Opinion: Editorial

Band-aid

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Related stories:

• Drumming in the dark (October 12, 2006)
• Mixed messages (February 15, 2007)
• No music in the Music City? (December 4, 2003)
• Poorly conducted (October 16, 2006)
• Contra-Band (October 8, 2008)

Also by Badger Herald Editorial Board:

• The Invisible Man Award: Wyndham Manning (May 7, 2009)
• The People's Choice Award: Jacqueline Hitchon et. al (May 7, 2009)
• The Lifetime Achievement Award: ASM (May 7, 2009)
• Honest representation (May 5, 2009)
• Junger for ASM Chair (May 5, 2009)

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This Saturday, the trumpets and drums sounded once again at Camp Randall Stadium as the University of Wisconsin Marching Band made a return from its suspension. And while it seems they put in a little extra effort to make up for their mistakes — as well as Allan Evridge’s — by playing “Swingtown” during the 5^th Quarter, they aren’t going to get off so easy.

On Friday, Dean of Students Lori Berquam revealed the extent of our band’s hazing techniques. Although it is amusing to include “being forced to kneel and take a bite of a summer sausage” as a deleterious hazing ritual, the list does reflect the absolute lack of maturity among some of the band’s members. Shaving people’s heads, forcing blindfolded males to take women’s lingerie off of other male band members and locking people in bus bathrooms is not only detrimental to the group dynamic of the band — several victims have left the band after the incidents — it damages the reputation of this school. And if eating sausage under duress is the best hazing you can come up with, you especially shouldn’t haze.

Our fan base and general student population is already seen by many across the country as a boorish, offensive group of drunken fools — the letters of visiting fans detailing horrendous treatment by the “Sea of Red” attest to that. But the UW Marching Band has long been one of our points of pride. As one of the nation’s most skilled university marching bands, UW’s squad has been one of our most effective ambassadors on a national stage.

But that doesn’t give it diplomatic immunity. The band was chastised before for this sort of behavior and warned by then-Chancellor John Wiley they would face “virtual extinction” if this conduct continued. While Wiley is gone, band members should realize his words are a constant sword hanging over their heads — and be grateful that it only nicked them this time around.

The Offices of the Dean of Students can certainly work with the band to “change the culture” that led to these incidents, but the onus is on the band to live up to its on-field reputation off the field. So while the bandleaders have pledged to help change their tune, it is up to the whole band to cut these acts from their off-field repertoire.