Posted by
Ed Lilly on Saturday, October 04, 2008 7:20:51 AM
Weird news
from SI.com:
The University of Wisconsin marching band has been suspended indefinitely while allegations of hazing, alcohol abuse and sexual misconduct are investigated.
Apparently
Michelle Flaherty was unavailable for comment.
Reactions? First, it's a marching band / college campus story. One thing it is NOT is a sports story, even though the marching band does appear during half-time of college football games. I guess Sports Illustrated chose to run it because it's titillating (yeah, I know), but this is really a poor choice of story to even pick up, much less to link at the SI homepage.
Second, is there anyone in the U.S. who is surprised, much less interested, that there is alcohol abuse and sexual misconduct on college campuses? Isn't this the ultimate dog-bites-man "news" story?
Finally, hazing? From reading the story it sounds like there were some inappropriate things going on, like "making" female band members kiss other female band members before they could use a bathroom on the bus. I suppose in the world of college educators this is hazing. I hope that if my daughter ever finds herself a band geek on a college campus and she is told to do something like this she has the good sense to respond the way Jim McMahon did as a rookie with da Bears when the veterans told him he had to sing his college fight song at meals. The Punky QB reportedly gave them a two word answer beginning with the letters "F" and "O" and went about eating his meal.