As a fourth-year member of the\nCavalier Marching Band, I wish to address the comments made in April by a Cavalier Daily columnist ("Questionable Spending", April 10) and more recently by a University alumnus concerning the band's drain on school funds.\nAfter spending my entire collegiate career helping to create one of the most recognizable representations of school spirit on and off Grounds, I am personally affronted by the few individuals who find the funds spent on the band as "better spent elsewhere."\nLike the rest of the University, the Cavalier Marching Band has too been hit hard by current economic conditions. For the first time in its six year history, the band has been forced to do without many of the conveniences taken for granted at other schools. This includes shortening preseason band camp and limiting the number of away football games the band will be participating in.\nThis aside, it should be stressed that the band, which is the largest student organization on Grounds at almost 280 people, is not eating up University funds. The band runs almost completely on donations, with the vast majority coming from Mr. and Mrs. Carl Smith. With the rewards of Mr. and Mrs. Smith's generosity being visible throughout all of the University community, not just in the band, I think it completely inappropriate for alumni to suggest the Smith's donations should be directed elsewhere.\nThe Cavalier Marching Band is one of the best bands in the ACC, and arguably the nation, in spite of the limited music department offerings at the University. If the community wants a better music department, cutting the funding to one of the best ensembles on Grounds is not the way to do it. With the limited number of ensembles to help recruit for and build the music program at U.Va., the marching band is that much more important.\nThe band has even gathered national attention for the University. Last year we were featured in a French film, titled "Marching Band," created by renowned French producer and writer Claude Miller. The film has received rave reviews, thus adding another dimension to the band's wide range of accomplishments, and by association, to the University's as well.\nWhen addressing the statement that the band has not benefitted the University community, I ask you simply to step into Scott Stadium or JPJ on a game day. No, the band cannot make forty yard passes or make free throws, but try taking away that 12th man the next time a rival comes to town.\nMost of you will remember the away game at Maryland in 2007, with Chris Long's safety and our miraculous victory. If you had turned on the radio after the game, you would have heard a Terrapin radio station say that the Virginia band turned the stadium into a U.Va. home game
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