COLUMBUS, Ohio – The alumni club of the Ohio State University marching band says it will release its own report in response to the investigation that led to the school firing band director Jon Waters.
Meanwhile, a lawyer representing Jonathan Waters says a federal decision to end a four-year investigation into the university’s handling of sexual abuse cases does not validate the Waters’ termination.
The U.S. Department of Education review didn’t scrutinize the methodology or fairness of the university’s actions against Waters, attorney David Axelrod said. The university denies its decision had anything to do with the four-year-old federal investigation.
Axelrod also said Thursday the report confirms suspicions that Ohio State rushed to judgment against Waters to appease the government as it investigated.
The university fired Waters July 24 for failing to do enough to stop a “sexualized culture” within the band.
Many band supporters say the university made a scapegoat of Waters, not the least of which has been the alumni organization known as TBDBITL.
An email from the cub announced a Friday press conference on the release of its own report. The club has described the school’s investigation as a distorted characterization of band culture, and it has vigorously defended Waters.
A two-month university investigation concluded Waters knew about and failed to stop sexualized rituals such as students marching partially-clad, playing groping games on buses and awarding sometimes explicit nicknames.
The university has stood by his July 24 firing and rebuffed calls for Waters’ reinstatement to what’s known among fans as The Best Damn Band in The Land.