OSU Marching Band members play during a game against Kent State on Sept. 13 at Ohio Stadium. OSU won, 66-0.
Credit: Mark Batke / Photo editor
The new marching band director will be selected by people from across the university — with representatives from the School of Music, the College of Medicine, the athletic department, the band’s alumni association and students from the band among them.
Ohio State announced the search committee to find a new leader on Monday afternoon.
Mark Shanda, the dean of the of Arts and Humanities, has been tasked with leading the search and has a seven-person crew to help him out, according to a university release. That crew includes:
- Scott Jones, the associate director of university bands, an associate professor of music and one of the band’s current leaders
- Ted McDaniel, a professor of music and African-American and African Studies, as well as the head of the jazz studies program, who often arranges the band’s music
- Deborah Larsen, director of the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, associate dean of the College of Medicine and a former member of the Athletic Council who was recommended by University Senate secretary Tim Gerber, who is affiliated with the School of Music
- Jeffrey Jordan, the CFO of the Ohio High School Athletic Association and the treasurer of the OSU Alumni Association Board of Directors, who is also a former band member and is currently a member of the TBDBITL Alumni Club
- Diana Sabau, senior associate director of athletics, and
- Two students and current members of the band, who will be selected by the band’s leaders.
Diversity of the group is important, said David Manderscheid, the executive dean and vice provost of the College of Arts and Sciences.
“It’s imperative that stakeholders who have a deep understanding of the band’s excellence and rich history are included in the process to identify a new director – from band leadership, faculty and alumni to student band members,” Manderscheid said in a released statement.
Though there will be a new director, no other real changes to style or instrumentation are planned, the release said, including no uniform changes.
The director is expected to be named by February, according to an earlier university release. In the meantime, Scott Jones and University Bands director Russel Mikkelson are serving as interim directors.
Former OSU Marching Band director Jonathan Waters was fired July 24 after a two-month investigation into the band found a culture conducive to sexual harassment. It was determined he was either aware or reasonably should have been aware of that culture and did not do enough to change it.
Though Waters and his attorney have made several public appearances and submitted letters asking for Waters’ rehiring, multiple OSU administrators have refused to reconsider his case.
Waters visited Ohio Stadium on Saturday, and directed the alumni band at points throughout the OSU game against Kent State. He did not march in the halftime show, however.
Meanwhile, TBDBITL Alumni Club conducted its own investigation into Waters’ dismissal, the findings of which were announced Friday. The club’s law review chair Gary Leppla said Waters should be reinstated and the OSU report and subsequent firing of Waters hurt band members and alumni, and opened them up to humiliation.
And a second university-led investigation into the band’s culture is under way as well. That investigation — which is set to be completed by early October — is being led by former Ohio Attorney General Betty Montgomery and is reporting to President Michael Drake and the Board of Trustees. It will assess the band culture, review OSU administrative processes and oversight, and counsel the university on Title IX compliance issues. Title IX is a section of the Education Amendments of 1972 that aims to protect against discrimination based on sex in education programs that receive federal funding.
Some records the The Lantern has requested since Waters’ firing had not been filled as of Monday night, including the employment files for the associate and assistant band directors, salary information for the interim band leaders, the marching band’s operating budget, the budget for the band director search and the budget for the additional band investigation.
