The Columbia University Marching Band has dissolved following a town hall to discuss its checkered past.
“The Band has unanimously and enthusiastically decided to dissolve. The Columbia University Marching Band will not continue to exist in any capacity and will no longer serve as a Columbia spirit group,” the group said in a statement Monday.
In the statement, the band said it has tried to confront a “club structure founded on the basis of racism, cultural oppression, misogyny, and sexual harassment.”
“We also hope that the CUMB’s disbandment can create a space that allows for the formation of a new spirit group that will provide a safe and inclusive outlet for students to play music at Columbia” the statement said.
“While substantial efforts have been made in recent years toward undoing decades of wrongdoing, we as a Band feel ultimately that it is impossible to reform an organization so grounded in prejudiced culture.”
According to the Columbia Daily Spectator: “The internal movement to disband the CUMB began when five former and current members wrote a letter to the remaining members of the Bored. The members called to dissolve the band in all capacities, arguing that alleged traditions of misconduct were too steeped into the band’s culture and reformation could not remove the traces of the harm those practices caused.”
The troupe was in hot water last year, as the school administration briefly stopped letting the band perform officially due to disputes over funding. After the disagreement was settled last October, university president Lee Bollinger said the band would be able to perform again at campus functions, the Spectator reported at the time.
Although the band — which was founded in 1904, according to The New York Times — may have some dark moments in its history, it is unclear what specific recent incident would lead to its dissolution. The statement cited “numerous anonymous postings and allegations of sexual misconduct, assault, theft, racism, an injury to individuals and the Columbia community as a whole,” but did not go into detail.
Thus, the choice to dissolve seems excessive.
Due to the band’s long history, it’s not hard to imagine that leftist college students (though the political leanings of the students who opted to dissolve the group are unclear) might call for its demise.
College campuses across the country are facing a growing trend of woke activists seeking to destroy their own institutions’ past.
At George Washington University, there has been a push to change the school’s “Colonials” moniker.
Even though the moniker is intended to honor the school’s namesake, former President George Washington, students have griped that it is offensive and romanticizes colonialism, according to Fox News.
In June, the bust of Washington was toppled on the campus during riots that ravaged D.C., Campus Reform reported.
While young leftists continue to seek the revision and destruction of history, the right has been fighting to preserve the past.
President Donald Trump has made it clear that historical monuments must be protected at all costs, emphasizing the fight against cancel culture in his speeches.
Cancel culture encourages people to “cancel” their peers, celebrities or historical figures because they do not align perfectly with the leftist narrative. Consequentially, some people have lost their jobs, personal relationships or opportunities because of a dissenting political view or a past mistake.
What happened with the Columbia University Marching Band is just a glimpse into the insanity of how cancel culture activists operate. If any person or entity has ever done something unethical, it is cause for removal.
While the students at Columbia University may have had good intentions, their decision was completely unnecessary.
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