Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 6, 1993 TAG: 9301060231
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MADELYN ROSENBERG STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
VMI BAND PUZZLED BY SNUB
VMI's MARCHING BAND has been in nearly every presidential inauguration parade in this century. So members of the band and alumni were disappointed and puzzled when they weren't invited to Bill Clinton's parade this month.
When George Schreffler left Virginia Military Institute for winter break, he put on his civilian clothes and tried to forget about school for a while.
But he didn't forget about the band.
Like others in the 100-cadet company, Schreffler had expected to be marching in the inaugural parade for President-elect Clinton.
And though the band hadn't received marching orders by the time the semester ended, Schreffler, a trombone player, thought they might come later.
"We all expected to go," said Schreffler, a second classman, or junior, from Harrisburg, Pa. "We'd planned to come back to school early and do an extra day or two of marching."
Being in the inaugural parade has been tradition for VMI - the institute has missed only two inaugurations in the past 85 years.
Even cadets who didn't support Clinton were eager to march. "He's the commander-in-chief," Schreffler said. "He's the one whose orders we're there to follow."
News that the college, which has a military tradition dating back to 1839, would not participate, has left some cadets and alumni disappointed. Others are bitter.
"I just don't understand it," said Steve Fogelman, chairman of the VMI Task Force, a group of VMI alumni and supporters that is backing the school in its court battle to keep women from its ranks.
Sally Aman, spokeswoman for the inaugural committee, said the lawsuit was not the reason the band's application was rejected. There were 500 submissions for this year's parade, 300 of them bands, Aman said. "We could only take 35 to 40 bands."
The theme of the inauguration, "An American Reunion: New Beginnings, New Hope," is supposed to reflect the breadth and depth of the country and the administration, Aman said.
Her committee was searching for bands that would fit that theme.
"That does not mean that those who weren't chosen didn't reflect that," she said.
"We saw an incredible amount of talent. In an ideal world, everybody would have marched, but we just couldn't do that," she said.
That part, Fogelman said he understood. But he paused to invoke the names of the VMI graduates who found a place in history: George Marshall, winner of a Nobel Peace Prize; Jonathan Daniels, who saved the life of a 13-year-old girl in Alabama during the 1960s; six men who were awarded Medals of Honor.
"The VMI system produced all of this, and I simply can't understand why we weren't included," Fogelman said.
William Berry, vice president for the Board of Trustees, said he isn't taking the rejection as a snub. "I'm not going to make a big thing out of it," he said. But to others, especially the cadets who had hoped to march, it was a big deal.
"For the cadets, it's a cool thing to take part in," said Maj. John Brodie, VMI's band director and a former member of the Marine Corps Band. "We were preparing for it on the assumption that we'd go, but these things are never definite."
VMI has a parade on grounds every Friday, the cadets decked out in full regalia. Parades, Brodie said, "are right up our alley."
Grover Outland Jr., a member of the Board of Visitors and a 1949 graduate of VMI, remembers the excitement when he was to march in Harry S. Truman's inaugural parade.
"I broke my arm and couldn't go," he said.
He hates to think this year's cadets will miss that opportunity, too. "I'm just sick about it," he said. "It's a big letdown for the young men."
VMI has given scores of leaders to the country, civilian and military, Outland said. "This is a sad commentary, really, but it's done.
"As they say at VMI, we've just got to suck it up and get on with the next job."
At Virginia Tech, where the Highty-Tighties have marched in the inaugurations since early in the century, there also was disappointment.
"We submitted an application, but we weren't selected," said George McNeill, director. The group has missed the last two inaugurations, one of them because of bad weather.
Aman said each band was given equal consideration, regardless of its history with the parade.
Virginia will send two bands - the Denbigh High School Marching Patriots from Newport News and the horse-drawn caisson platoon of the Old Guard from Fort Myer.