By JULIE CARR SMYTH
The marching band director at Ohio State University claims in a new lawsuit filed Friday that the university has damaged his reputation so much that he can’t find work “despite his previous renown.”
Jonathan Waters is seeking $1 million in damages for violation of privacy, defamation and slander. It is his second legal action against the school since he was fired in July after an internal investigation found he ignored a “sexualized culture” inside the celebrated band. He is separately pursuing a federal civil rights claim of gender discrimination.
Halftime shows designed on iPads by Waters, who had moved through the band’s ranks to become director in 2012, were considered revolutionary and garnered hundreds of thousands of YouTube views for what fans know as The Best Damn Band in the Land.
Despite that reputation, the new suit said Waters has applied for more than 40 high school and college marching band jobs in the wake of his firing and gotten no offers.
A message was left with the university seeking comment.
Friday’s suit says Waters was placed in a false light “highly offensive to any reasonable person” by the school’s release of the so-called “Glaros report,” named for assistant vice president for compliance operations and investigations Chris Glaros.
The suit seeks to hold three people liable for actions it characterizes as either malicious, in bad faith or reckless:
— Glaros, whose report the lawsuit contends was “deeply flawed” and riddled with misstatements and inaccuracies.
— President Michael Drake, who fired Waters, for holding out “two versions” of the report, publicly citing it as immediate justification for Waters’ firing and yet describing its scope days later in a private audiotaped meeting with band leaders as “historical.”
— Spokesman Chris Davey, who “embarked on a calculated campaign of character assassination of Waters” using disparaging and defamatory statements, according to the suit.
