Thanks to a multi-million dollar private donation, the University currently is in the early stages of forming a marching and concert band. With the formation of the new band the athletic department has decided not to allow the Virginia Pep Band to continue its performances at athletic events.
On April 24 band leaders were informed that Carl Smith and his wife had donated $23.5 million, $1.5 million of which will go towards the marching and concert band.
The new band will march at football games in the fall and act as a traditional concert band in the spring, and also will perform at other athletic events. The University does not currently have a full concert band.
Pep band leaders met with Athletic Director Craig Littlepage and Amy Cronan, chief of staff in the President's Office, in April to discuss the status of the pep band.
"Mr. littlepage explained they would no longer have access to venues for playing. We made it clear they could keep playing at non-athletic venues," Cronan said.
Band members said they still want to support University athletics and students.
"They [Cronan and Littlepage] said 'you are no longer needed and no longer welcome at athletic events,'" Pep Band Director Scott Hayes said. "We are going to try to support U.Va. athletics the best we can without being inside. We'll continue playing for first years moving in and at community events like the Charlottesville 10 miler, the United Way Day of Caring, AIDS walk and Albermarle county fair."
The pep band's exclusion from athletic events begins immediately, even though the marching band will not perform at football games until the 2004 season.
"Reactions vary from being very sad to anger," Hayes said. "The problem was that a lot of people's perceptions of the event were changed because our instruments were locked up and we couldn't get to them and a lot of people had their own personal instruments in the closet," he added.
Hayes said the pep band found their loss of privileges very sudden.
"We asked to at least play for the following year," Hayes said. "They said once the new band gets together they can't support both financially. Our existence as an existing music ensemble is a threat to the marching band. It would make it harder to recruit for a marching band."
"They are not going to have any band together until fall of 2004, so there will be no band for a year," Hayes said.
According to Cronan, the University music department is currently coordinating a search for a band director.
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