The US Fencing Board has had a busy month trying to do damage control and what looks like an attempt to reform itself following the huge backlash to Peter Burchard’s abrupt removal as Chairman without notice to the membership.

US Fencing has taken action on multiple fronts in an attempt to better engage the membership, facilitate better communication, listen to membership concerns and take prompt action to protect fencers in cases of sexual misconduct. Generally, these actions are an improvement that if sustained over the long term would represent major positive change, but it is still too early to tell.

We list below what US Fencing has done or will do in chronological order, starting with the most recent initiatives.

further Proposed Changes to the Bylaws

The 2 most important changes proposed represent unfinished business from the controversial changes made by the Board on August 31, 2021. These are:

• giving the Chairman of the Board a vote on matters requiring the approval of a simple majority of the Board (rather than only voting in tie breaking situations).

  This is a long overdue change, and was inadvertently left out of the changes passed on August 31.

• extending the term of the at-large director elected in 2020 (Lorrie Marcil Holmes) by one year to 2023, and making the terms of the three at-large directors to be elected in 2023 three years long expiring in 2026. These extensions are being made to align the at-large directors terms so that starting in 2026, these three at-large director positions will serve four year terms.

  We have previously made clear that because of manifest structural conflict of interest, both Lorrie Marcil Holmes and her daughter, Kat Holmes should abstain from voting on these changes to extend Lorrie’s term by a year.

US Fencing published these proposed changes on November 18, 2021 to give members 45 days notice of the proposed changes. If the US Fencing Board is sincere about reforming itself, it should take member feedback seriously this time.

USOPC’s hand in the Bylaw Changes

Based on a report from the Sports Examiner on November 17, 2021, the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) played a big role in forcing both US Fencing and US Track and Field to change their bylaws to remove a member elected leader and replace that leader with a Board appointed one. In both governing bodies, the Board overrode the objections of the membership to effect the change. This is terrifying!

We agree with the Sports Examiner’s point that membership provides 90% of US Fencing’s funding through membership and tournament fees, while the USOPC provides only 10% ( we have made this point multiple times in the past), so why is US Fencing so terrified of the USOPC but so indifferent to a membership that is its’ financial lifeblood. US Fencing needs to re-order its priorities and make them more rational and member friendly.

Under Section 14.3, the membership can move to change the Bylaws by petition, and it is an option the membership can utilize to neutralize USOPC influence in how fencing is governed.

Appointment of an executive search firm to conduct a search for the next ceo

At the upcoming Board meeting on Sunday, November 21 at 6pm, the Board intends to vote to approve, based on the recommendations of the search committee, the appointment of Turnkey ZRG, a national executive search firm experienced in searches for senior executives in the sports and entertainment industries.

We see this as a positive step to professionalize the search process for US Fencing’s next CEO, and widen the scope of search to talented executives with valuable and relevant experience from outside of the NGB (national governing bodies) world.

The pandemic has proven that remote management can succeed. Even the best run organizations now allow remote work for key personnel. We hope that the Board will embrace this change and be open to hiring the best candidate, whether or not that person is prepared to re-locate to Colorado Springs.

NAC Day schedules provided in advance

In an unprecedented and much appreciated move, US Fencing released the day schedules for 4 national tournaments from January to April 2022 far in advance on November 8, 2021. This early release of day schedules comes on top of more timely announcements of check-in times for the October and December NACs enabling fencing families to purchase reasonably priced flights in advance.

These actions from US Fencing will greatly improve the user experience for fencing families as the ability to plan ahead, minimize days out of school and work and purchase reasonably priced flights is of material importance.

We thank US Fencing for listening to years long feedback from fencing families and for acting to improve their overall experience with the sport of fencing.

Actions relating to sexual misconduct

Empowering the SafeSport Review Committee to temporarily Suspend Members in Sexual Misconduct and SafeSport Violation Cases

At the upcoming Board meeting on Sunday, November 21 at 6pm, the Board intends to rename the Red Light Appeal Group the SafeSport Review Committee and broaden its powers significantly to:

• impose penalties (not including suspension and expulsion) for alleged Code of Conduct, MAAPP and non-sexual misconduct or abuse SafeSport violations based on investigation by the National Office and recommendation of the SafeSport Co-ordinator.

• form a Disciplinary Panel to investigate alleged SafeSport violations where the penalty sought is suspension or expulsion

• impose temporary suspension if such suspension is deemed necessary for the safety and wellbeing of US Fencing members, pending a decision by the US Center for SafeSport whether to accept jurisdiction in a case. If the Center for SafeSport accepts jurisdiction, it has the power to modify or terminate the suspension. If the Center for SafeSport declines jurisdiction, then the SafeSport Review Committee can form a Disciplinary Panel to investigate and recommend penalties.

The Board will require that the SafeSport Review Committee act unanimously, failing which the final decision will rest with the Board.

