A daily roundup of the biggest headlines in Bay Area and national news.

Cal Band Great

The Cal Aggie Marching Band at UC Davis ran into trouble with campus officials and their band director after several incidents of “disruptive behavior,” including “naked van,” lap dances at practice, inappropriate Christmas cards and drunken antics, the San Francisco Chronicle reported today.

Campus officials held sexual harassment training for the band after the band director filed a complain, and ordered offensive signs to be taken off the band room’s walls. However, this isn’t the first incident of disruptive college marching band behavior:

“UC Davis: Probation after student director was accused of sexual harassment, 1992.

Stanford University:

– Suspended for trashing the Band Shak rehearsal trailer, 2006.

– Student “Tree” mascot suspended for performing while drunk, 2006; replacement “Tree” mascot ejected from women’s basketball tournament for dancing in undesignated area.

– Banned from University of Notre Dame for routine in which conductor, dressed as nun, used crucifix as baton, 1991.

University of Virginia: Pep band disbanded after a halftime skit mocking the University of West Virginia as hillbillies, 2002.”

UC Davis’ marching band director is currently on stress leave.

“The Kind of Place Where They Spread Quickly”

Inside Higher Ed reports that outbreaks of highly contagious viruses have occurred at some college campuses, including Georgetown University, Oregon State University and the University of Southern California:

“At the University of Southern California, about 75 students are sick with what the university announced Saturday was a ‘highly contagious gastrointestinal virus.’ Symptoms are similar to those of a norovirus, and a spokesman said that medical officials suspect a norovirus, but are awaiting confirmation based on lab results.”

The outbreaks have caused some schools to cancel campus events, such as football games and matches in other sports, since highly contagious viruses are easily spread throughout campuses and other “large gatherings of people.”