Lang
9/28/19
A newly released email indicates the Hawkeye Marching Band wanted to wait for crowds to disperse outside Jack Trice Stadium before exiting the field after the September 14th Iowa/Iowa State football game in Ames, but an Iowa State official vulgarly told them to leave the field immediately.
The email was sent from band director Dr. Eric Bush to alumni band members on Wednesday, one day after ISU Athletic Director Jamie Pollard called a news conference in which he claimed the band used the wrong exit to leave the field after the game. Pollard said the band ignored orders to use another gate, and once outside the stadium marched “aggressively” while in a group of exiting Iowa State fans. Band members had earlier reported being pushed, shoved, groped, and subjected to racial slurs, with one band member reporting being hit in the arm with a beer bottle. One member reportedly received broken ribs as a result of the after-game fracas. Another reported sexually inappropriate actions. At least three band members have since filed reports with police.
Bush’s email indicates he wanted to wait for the crowd to disperse before leaving the field, making it safer for the band to reach its buses. But Bush claims the Iowa State Director of Facilities and Grounds angrily told the band to leave the field immediately. KCJJ has learned the exact verbiage of the order was, “Get the f— off of my field.”
The band immediately left out the gate closest to where their buses were parked.
Iowa State officials declined to comment on the allegations made in the email.