In a personal and confidential letter dated Oct. 3, University of Wisconsin Chancellor John Wiley warned UW Marching Band Director Michael Leckrone the group could face "virtual extinction" if any further incidents of severe misconduct arise.
The Oct. 3 letter, a copy of which was acquired by The Badger Herald Wednesday, comes in response to alleged incidents that occurred on a trip to last month's football game against the University of Michigan. Other recurring incidents are also believed to have played a role in the chancellor's crackdown.
According to the letter, Wiley is putting the band on official probation and is even considering a change in leadership should any single instance of inappropriate conduct occur from this point on.
"I do not feel I have a choice: We either solve the problem now, and the band you have built to such legendary proportions survives, or we look at virtual extinction for a significant period of time," Wiley wrote.
Such "virtual extinction," Wiley said, would include the suspension of all travel and even of various performance activities.
While the university has not released any details of what specifically prompted the probation, Wiley said the behavior "can be seen as anything from boorish and offensive to patently dangerous and unlawful" and cited "gratuitous vulgarity, sexualized banter and joking, hazing, or other forms of demeaning conduct" as grounds for immediate suspension.
Wiley's special assistant Casey Nagy cast the band's behavior in a similar light, adding Leckrone was warned in the past after recurring incidents of misconduct were brought to the administration's attention.
"If the conduct wasn't significantly inappropriate, we wouldn't have gone to this length to address it," Nagy said in an interview Tuesday.
The confidential letter additionally outlined a set of new rules aimed at reforming the band's behavior. Wiley said he will require band members to attend training to prevent harassment and look into a system of independent monitors to supervise the band's trips. And according to The Associated Press, Provost Patrick Farrell's aide Eden Inoway-Ronnie will be appointed as an ombudsman officer to discuss concerns with band members.
While Wiley's letter came as news to UW band members contacted Wednesday night, his warnings of suspension did not. Wiley personally addressed the group Oct. 5 and informed them of the new rules.
Still, a number of band members said they remain uncertain about what actually spurred the letter and feel the chancellor's reaction was unwarranted.
But despite the ongoing confusion and unanswered questions, band member and UW fifth-year senior Bryan Post said the band is taking the chancellor seriously, even acting to remove derisive words from its ritual chants to make them more "lighthearted."
"Through his threat, it was kind of implied that certain words — pretty much any cuss words — [are] up for grabs," one band member, who wished to remain anonymous, said. "I mean who knows if you can say 'hell' anymore."
— Andriy Pazuniak contributed to this report.
