Then-OSU Marching Band director Jon Waters conducts a concert at Veteran Memorial Auditorium Nov. 10.
Credit: Lantern file photo
Former Ohio State Marching Band director Jonathan Waters plans to perform with the alumni band during Saturday’s home Ohio State game against Kent State.
A source with knowledge of the situation said Waters will march with the alumni band into the stadium and during pregame. He will also sit with the alumni band during the first half of the game and might direct them during a few songs. He will not, however, attend Skull Session — the pregame pep rally the marching band holds before each home game.
OSU spokesman Chris Davey referred questions about the alumni band’s scheduled performance to the TBDBITL Alumni Club on Thursday.
Waters was fired July 24 after a two-month investigation into the band found a culture conducive to sexual harassment. It was determined Waters was aware or reasonably should have been aware of that culture and did not do enough to change it.
Since his dismissal, Waters and his attorney have made multiple public appearances and submitted a letter asking for OSU to consider rehiring him. OSU President Michael Drake and the Board of Trustees, however, have declined to reconsider his case.
The university plans on naming a new director by February and has named University Bands director Russel Mikkelson and associate director Scott Jones as interim directors until a permanent director is selected.
Also Thursday, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights announced it will enter into an agreement with OSU to ensure proper Title IX obedience, after a compliance review of the university was concluded, according to a Thursday release.
In a release, the OCR agreed with the university that a “sexually hostile environment” within the band violated Title IX, and praised the university for its handling of the situation.
Title IX is a section of the Education Amendments of 1972 which says schools that receive federal funding can’t discriminate based on sex.
OSU was one of 55 U.S. colleges and universities being investigated by the department for its handling of sexual abuse complaints under Title IX. The review began in 2010 and was not complaint-based, the release said.
