florida A&M). It is really no different than the organizational dynamics that allow bad cops to be protected by the “blue shield” of good cops, that allow lazy or incompetent union members to keep their jobs via Union protection, and that even led to sicko priest being shuffled from parish to parish to commit sexual abuse over and over. I would suggest that TBDBITL alumni put their emotional responses behind them and try to view the situation more objectively before they start carrying on about not giving another dime to the University, cutting all ties, blah blah blah. If you think back to your first year in the band, I will bet you can remember a least a few times where the proverbial “little voice inside your head” started whispering “this is wrong”, and you ignored it even though it was probably dead on right. This is why I believe President Drake did was necessary. Again, I hope Mr. Waters’ career can recover, because he is merely the fall guy for a problem that he clearly did not create.