Edit: please read this whole post before commenting on it :) it may read as “abuse is inevitable and we can’t do anything” if you only read the first few paragraphs and that’s not what I’m saying at ALL.

I want to start this post off by saying two things: one, go read the posts made by the member before saying ANYTHING (links in the comments). Two, with Phantom already down because of COVID amidst what is meant to be a strong season for them and drum corps as a whole, I’d like to encourage everyone to engage in positive activism, to avoid tearing down members, corps, and fans in the crossfire. Getting at each other’s throats fixes nothing, and could prove excessively volatile in the middle of a season.

That being said, At this point, I would /carefully/ suggest that this is less of an “individual corps” problem and more of a “governing body” problem.

Abuse in the activity has traditionally been inevitable - which it shouldn’t be, but it’s rooted in the history of drum corps’s educational aspect - and one of the great things about the 2010’s was we saw a massive direction shift away from the abuse of the 90’s into more fundamental educational philosophies. We saw a similar shift between the 70’s and the late 80’s (arguably pioneered by Star of Indiana) - if you think the 90’s were bad, just listen to some of the stories from the 70’s.

If the magnitude of neglect is as large as this member’s posts suggest, then of course Phantom should codify their policy and follow it, but I’d argue that if we want to see these records of abuse/neglect decrease, then DCI has to stop taking the role of “punisher” and start taking the role of “legislator.” DCI needs to have a more active part in making sure corps have their policies on abuse laid out, and those policies need to be approved through DCI. DCI also needs to lay out some guidelines on how corps hire educational staff, and there needs to be an established code of conduct that educational staff must agree to through DCI, in addition to the one that each individual corps supplies. That way both the corps and DCI hold staff members responsible for following their codes of conduct.

I hate to say this, because this will hurt corps like Music City, Genesis, Cascades, and Surf, but DCI also really needs to implement age restrictions between open class and world class. Open class needs to be restricted to minors, and world class should be restricted to adults. This shuts down any potential sexual abuse between minor and adult members. (EDIT: I HAVE DISCUSSED THIS NUMEROUS TIMES IN THE COMMENTS. PLEASE GO FIND ONE OF THOSE THREADS AND READ THEM BEFORE COMMENTING)

In terms of members, before the season starts (not during the season - nobody will take it seriously during spring training) each member should have to go through conduct training through DCI, which includes anti-abuse and anti-discrimination training as well as the pathways for reporting abuse through DCI. DCI needs to be sure that each corps have strict punishments in place for not following the conduct training, as well as having their own punishments.

These pathways and barriers are easily the best way to decrease the number of cases that pop up. Obviously, these won’t be effective unless DCI as an organization is proactive in their efforts to stop abuse in the activity, and there’s an entirely different discussion to be had about that. But in a vacuum, we must consider that drum corps is ultimately an EDUCATIONAL experience, and thus it must be treated as such - with policies, guidelines, and barriers similar to schools.

The solutions we’ve put in place so far have been good at stopping this problem case-by-case, but we need long-term solutions to ensure the health and continuation of the activity - leaving behind the things that bring it down, and not dismantling the corps themselves unless absolutely necessary (in such cases as Pioneer). I love this activity, and I don’t want to see it end because we can’t eliminate this problem. I believe we can fix it with the right solutions: by preventing them, not just punishing those who participate in them.