No Stanford Band At This Year's Big Game
BERKELEY, Calif. (CBS SF & AP) — The Stanford Marching Band has been banished from playing at Saturday's big game in Berkeley.
While the band has been under a ban preventing it from performing at road game since 2015, the university has made exception for two recent bowl games.
So the band requested another exception for its annual showdown with cross-bay rival the University of California -- a game that will be held in Berkeley this year.
"The outcome of a spring 2015 investigation required remedial actions to be completed prior to lifting the travel ban first imposed in May 2015. Due to the band's initial progress and positive behavior, an exception was made to permit travel to the 2015 Pac-12 Football Championship game and 2016 Rose Bowl," Stanford officials said in a statement. "However, since February 2016 the band has not completed all of the remedial actions outlined, and so the travel ban remains in effect."
Officials said recent transgressions by the band famous for its sometimes outrageous performances also weighed in on the decision.
"The band now faces four separate complaints that they have violated the alcohol suspension and the travel ban—charges that are currently being adjudicated," officials said in the release. "While the decision to deny travel to the Big Game is based on the previous unmet expectations, not on new complaints, these pending charges do not dispose the university to grant further exceptions to the travel ban."
The student affairs staff is now working with band leaders, and the group's progress will be reviewed again before the bowl season begins.