This is a very big step forward for US Fencing in the handling of sexual misconduct allegations. The Board is delegating its power to suspend individuals to the SafeSport Review Committee thereby greatly speeding up the process. It is also empowering the SafeSport Review Committee to investigate SafeSport violations as they come up rather than wait for the Board to make a decision on whether to proceed.

The creation of the SafeSport Review Committee is a clear response to the membership outcry that US Fencing was not doing enough to protect members in cases of sexual misconduct. This is a positive step by the Board.

Taking Measures Pursuant to the SafeSport Code Section V(A)

• In two recent instances in the last month, US Fencing took measures against Alen Hadzic pending SafeSport’s investigation and adjudication of complaints of sexual misconduct against him.

  In the first instance, US Fencing declined to register Alen Hadzic for an international tournament in Colmar, France. In the second instance, US Fencing required that Hadzic attend the Berne World Cup accompanied by a chaperone over age 35 at Hadzic’s own expense.

  You may ask why the difference in treatment of Hadzic in 2 international competitions?

  Under the Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act, an NGB cannot interfere with an athlete’s ability to compete in “protected” events. In Hadzic’s case, “protected events” include world championships, the Olympics and all events that are part of the team selection process for world championships and the Olympics.

  The international tournament in France is not a “protected event” since it is not a world championship or an event that is part of the team selection process. The Berne World Cup, on the other hand, is a “protected event”, and US Fencing risks disciplinary action from USOPC if it declines to register Hadzic for the event. US Fencing, has instead, required Hadzic to have a chaperone while attending the Berne World Cup.

  These are much needed steps from US Fencing to make members feel protected pending the outcome of SafeSport’s investigations of the allegations against Hadzic.

• For the first time, US Fencing not only publicly acknowledged on its website the arrest of a fencing coach (Stephen Kovacs of Kaprica United Fencing) for criminal sexual assault of minor aged fencers, it also took the unprecedented step of immediately suspending Kovacs without waiting for the Center for SafeSport to act. In the same announcement, US Fencing encouraged members who had experienced sexual, physical or emotional abuse to report these incidents to the U.S. Center for SafeSport.

• US Fencing took action to suspend fencing coach Matthew Hite who was arrested in 2020 for indecency and sexual contact with a child and former Penn State NCAA fencing athlete for alleged misconduct. (Update on August 9, 2024 - the NCAA athlete has been cleared by both SafeSport and USA Fencing of all allegations of misconduct and restrictions have been removed.)

In 2021, a total of five fencing members (4 coaches and 1 athlete) have been newly included on the US Center for SafeSport’s Centralized Disciplinary Database where the worst offenders are placed.

Two others, Hadzic and Wes Glon, the former head fencing coach at Penn State have been removed from the database. In Hadzic’s case, his suspension was lifted on appeal by an arbitrator, and in Wes Glon’s case, his suspension was reduced from 3 years to 6 months - Wes Glon had been accused of tampering with a witness in a SafeSport proceeding.

These add up to 7 serious cases so far relating to sexual misconduct in one year.

It is absolutely timely for US Fencing to take on a more pro-active role in cases of sexual misconduct. The circumstances are playing out to demonstrably show that there is serious sexual misconduct problem in fencing, even if other sports may have even worse track records.

Damage Control Session with david Arias, the new chairman

In what was an absolute first for the US Fencing Board, David Arias, the newly appointed Chairman after Peter Burchard’s ouster, held an evening Q&A session on October 29, 2021 with the membership after a day of taking one on one meetings with members during the October NAC in St Louis.

David Arias, who had been Treasurer of US Fencing up to the time of his appointment as Chairman on October 16, 2021, answered member’s questions relating to the reasons for Peter Burchard’s ouster, the Board’s reasons for pushing through the Bylaw changes, the issues of sexual misconduct in fencing, the search for a new CEO and more.

David Arias admitted that the way the Board executed Peter Burchard's removal on October 16, 2021 was "terrible" and that the Board could have done it better. To build back trust, David acknowledged that the Board must become more transparent.

This admission from David was by far and away the single most important thing he said during the 1.5 hour long session.

The first step towards any recovery begins with acknowledgement of the problem. In acknowledging the mistake, David rightly set the stage for making amends to the membership for the Board’s recent failures. The membership is watching the Board even as we move forward from recent debacles.

Explaining Peter Burchard’s Ouster after the fact

The Board understood that it had miserably failed the membership on October 16 when it removed Peter Burchard as Chairman without any notice, and made it worse by making the Board’s reasons seem personal.

In addition to reasons given by David Arias in his Q&A session for why the Board removed Peter Burchard as Chairman, Kat Holmes, an athlete director, wrote a letter to the elite athletes explaining why she had voted to remove him as Chairman. FP does not have a copy of the letter, but a reproduction is available to read on Reddit.

It remains a head scratcher why the Board chose to conduct itself so unprofessionally in Peter Burchard’s removal. It will take consistently transparent action from the Board to build back trust with the membership.