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“Band-uh” disbanded at UC Davis

Here is the link and excerpt

Former UC Davis marching band member Christina Peña describes the culture of the band in April 2019. As a member of the California Aggie band, Peña received the “Hymnal” – a booklet of explicit songs that glorify sexual harassment and drinking.

The freshmen were blindfolded and and driven nearly an hour, told they going to a “bonding” event hosted by older students in the UC Davis marching band.

They were told they were going to be “‘painting cows” with “animal-friendly paint.” When the freshmen arrived, they were given a cup of “paint” and told to take their blindfolds off.

“We discovered it was actually a red Solo cup full of a mysterious alcoholic beverage,” one of the students would later tell investigators hired by the campus. “We were then met with a loud band and introduced to the party called ‘Barn’. I would have had a much more fun time if they had simply told me the truth and if I wasn’t led under false pretenses.”

By Hank Nuwer

Journalist Hank Nuwer tracks hazing deaths in fraternities and schools. Nuwer is the Alaska author of Hazing: Destroying Young Lives; Broken Pledges: The Deadly Rite of Hazing, High School Hazing, Wrongs of Passage and The Hazing Reader. In April of 2024, the Alaska Press Club awarded him first place in the Best Columnist division and Best Humorist, second place.

He has written articles or columns on hazing for the Sunday Times of India, Toronto Globe & Mail, Harper's Magazine, Orlando Sentinel, The Chronicle of Higher Education and the New York Times Sunday Magazine. His current book is Hazing: Destroying Young Lives from Indiana University Press. He is married to Malgorzata Wroblewska Nuwer of Warsaw, Poland and Fairbanks, Alaska. Nuwer is a former columnist for the Greenville (Ohio)Early Bird and former managing editor of the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner in Alaska.
Nuwer was named the Ohio Society of Professional Journalists columnist of the year in 2021 for his “After Darke” column in the Early Bird. He also won third place for the column in 2022 from the Indiana chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. He and his wife Gosia, recently of Union City, Ind., have owned 20 acres in Alaska for many years. “The move is a sort-of coming home for us,” said Nuwer. As a journalist, he’s written about the Alaskan Iditarod sled-dog race and other Alaska topics. Read his musings in his blog at Real Alaska Daily--http://realalaskadaily.com and in his weekly column "Far from Randolph" in the Winchester Star-Gazette of Randolph County, Indiana.

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