Homewood arts left off the bus

Whether you were aware or not, last Saturday, Sept 23, was an historic day for Hopkins. On that day, the JHU Pep Band missed their second football game in 35 years. What accounts for that disappointing absence? The answer is simple: lack of funding.

As a member group of the Student Activities Commission (SAC), the JHU Band is subject to a new SAC travel cap of only $2000 for the entire year's traveling expenses. That includes both the football and lacrosse seasons. The game last Saturday was played in Canton, N.Y., and would have required an overnight stay as well as $2500 for bus rental, bringing the trip's total cost close to $3000. The SAC funds could not cover this, so the Band was forced to consider other options. SAC vans operate only within a 150 mile radius of campus, and thus were out of the question. Alternative number two was to rent cars and drive on our own. The University's response was that this could not be allowed -- even if paid for out of band members' pockets -- because of safety concerns. The final alternative was to reserve a bus through the Athletic Center, but that would still have bee prohibitively expensive.

The Pep Band made the difficult decision to cancel the trip. The two weeks of rehearsal prior to this game, the first to be played with the newly matriculated freshmen, were all for naught. Angered as I was about this affair, what hurt more was the hypocrisy that the Band was subject to: the Band was expected to be present at all games, but when this became impossible, no one was willing to contribute the funding and energy necessary to ensure our presence. At a time when the university could prove its commitment to arts and traditions at Homewood, the Band was met with cold indifference.

Much has been said about increasing the prominence of the arts on campus, and the administration has gone to great lengths to publicize measures taken to bring these aims to fruition. But what good do all of these measures do if arts groups remain unaffected? The Pep Band is not the only student musical group in need of further support from the university. In recent years it has been proposed that Wind Ensemble musicians be allowed to receive credit for their participation. The proposal has been denied, depriving the musicians on campus of an opportunity to be dedicated to their instruments in an environment much less stressful than the Peabody Conservatory. The message from the administration appears to be that student musicians are expendable here at Homewood.

If the upkeep of a 35-year tradition isn't important to the university, maybe it shouldn't be to the students either. Maybe the nights sacrificed for rehearsals would have better been spent in MSE hitting the books. But, if that is so, then the well rounded and diversified campus that Hopkins touts is a mere mirage. While the administration laments a paucity of community spirit and viable traditions, it is overlooking one of Hopkins' oldest customs. The Band was founded in 1921, and the Blue Jay's fight song, "To Win," has been preformed with every touchdown and goal for decades.

So what has the Pep Band been doing in reaction to this occurrence? Those students in MSE, on the Upper Quad, in front of McCoy, and in many other campus locations may have noticed a few of the Band members performing side-line classics recently. Additionally at the game against Dickinson College this past weekend, the Band passed around a petition for students to sign as a show of support for the Band. In typical Hopkins fashion, Band members also handed out Nerds and Smarties candies reading, "Support the JHU Band!"

The Band realizes that it is not the only under-funded arts group on campus, and also recognizes that this isn't necessarily the fault of the SAC itself; however, the Band has been struggling for additional funding for years, and it was only when the Band was prevented from fulfilling its obligation to the Hopkins community last weekend that we decided it was time for the student population to be informed about the uphill battle faced by all arts groups on campus. We hope that students made aware of our plight will be compelled to join the JHU Band in achieving a flourishing arts community at Homewood.