Ohio : licenciement d'un responsable pour n'avoir pas suffisamment empêché le bizutage et le harcèlement.

The Ohio State University Marching Band, known for entertaining fans at sporting events with hypnotic formations choreographed to music, was also known among university insiders for a culture that facilitated sexual harassment, according to an investigative report.

Marching band director Jonathan Waters was fired Thursday after the report's release, Ohio State University President Michael Drake said. Waters' lawyer said his client tried to change a sexual climate that predated his tenure as director.

Waters had known for years about the "sexualized" environment surrounding the band, in which members had to swear an oath of secrecy to protect its "objectionable traditions and customs," according to an investigation report released by the Office of University Compliance and Integrity. He failed to eliminate and prevent the recurrence of this climate, the report said.

A parent of a marching band member alerted the office to the problem, the report said.

"Nothing is more important than the safety of our students," Drake said. "We expect every member of our community to live up to a common standard of decency and mutual respect and to adhere to university policies."

The report described traditions such as the "midnight ramp," in which band members entered the stadium through a ramp wearing only their underwear. Staff members, including Waters, were present for the annual event, the report alleges.

Nicknames, many sexually explicit, were given to new members each year by upperclassmen as well as a "trick," an act often simulating sexually explicit acts that usually corresponded with the nickname. These tricks were to be performed by members "on command or at their own volition," the report said.