One year ago, PUB members reported being physically and verbally harassed by cadets as the band proceeded with a pre-approved march across the Charleston, S.C. campus before the football game.
But this year no such conflict erupted at the game, thanks in part to precautions taken by PUB and the University. Another reason for the quiet was a mandatory training at The Citadel that limited the numbers of Citadel spectators who could attend the game, which took place on the University campus.
“We were all on our toes,” PUB president Hannah Valdez ’11 said. “We weren’t really sure if there were going to be any cadets here or how the feeling was going to be, but it ended up being ok.” She added that, in response to requests from University officials during the routine censoring process, the PUB halftime show was toned down.
“We were definitely more aware to just toning it down a little bit in general because we knew there were going to be Citadel fans here,” Valdez said. “Last year, we didn’t think our show was all that offensive, and it came off as being far more offensive than we ever thought, so we planned to keep it a little more under control [this time].”
But PUB members did not shy away from poking fun at the opposing team during the halftime show.
“We got off to such a great start when we met in Charleston last year,” the announcer said at the start of halftime. “You expected us to be cold and distant northerners, but some of us surprised you by being flaming liberals.”
The band then proceeded to play a game of capture the flag with large blue and grey flags — an unmistakable reference to the Civil War — to audible laughter from Citadel fans.
Band members also mocked South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford’s recent affair with an Argentine woman and politically conservative views on issues like abortion.
Citadel students were noticeably absent from the game, which The Citadel won 38-7. Valdez said the University had informed the band that few cadets would be present on campus this Saturday.
One Citadel alumnus said he thought this absence was deliberate on the part of the Citadel administration.
“I think they intentionally didn’t send anybody so that there wouldn’t be any issues … anticipating the worst possible outcome,” said Mark Garrett, a member of The Citadel’s Class of 1998.
Kevin McNally, the father of a Citadel senior, said the compulsory training prevented his son from coming to the game.

“They have a mandatory ROTC weekend,” he explained. “There’s no way anyone could come up.”
Officials at The Citadel’s public affairs office were unavailable for comment over the weekend.
Several Citadel alumni said they were not worried that further conflict would arise this year, and the University seemed to go out of its way to appease fans of the opposing team. Saturday was declared “Military Appreciation Day,” and fallen veteran alumni from both the University and The Citadel were honored at the game.
“Princeton is such a dignified place, and it’s a pleasure to be here,” said Rob DeMers, a member of The Citadel’s Class of 1979. “They’ve accommodated The Citadel, and they had a very nice reception for graduates.”
After watching this year’s halftime show, Stewart said he appreciated the “artistic premise” of PUB’s performance and blamed last year’s incidents on “a lack of communication.”
Vito Galante, a Citadel alumnus who was present at both Saturday’s game and last year’s halftime show, said that though he found neither show “entertaining,” he thought that this year’s show was “some type of apology with tongue-and-cheek.”
“I have a very good friend that played ball for Princeton in the ’80s,” Galante added. “He even says the alumni don’t even like [Princeton’s] band. It’s not just opposing schools.”
Valdez said that the Saturday show was not an apology for PUB’s actions at The Citadel campus last year, saying, “We still don’t think we did anything wrong,” but she also said her organization has learned some lessons from last year’s event.
“We’ll be more aware of playing schools that aren’t really Ivy League schools or schools that aren’t in our general region of the country … It’s kind of a different world.”