Waters, Ohio State agree to end lawsuits
The legal battle between Ohio State University and former marching-band director Jonathan Waters is over. Ohio State said Wednesday that Waters “has voluntarily dismissed all of his claims against the University, including all appeals, in exchange for the University not seeking to recover its costs from him.”
Waters, under whom the band gained national note for its elaborate shows featuring moving formations, sued the university in 2014 after he was fired amid accusations of a “sexualized culture” in the band.
A university investigation found that some band members maintained traditions of harassment of women, lewd and sexist nicknames, offensive parody songs and suggestive rituals. It was sparked by complaints from parents.
Waters, who was hired in April at Heidelberg University to be an assistant professor of music and director of bands, couldn’t be reached Wednesday for comment.
In the Ohio Court of Claims, Waters said OSU defamed him by stating publicly that he had failed to stop band members’ inappropriate actions and that it invaded his privacy by releasing a detailed report on the band scandal. The court ruled against Waters’ claims in July. He appealed the ruling to the Ohio Court of Appeals in August, acting as his own attorney.
Separately, Waters claimed in federal court that Ohio State subjected him to gender discrimination because a female coach who faced discipline over similar allegations was not fired. U. S. District Judge James L. Graham dismissed that suit in August.
The agreement with Ohio State, dated Dec. 22 and filed with the court Jan. 12, ends all appeals.
An appeals-court document noting the agreement says that Waters will pay the court costs for his appeal. Ohio State’s promise not to ask the court to make Waters pay the university’s legal costs likely saves him a bundle; the university’s answer to the Court of Claims suit lists three private attorneys and two assistant state attorneys general as counsel.
University officials didn’t have an estimate of the legal costs Wednesday.
Waters has argued that he was made a scapegoat by the university in order to appease the U.S. Department of Education, which in 2014 was investigating Ohio State for potential violations of Title IX of the higher- education law, which prohibits discrimination based on gender.
He pointed to performance reviews that praised him for making progress in ending the band’s sexualized culture and said he wasn’t given enough time to change it.
The federal probe of OSU ended with an agreement in which the education department, among other findings, praised the university’s investigation of the marching-band culture.