One of the cardinal rules of AP Style (and many other styles, in fact) is that writers should never use “&” in place of “and” unless the ampersand is part of the proper name. For example, “Savannah International Trade & Convention Center” is the proper name. Despite what many write, SCAD’s proper, trademarked name is “Savannah College of Art and Design.” No ampersand. Ever.
Savannah Morning News reporter Arek Sarkissian II has decided, however, that the ampersand works just fine in the college’s name in his cover story on the SCAD student’s death. As a writer who should be using AP Style, he should know better. And was the copy editor asleep?
Yes, I know there are bigger things I should be worrying about, such as the poor student’s family and friends, and what exactly happened anyway. But I don’t know him, them or the circumstances, although it is a very sad story.
I do know AP Style, though. And this blog is devoted to grammar and style. And chickens, of course.
Observe and report 
I fight this battle daily! And when I can’t sell my bosses on the ampersand not being AP, I try to sell them on the fact that technically it means something different than “and” in certain context. (For example, in movie credits “&” means the people collaborated, but “and” means they just both worked on it.) I’ve had to concede other punctuation battles (like my fight against “!” at all costs), but I stand firm in my anti-& struggle.
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Keep fighting the good fight!
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The ampersand in the oft-used “D&D” still bugs me a little since your classes, but “DnD” looks so odd to me that the first still seems preferable. It was something I debated a lot early on in the blog project actually.
But man, that’s awful. I hadn’t heard about that yet. I hope his parents are okay.
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