The Alumni Club of the Ohio State University Marching Band today issued its own report about the firing of director Jon Waters at an afternoon press conference. Officers of the alumni band organization did not talk much about the findings of their voluminous report exonerating Waters and damning the university. They did attack the investigative report that led to Waters firing. This is attorney and former band member Gary Leppla. We characterize [the report] as a totally unfair, inaccurate, and in fact defamatory report, Leppla said.
Also speaking at the press conference was Band Director Emeritus Paul Droste who provided his own insight into the bands culture: The group works hard and plays hard. Thats us. Were not an academic seminar or a Sunday School class, Droste said.
The alumni band groups report calls on the university to take the following steps: Reinstate Jon Waters immediately; Conduct what they say would be a full, fair and impartial, independent investigation. They want the University to repudiate its own investigative report. And they want a public apology to Ohio States marching band family. Attorney Gary Leppla says the fight is not over. He says he does not see a lawsuit on the horizon. "Sometime you just have to stand up for whats right. You have to be a witness to the truth. And I think thats the way we see it. We dont know whats ahead. We dont have the power to force anything but we have the power of ideas and the power of facts," Leppla said.
700 alumni band members will perform tomorrow before the start of the Ohio State --Kent State football game.