Virginia Pep Band - Current Status

Current Status

Today, the Virginia Pep Band operates in a much reduced role, after being eliminated from all official sporting events by the University's athletic department in 2003. At these events, the Pep Band has been replaced by the Cavalier Marching Band, which debuted in September 2004. The new band is run by a professional band director and staff, as opposed to the Pep Band, whose director and managing board are elected from among its student members. The University of Virginia student council passed a resolution in February 2004 asking for the cooperative "coexistence of two bands," both the faculty and the student run organizations. Specifically, they asked for the Pep Band's return to athletic events, especially those where the marching band does not perform, but the Athletics Department has not acquiesced.

The Athletics Department cited several reasons for the change, including that football fans were uninterested in the Pep Band's performance, and that performances were occasionally regarded as offensive and/or inappropriate. For example, a halftime show performed at the Continental Tire Bowl in 2002 prompted West Virginia Governor Bob Wise to demand an apology from the band and the school for its portrayal of West Virginia residents. The show's script was the result of student writing followed by Athletics Department censorship and approval, and is available online. The Pep Band was banned from future editions of the bowl. This prompted thousands of emails and phone calls to the U.Va. Athletics Department, some of them suggesting the elimination of the Pep Band and the creation of a university marching band. Pep Band Director Adam Lorentson said at the time that "cost is the key reason the University does not have a traditional marching band." After that obstacle was cleared with a donation from Carl Smith, Lorentson was proven right as the Cavalier Marching Band was founded.

Advocates for the Virginia Pep Band, including some in the Cavalier Daily editorial section, claim that there is strong student support for the organization and that the administration of the University of Virginia and its Athletics Department are exerting more control over something that was historically student-run. They see the elimination of a "student run" band as a departure from what they consider to be the Jeffersonian ideals of self-government and freedom of speech that the University of Virginia inherited from its founder. They point out that all the scripts for their performances had been thoroughly approved by the U.Va. Athletics Department and, in the case of the Tire Bowl, by the bowl officials themselves. Some columnists downplayed the offensiveness of the band's performances; one Washington Post columnist wrote that the Pep Band was "banned not for the crime of political incorrectness, but for the potential to possibly, just maybe, somehow, somewhere, some day commit it."

Despite the ban, the Pep Band remains active, performing its traditional roles in Charlottesville events and supporting University of Virginia student athletes outside the jurisdiction of the athletic department, such as at club sporting events. On football game day, the Pep Band performs regularly for the U.Va. Alumni Association at Alumni Hall, as well as performing what they call a "pre-game scramble" for tailgating fans outside Scott Stadium. They also perform regularly for the Washington Capitals of the National Hockey League and the Washington Nationals of Major League Baseball.