To analyze each of these issues, let’s split them into 3 parts — sexual assault, medical ignorance, and lack of communication.

The level of communication in both Pioneer and the Oregon Crusaders was each of their greatest downfalls. Your members are your greatest asset, and refusing to listen to their concerns does not only allow major issues to slide, it also creates a strong sense of resentment from the corps to the staff. Beyond this, when the corps actively suppresses member complaints, that corps is diving into a realm of member negligence that will result in disciplinary action, as seen in the case of Pioneer. Progress is being made for member-staff communication throughout the drum corps community — more channels of communication are being built everyday — this does not make up for those who either lack or ignore each of these modes. Corps need to take responsibility for maintaining safe environment for their members, and listening to member concerns.

Medical negligence is an outright danger to every member, and should even further creates an unsafe member environment. While many injuries on tour can be treated wit ibuprofen, stretching, and rest, I’ve heard one to many stories involving severe member injuries to not be concerned about a lack of medical staff. A corps medical staff is the first line of defense for keeping a corps in top-top shape — managing medicines, helping with the occasional sprained ankle or migraine, and making sure every performer is as healthy as can be. Beyond this, the medical staff are the first responders when and if a member has a severe medical emergency on tour. From broken bones, dangerous falls, dehydration, and heat exhaustion, medical staff assists in those critical moments right after injury. For a corps not to have medical staff means that they place financials over their member safety, a trade that should never even be an option.

As a blanket fact, any sexual predator should not be allowed in any position on a drum corps staff. Over the past couple of months, we’ve seen this in two forms — people hired with prior knowledge of their past, and those who committed assault while in the staff. When a staff member commits sexual assault while on the staff, as seen in the case of George Hopkins, the corps may not actually know about the member’s actions. When a corps hires a member to staff knowing their past, there is an issue with the corps. No organization should hire members to an educational staff who have a record of sexual assault. Rather than being a “bad apple”, this shows the organization has placed the value of the new staff over the safety of the corps, the trade that should never be made.