The Great Band Brouhaha of 2019 shows no signs of abating anytime soon.
Following the Iowa-Iowa State football game in Ames earlier this season, reports began to surface that members of the Hawkeyes marching band were verbally and, in at least a couple of instances, physically abused as they made their way back to the bus after the game. “One student was forcefully groped while another suffered broken ribs, according to several accounts,” the Iowa Press-Citizen wrote at the time.
Shortly thereafter, a joint statement from the two schools expressed embarrassment “when students in the bands don’t feel safe when performing at an away game” and that “[e]ach of our athletics departments is committed to doing whatever is necessary to improve the environment for visiting school marching bands in the future.” There was also talk that the rivalry could be in jeopardy because of the behavioral issues, but such chatter ultimately subsided.
In the ensuing days, however, there was a social media uproar over the investigation being closed and the handling of the probe on both sides, with Iowa announcing late last month that it has reopened the investigation into allegations of “verbal, physical and sexual abuse directed against the Hawkeye Marching Band.”
It is now being reported that the Iowa State University Police Department is currently investigating four separate assaults reported by members of the Iowa band. According to the Gazette, "[a]n Iowa State police crime log shows the department on Sept. 25 took two reports of assault at Jack Trice Stadium in Ames on Sept. 14; another assault report for the same date and location on Sept. 26; and then a fourth on Sept. 27.”
Details of what exactly is contained in those police reports have not yet been made available to the public.
ISU’s police chief told the newspaper that details of the reports are not being released because they are “part of an open and active investigation.”