Sophomoric at Halftime

To the Editor:

Re "Columbia U. Head Apologizes to Fordham Over Public Gibe" (news
article, Sept. 25):

As a past member of the music faculty and founder of the Columbia
University Chorus (half a century ago), I view with disgust the
shenanigans displayed in the Columbia marching band's halftime
"entertainment" at a recent game between Columbia and Fordham University.

While no one can excuse the accumulating crimes of misbehaving priests,
who believes that a halftime show is the place to make a rebuke?
Evidently, the sophomoric scriptwriter of the offending gibe and the
band's censor, presuming to speak for the entire campus.

But a football game is an athletic event; sadly, halftime follies have all
but taken over, as it is. They should be eliminated entirely. I speak not
as some frail aesthete, but as one who in his young days was active in
five sports -- none of which had halftime diversions.

JACOB AVSHALOMOV
Portland, Ore., Sept. 25, 2002