Columbia Bans It's Own Marching Band From All Future Sporting Events Due To An Incredibly Nerdy Reason
There may not be a more self-righteous group out there than those in a marching band. I truly believe every person who has eve “marched” with a tuba believes that every fan at an FBS football game are there not for football, but to watch them play an offbeat version of Mo Bamba.
Anyways, college football has had quite the week of marching band news. Iowa & Iowa State may never play again because of a marching band incident:
And now Columbia, the Yale of the Bronx (Fordham is the Harvard of the Bronx), has banned their marching band from ALL sporting events in the future.
SOURCE-Three days before the football home opener, Columbia Athletics announced in a statement that the Columbia University Marching Band will be prohibited from performing at all future athletics events.
The fact that a marching band ever gets to the point where they are banned from all sporting events at their own school, something wild must’ve happened. Let’s continue on with the story.
CUMB has found itself in tension with Columbia administrators for years, with the conflict coming to a peak when it defied orders and held Orgo Night inside Butler Library in fall 2017. After being threatened with sanctions, it held Orgo Night outside Butler the next spring. But in October 2018, CUMB was informed that a large portion of its budget, specifically funding from Columbia College and Columbia Engineering, would be cut starting this academic year, a decision which many band members believed to be a punishment for Orgo Night.
If you are wondering what Orgo Night is, it’s held on the day before the Organic Chemistry.
At precisely the stroke of midnight, the Columbia University Marching Band occupies Room 209 (the main reading room) of Butler Library to distract diligent students from studying – in fact, one of its legendary purposes is to lower the curve of the Orgo exam. Despite the commotion, at least some students attempt to study through the event.
Lmao! So funny! They distract the kids studying the night before the exam! Crazy! You see, we may go to an Ivy League school but we are funny just like you!
In light of the impending loss in funding, administrators in Undergraduate Student Life advised the band to seek recognition from a student governing board. In its statement, the University cited that the band failed to meet the established deadlines to apply for recognition.
In a meeting this afternoon between Athletics Director Peter Pilling, Associate Athletics Director Bob Steitz, Executive Director of Student Engagement Josh Lucas, CUMB Head Manager Cameron Danesh, CC ’20, and CUMB Drum Major Max Bohn, CC ’20, administrators informed the band that it would not be able to perform at events and that its funding from Athletics would no longer be provided.
Just to review: Columbia, an Ivy League school (everyone who goes there wishes they were at Yale or Harvard), had a marching band. This marching band prides themselves on being the cool, crazy club on campus!
Every year, that marching band would pull this funny joke where they play at midnight the day of the Organic Chemistry exam, outside of the library. After being told NOT to play inside the library, the band played instead. The following year, in 2018, their funding was cut. 2 years after the infamous Orgo Night where they defied orders and played inside the library, the Columbia Marching Band has been banned from ALL sporting events.
Who would’ve ever thought that the bad boys on campus at Columbia would be the marching band. I guess that’s the Ivy League for ya.