Dan Potter started this week's episode of the "DCI Fieldpass" podcast with a simple, solemn request about a complicated issue.

"Before we focus on the season that's about to be, I want us all to have a talk," he said.

"We can't start this season—I can't start this season—without having this discussion about stories of sexual harassment and abuse in drum corps." 

Potter, the host of "DCI Fieldpass," will normally discuss the hottest news in the drum corps world. He can often be found interviewing the next most popular drum major or drum corps designer.

However, this episode was different.

Potter explained that he was about to discuss the #MeToo movement and how it pertains to the drum corps community.

The 22-minute-long podcast included three interview subjects:

• Kathy Black, a DCI board member
• Elayna Youngson, a Carolina Crown drum major and writer of a recently published essay "addressing #MeToo in drum corps as a microcosm of society."
• Dan Acheson, the executive director of Drum Corps International

Potter began by recounting his trip to the DCI Winter Meetings in January in Indianapolis, where he "witnessed DCI's proactivity" addressing the issue of member safety. Small group discussions led by leadership consultant Fran Kick took place during a luncheon.

The small groups were assigned with the purpose to be diverse; they included current corps' drum majors, DCI staff members, judges, board members, etc. The subject of discussion was sexual abuse, and it's a conversation Potter continued with his guests on "DCI Fieldpass."

Youngson is a member of "Women in DCI," a Facebook group that spawned from the aftermath of the DCI Winter Meetings. She hoped to continue the discussion that began at the winter meetings, much like Potter and decided a social media group would be the best place to start. Inspired by the stories that surfaced on Facebook, Youngson then wrote an article published in "Drum Corps World" magazine titled "Women in DCI: a continued response to sexual harassment."

"After reading so many personal stories I thought, 'this has to be made aware to the rest of the general population of DCI,'" Youngson said.

Potter asked, "How do you think that drum corps can use this national movement to bring about positive change?"

She answered: "Because these things have happened on such a national level and the way that they've been handled by society, in general, can be reflected more into how we handle those situations in drum corps."

Kathy Black is the only female member of the DCI board of directors. Potter brought her into the conversation to fill in listeners on the things happening behind the scenes, from a top-down approach. 

Black discussed the "In Step" initiative—launched in March "to support the participation by women in all facets of DCI and marching music performing arts"—as well as the "Women in DCI" committee's purpose. 

"Our committee's priorities are to encourage policies and training that will protect members," Black said. "We want to highlight women who are in our activity, at all levels."

Potter then asked Black what past or present steps have been taken by Drum Corps International to ensure the safety of participants. 

She responded, "We do require background checks; we also have a DCI Code of Conduct... One of the things we're doing here at the board meeting is talk about how to expand that code of conduct and make it more specific with some of the conduct that Elayna talks about in her article.

"One of the things we want to do this summer is to have a couple of events. We're looking at San Antonio and at Championships where women can come talk to various people—board members or staff members—about what they would like to see in the activity."

After finishing his interviews with Youngson and Black, Potter next spoke with Acheson, DCI's executive director, about the reports of sexual abuse in drum corps.

"We, as an organization, myself personally, are absolutely devastated when we read these stories," Acheson started.

Potter followed up with a question, "What would you tell parents who are about to send your kids off to take part in the Drum Corps International tour?"

Acheson answered: "We've done a lot of work recently on enhancing policies on the DCI level, and we're working with the member corps to make sure that they have their issues together in terms of their policies an procedures. Each of those organizations, as an autonomous organization, needs to make sure that they're complying with state laws and so forth."

He went on to describe how the code of ethics in the "About" section of the DCI website has been updated to further define the policies explicitly and "help guide the process for everyone who participates with Drum Corps International."

Acheson finished the interview by saying, "This isn't about me. It's not about anything other than making sure that the stories that we read are never repeated again. That's the focus."