USD students confused by performances
COLIN MULLANEY / EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
In case USD Football was not facing enough challenges: enter the Princeton University Band. The band brands itself as a “scramble band,” on their website, or “like a marching band, only with less formality, more funniness, and more fun — in other words, better.” However, with recent, serious hazing allegations against USD’s football players, many USD students and fans were not in the laughing mood. According to the Band’s website, “at every game, we perform original and humorous shows at pregame and halftime.” However, USD players and fans are still grappling with the fallout and consequences from hazing allegations — including multiple-game suspensions. Many USD students felt that Princeton University was taking the opportunity to kick USD’s program while it was down, especially when Princeton’s Band made reference to the hazing accusations during their halftime performance.
“We haze our officers, not our freshmen,” the Princeton Band’s announcer said over the intercom during the performance.
USD senior Sophie Warder is a cheer Captain, who was present at the football game. Warder said she was not a fan of this particular jab.
“We were sitting down, watching them, supporting their band, and then all of a sudden a girl started talking, and said something like ‘we haze our officers, not our freshmen.’ and I was like, ‘what? Why haze anyone?’” Warder stated.
Adding to the tension, USD cheerleaders, including Warder, reported that the Princeton Band repeatedly performed the “sign of the cross” in an apparent allusion/mockery of USD’s Catholic affiliation and reputation.
“This random guy in the middle of the performance came up and was running in front of Cheer and Dance doing the sign of the cross in front of all of us, so then we got up and left… because that was weird,” Warder said.
Dr. Michael Lovette-Colyer, Vice President for Mission Integration at USD, did not witness the incident firsthand, but provided context for Princeton’s behavior in regard to the Catholic tradition.
“The sign of the cross is an important aspect of many Catholics’ spirituality. By making this gesture, we remind ourselves of who God is and of our relationship with God, as well as recommit to living in a way that reflects that relationship,” Lovette-Colyer shared. “It would be unfortunate and in poor taste for any sincere expression of faith to be mocked.”
Warder was unsure whether to be amused or offended, or somewhere in between.
“I was confused, because it seemed like it was supposed to be inoffensive, like they were trying to do a play/fun thing at our school, but I was confused… because we’re a Catholic school I guess? But also not everyone’s Catholic [at USD]. I’m not Catholic… and that’s when we left, because everyone was very taken aback,” Warder said.
USD senior Iesha Brown is on USD’s Dance team and was likewise confused by the band’s entire performance and whether their satire was crossing a line by mentioning the hazing allegations.
“Obviously schools have these scandals and things happen, and it’s not ok what goes on, but I just think Princeton doing that was bad sportsmanship… I don’t think any institution is perfectly innocent… so if they really wanted to make a statement, they could have done it and handled it in a better way,” Brown said. “I still had fun at the game… They seemed like a cool band, they played good music I guess, but people could have been more respectful.”
Although satiric, the Princeton University Band’s performance fell flat with students like Warder and Brown.
“In the middle of the performance… they called out Diego [Torero], and I was like, ‘what does our little mascot have anything to do with this?’” Brown said.
However, the overt mockery and jabs were not the most irritating part of Princeton’s visit, according to many students. Instead, it was the sound of instruments, which echoed across USD’s 180-acre campus, bright and early. Drums were audible from the Student Life Pavilion around 10:30 a.m., before many USD students had awoken.
One USD-affiliated Fizz user posted, “there’s no world in which i should be hearing a tuba earlier than 10 am,” which received over 1,800 upvotes.
Fizz is unique among social media apps in that — although anonymous like Reddit — users can only access the campus’ community forum, if they have an email account affiliated with that institution; in order to register for and post to USD’s Fizz community, one must have an associated “sandiego.edu” email address.
Other Fizz users did not mince words, as one anonymous USD user posted: “why the F*** is there a band outside the vistas [apartments] rn,” which received more than 1,700 upvotes.
Other USD students posted spy-shot photos of the marching band on its way to the Torero Stadium, including photos from behind foliage and aerial shots from inside the Alcalá Vista Apartments.
Ultimately, USD fell to the Tigers at the game, 23-12, but all anyone at USD could talk about on social media like Fizz was the band’s presence on campus in the early hours. Whether this was their goal or not, Princeton’s visit will not be forgotten by those who witnessed — and heard — their controversial activities.
The USD Vista 
Leave a comment