Report: Ohio State fires band director over ‘sexualized’ culture

Report: Ohio State fires band director over ‘sexualized’ culture

"The Marching Band's culture facilitated acts of sexual harassment, creating a hostile environment for students," the university wrote in its report.

Ohio State University fired its marching band director on Thursday after finding that Jonathan Waters failed to prevent a “sexualized” culture from developing within the band, The New York Times reports.

In a report released by the Office of University Compliance and Integrity at Ohio State, the school made the following findings:

“The Marching Band’s culture facilitated acts of sexual harassment, creating a hostile environment for students.”

“Jonathan Waters, the Marching Band’s Director, knew or reasonably should have known about this culture, failed to eliminate the sexual harassment, prevent its recurrence, and address its effects.”

According to The Associated Press, the “sexualized” culture included a number of traditions such as students being compelled to march in their underwear, sing inappropriate songs and perform sexually themed sketches.

“This is 2014, and we respect our students as young adults,” said Ohio State President Michael Drake, according to The AP. “We respect women, and we respect all the different people who work with us, we respect that diversity. We just had to make a square-wave change between this report, which was unacceptable, and the future, which we start today.”

The report notes that the investigation started after the parent of a marching band member made a complaint about the band’s culture to the Office of University Compliance and Integrity.

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