Save The K-State Marching Band!

[The Big Ben]

Are they planning to eliminate the football team as well? Cheerleaders? Mascot?

They might as well because no football halftime = unhappy customers.

I'd deal with both the athletic dept. and the alumni association on this. and , for the future, if there is no band alumni association, start one. In the land of athletic departments and alumni associations, $10K isn't that much.

[Liberty Mo]

aI was under the presumption that the majority of funding for a marching band came from either the Athletic Department's and/or the Department of Fine Arts' operating budgets. Many universities have Student Activity Committees as a part of their Student Senate. The SACs are charged with allocating an activity fee which is a portion of the misc. fees attached to tuition for all students.

I would guess that KSU's Marching Band was allocated a portion of the activity fee in years past and that the SAC has chosen to reduce and withdraw it. I would also guess that this is a portion the the KSU Marching Band's budget, not all.

The current SAC's resolution is probably not binding on future SACs. Convince the next Senate that this was wrong or elect like minded Senators.

I would also knock on Bob Krause's and Dr. Wefald's door, but they may be a little busy finding a coach right now...

[jonesbrass]

What a shame. I lived about two miles or so east of the stadium and practice fields there in Manhattan, and thoroughly loved the town, the campus, etc. I would definitely spend some time to fully investigate the entire funding picture of the marching band, though, as Liberty Mo suggested. I also ask why was the cut assessed, and what other student-funded organizations have been cut and for what reason. There's a lot of digging to be done. You may yet be able to salvage things, or find that there are other alternatives that have not been explored.

[rocksanddirt]

hmmm.

yes, what did this part of the budget go for, maybe some priorities have to be adjusted?

When I was in school at Cal (mid 80's), we got some $ from the Student Activities budget (about 60% of opperating costs + director salary) and raised the remainder through fundraising activities. We had gotten out of the Associated Students of UC in the early 70's due to this kind of budget foolishness, when they wanted to be spending $ on Vietnam activities.

Our fundraising was not the bakesale/carwash variety, but musical.....The small groups that played a couple fightongs at alumni functions ($). Corporate convention stuff ($$$), Advertising activities that needed a marching band look ($$$$$). In addition, there is now a modest endowment, and an active alumni assoc.

Best cash cow (and fun activities) turned out to be the Super Bowl when it was held at Stanford statium (85?)....all those corporate events...so of course us berkeley commie hippie anti-corporate america types totally gouged the event coordinators (a 12 piece band to play for 20 mins? $1,200 +transportation and food).

[windshieldbug]

Just a by-the-by, back in the dark ages, the music school that I attended also had a similar cut for performing groups in the Activity-Fees. There were no musicians at the time in student government. Our reaction was to load a majority of musicians in the next election, and restore the missing funds. For you, also, I'd recommend being proactive and not reactive.

But to echo a previous sentiment, THIS IS ONLY PARTIAL FUNDING. I'd be surprised to see your marching band go away over 6K.

[Todd S. Malicoate]

I'm among the many who are surprised that a portion of the student activity fees is used for marching band. It probably shouldn't be. Are you saying the entire budget is provided by the SGA? If so, that's just a crazy way to fund a band program. Is SGA the organization that's going to "eliminate the budget" in 2011 as it appears to be from your original post? How can a group of students have that much authority?

Marching band is not just about supporting the football team...it is also a valuable pedagogical tool for music education majors who hope to direct their own bands someday. All of those students need an active "laboratory" to learn the skills needed to run a successful program of their own. It is an academic class, not a club or recreational activity.

Where are these guys on this? There's nothing about it on their message board, and I would think it would be a very big issue for your alumni association. I sent an email to the association president asking if they had any further information about this.

Please clarify what you meant by stating the band budget will be eliminated by 2011. Perhaps you meant just the SGA portion of the funding will be eliminated. Surely the music department is funded by other means as well.

EDIT: From the 11/13/08 KSU Student Governing Association Minutes:

• Privilege Fee Chair Stoskopf
o Band request for Emergency Allocation has been denied based on the fact that the band hasn’t exhausted all other funding opportunities
o Will be looked at the Band Fee at the next week
o All met with Dr. Tracz today
o Will hopefully have a legislation regarding the Band Privilege fee next week

Doesn't sound like a terribly huge emergency right now. Does your director know you're posting about this on a public forum asking for emails to your university?