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Marshall’s athletic bands need a facility
For HNN, by YUTA USUDA

Marshall University’s athletic bands support Thundering Herd. The marching band for football and the pep band for basketball perform at every home game and some away games.
Celeste Simpson, senior marketing management major, goes to every home ball game. “They (athletic bands) are great, “ she said. “I like them. They keep us pep up.”

Dr. Baruch J. Whitehead, a music associate professor at Marshall, has been playing a role as the athletic band director since 1993. “The marching band is a great entity for presenting the university in its best light,” he said.

Amanda Knight, freshman music education major, joins both bands by playing the trombone, which is her second major instrument next to the piano. She said she loves performing in the bands, but she also said the bands need a support.

“We’re in a desperate need of facility because we’re really lacking our storage space,” Knight said.

In the fall of 2000, the university tore down the bands’ Butler Building located near the Stadium in the corner of 20th Street and Fifth Avenue because the building, which the university had purchased in 1920s, was old, Dr. Edward Grose, senior vice president for operations at Marshall, said. The university originally planned to build a new $300,000 facility by the fall of 2001 in the corner of the track field across from the Stadium, Grose said. But nothing has been done.

“Yes, it’s nice to have a building,” Grose said. “Yes, we want to build a facility. But there is no funding.”

The university has spent the money for partial renovations of other buildings, such as the Corbly Hall, the Harris Hall and the Smith Music Hall, Grose said.

Dr. Marshall P. Onofrio, chair of the Department of Music at Marshall, has been dealing with the matter of the bands’ new facility. “In higher education, all promises are subject to revision,” he said. “Unfortunately, I understand that priorities sometimes change.

“Am I disappointed? Absolutely. I am very disappointed by it. I think we are one of the most visible departments. I would like to think we occupy a position of some importance,” he said.
The bands’ members have to scatter their instruments in several locations, including the visiting team’s locker room in the Cam Henderson Center, one room next to indoor racket ball courts in the center, and the storage on the track field.

“Putting things where we can fit them… that’s not going to work,” Knight said. “Or else equipment will get damaged, and that just means it’s going to be more money for school in the long run.”

Knight said she understands the university has spent a lot of money for the bands’ members to travel and to receive some stipend. But the university still needs to build a facility, she said.
Steve Hall, a music assistant professor and athletic band assistant director, said having the new building is the biggest concern of the bands. “We kind of feel homeless,” he said. “We work so hard. I would like to see a better support.”

Lack of the bands’ facility affects the university to recruit high school students to Marshall’s bands, Hall added.

Dr. Dan Angel, Marshall president, said the athletic bands help the university create the school image. “Our program has gotten national exposure,” he said. “But it’s unlikely we are going to be able to do whatever we want every year without strong support from outside.”

The university has no specific plan to collect the funding for the building, so far, Angel added.
In charge of scheduling Marshall’s sports games and bands’ performance, Michael F. Bianchin, assistant athletics director, said, “We need to give them (the bands) a place they can call home that they can identify theirs because, without that, it’s going to be hard for our bands to improve.” But the football team also needs a building for the members so that it is not only the athletic bands, which need a facility, he added.

Grose said the university will re-evaluate this summer to decide whether it has enough capital funding for the building. The university annually spends $1 million for maintenance of the campus buildings. The funding exclusively comes from the student activity fee, he said.

About 200 students work for the marching band, Marching Thunder, and about 30 students perform for the pep band, Hall said. Most of the pep band members also join the marching band. Each band activity is a one-hour credit class.