New Student Orientation (NSO) without Band Run — actually, Stanford without Band Run — would be like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich without the peanut butter. Or worse, a Cracker Jack box without the shiny prize. The Band Run is NSO’s saving grace, disrupting the litany of carefully planned seminars and ridiculously campy festivities with its loud tunes, crazy characters and mad dashing around campus. It’s confusing, exhilarating, breathless and fun. While we may forget the skits and ceremonies of NSO, the experience of Band Run will remains with many of us forever.

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A member of the Axe Committee runs around the stadium carrying the Stanford flag. The flag signaled the beginning of the card stunt in the pre-game festivities. #gallery http://daily.stanford.edu/image/full/6174
Adrian Gaitan

A member of the Axe Committee runs around the stadium carrying the Stanford flag. The flag signaled the beginning of the card stunt in the pre-game festivities.

This is why Stanford students and alumni spoke out when word got out that the Band Run was going to be canceled this year. The cancellation was part of a series of punishments against the Band for the damage of the Shak (allegedely by several band members) this summer. In reaction, band members started the “Make Band Run Happen” petition online, garnering about 1280 signatures at the time of publication. The signers echoed a cycle of similar pleas and reflections.

Don’t deprive the freshman class just because of the wrongdoings of a few students. Some of us met our best friends during band run. That crazy night marked the first moment we knew that we chose the right college. A related Facebook group also surfaced, gaining members almost as quickly as the countless anti-newsfeed groups.

Granted, the band and its members need to reassess and consider the implications of their general actions (and antics) if they want to regain full privileges again. However, it was a sad day when the new Stanford Stadium opened and, in lieu of the live band, there was merely a recording. It’s no fun jumping to a tape.

Now how much sadder would it have been had the Class of 2010 been deprived of Band Run? There are reasons that so many people were behind its preservation. It simply wouldn’t have been justified to deny the experience to freshmen, transfers and the student body as a whole simply because of a confusing web of University and Band snafus.

This is about more than just one crazy night. It’s about being fair and honoring spirit over politics.