Response to Band Petition, 2/2

Title

Response to Band Petition, 2/2

Description

1922: Colonel Mitchell's letter to the executive dean regarding the petition for a concert band independent of the military department.

Creator

Colonel Americus Mitchell

Source

University of Nebraska, University Archives and Special Collections, Acc#949, 24/12/07/04 B2

Date

1922, Jan. 26

Text

5. It is stated in the petition that “In addition to this Monday night drill, the Military Department requires the services of the whole band in military parades, reviews and ensemble drill with the cadets once a week during warm weather”. The present Professor of Military Science and Tactics does expect the whole band to turn out for military parades, etc., once each week during warm weather, but he expected this to count as one of the three hours of band duty each week and as the “drill” hour for those upperclassmen who have already their required military credits. It is difficult to see just what benefit the R.O.T.C. would derive from the presence of said upperclassmen in the band, if they did not attend said parades, etc, while the United States has been and is still furnishing their uniforms.

6. On page 4 of the petition under the heading, “Upperclassmen now in the Cadet Band who desire to form the Concert Band, and express their intention of dropping the Cadet Band at the end of this semester under present conditions”, are twenty-five (25) names. It is presumed that this petition was written during the First Semester and that the semester mentioned in the above quotation is the second semester. From the records of this office, it seems that six of these men did not belong to the band at the end of the first semester, in fact that three (3) of these six did not register for the band at all during the first semester. Thirteen (13) of the others are shown in said records as having registered for “band” for the second semester. This accounts for 19 of the 25 men, and the records of this office appear to be very much at variance with the statement on page 4 of the petition.

7. It is true that the R.O.T.C. band has been used for “bally hoo” purposes, i. e., for getting students out for football rallies, parades, escorting athletic teams to and from trains, etc., but that has not been considered an objectional feature. It was thought that the upperclassmen as well as the underclassmen were only too glad to assist in arousing enthusiasm for their “Alma Mater”.

8. It is desired very much by this Department, by higher R.O.T.C. authority, and by the R.O.T.C. Cadets of the University, that change be made for the next scholastic year to a Commutation basis, the full details of which will be presented to the University authorities for decision in about three weeks. Under the present R.O.T.C. Regulations commutation would not be paid by the Government for any man who is not taking the basic or advanced course R.O.T.C.

9. Inviting attention especially to paragraphs 3 and 4 aboe, this Department has no objection whatever to the withdrawal from the Band by the upperclassmen nor to the formation by them of a new band.

[Signature]
Americus Mitchell
Colonel, Infantry, (D.O.L.)

Files

UB7318.jpg

Citation

Colonel Americus Mitchell, “Response to Band Petition, 2/2,” Nebraska U, accessed March 29, 2024, https://unlhistory.unl.edu/items/show/308.

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