Stanford band banned from play

The band, which has been in and out of hot water with university officials for much of its history, most recently got into trouble over the summer when a campus trailer the band was using as its temporary headquarters, known as the "Band Shak,” was trashed by band members.

According to the university, "the vandalism included using a sledgehammer to extensively damage the walls. Windows were broken, equipment was destroyed, much of the ceiling was torn down and the walls were spray-painted and covered with food.” The damage has been estimated to cost as much as $50,000 to repair.

"This was a truly disturbing incident reflecting a disregard for the law, university property and personal health and safety -- all apparently with the tacit approval of band leadership,”Stanford Vice Provost for Student Affairs Greg Boardman said in a statement. "It reflects a systemic cultural problem.”

The band’s controversial antics over the past decades include a 1986 incident in which some band members exposed themselves and urinated on the field during a football game against the University of Washington. In 1991 at a football game at prominent Catholic university Notre Dame, a band member dressed as a nun and conducted the band with a crucifix instead of a baton. In a 1997 football game against Notre Dame at Stanford Stadium, the band parodied the Irish potato famine and a band member portrayed a Catholic cardinal as advocating the idea that the Earth is actually flat.

The Stanford band’s actions also directly contributed to the most notorious defeat in the history of the Stanford football team: the 1982 Big Game against the University of California, Berkeley Golden Bears when the band ran onto the field during the final play before the game was over and Cal football player Kevin Moen crashed into a trombone player in the end zone while scoring the winning touchdown as time ran out. The entire sequence is now known throughout the American sporting universe as "The Play.”

Boardman said the band would not play at Saturday’s first football game at the new Stanford Stadium or at any other university athletic event at least through the end of September. The band also will not travel for at

least one year. Boardman also announced the creation of a band reinstatement committee to develop the criteria the band and its members will need to meet to return to full participation in campus life.

"We hope that the band’s conduct in the next few months will provide a positive environment for thoughtful and long-term change to occur under the guidance of the interim director and the band reinstatement committee,” Boardman said.

Stanford Athletic Director Bob Bowlsby said the goal of the university is not to inhibit the 150-member band’s creativity or turn them into a traditional university marching band.

"We want a strong, creative and vibrant band,”Bowlsby said. "We believe that tradition of creativity and originality can be preserved in a way that doesn’t lead to irresponsible acts and supports student athletes rather than drawing attention away from them.”<