TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Law enforcement officials confirmed Tuesday they are investigating hazing as a factor in the death of Florida A&M drum major Robert Champion — a revelation that came hours after the university's president pledged to take a hard look at the pernicious practice that has plagued the famed Marching 100 band for decades.
At a hastily called news conference, FAMU President James H. Ammons indefinitely suspended all performances of the band and other music department instrumental ensembles. He also announced the creation of an independent task force to determine any "unauthorized and questionable activities associated with the culture of the Marching 100."
"The purpose of this review is not to establish culpability of individual band members in this particular case, but rather to determine whether there are patterns of behavior by the band — or members of it — that should be addressed on an institutional level," said Ammons, who will name task force members in the coming days.
Champion was found throwing up and complaining that he could not breathe in the parking lot of the Rosen Plaza Hotel on International Drive after a game Saturday against Bethune-Cookman in Orlando.
FAMU Police Chief Calvin Ross said his agency is investigating at least two other possible hazing incidents from this semester. Band director Julian White confirmed that 30 band members recently were suspended in the wake of the allegations and did not perform Saturday. No details were provided because the incidents are still under investigation, officials said.
"Hazing is illegal and it is something that should not happen," said Ammons, who as provost in 1998 dealt with other high-profile hazings involving band members. "I am very disappointed that … in 2011 we are dealing with an issue that should be long since past."
A 2005 state law made hazing that causes serious bodily injury a felony, regardless of whether the victim consents.
Late Tuesday, Orange County Sheriff Jerry L. Demings announced hazing as a possible factor in Champion's death. Investigators from his office in Orlando were in Tallahassee, continuing to conduct interviews and determine what happened to the 26-year-old.
Initially, investigators said they found no sign of foul play. But after a flurry of rumors that Champion might have been hazed as part of a band ritual called "crossing Bus C," OCSO officials began further scrutinizing the incident. Spokeswoman Ginette Rodriguez said results of an autopsy performed Monday were inconclusive, and more medical tests will be conducted.
"We don't have all of the facts at this time — but we're going to get them," Ammons said. "I ask all to refrain from engaging in rumor and to cooperate fully with the investigation into this tragedy.
"There will be no retaliation for anyone who fully cooperates with this investigation, but there will be consequences for anyone who tries to impede it."
Band members continued to be tight-lipped about what happened and about the prevalence of violence in band initiations. Former band director William P. Foster, who retired in 1998 after more than 50 years leading the Marching 100, had said hazing was a problem starting in the 1950s, when it began as a spill over from fraternity and sorority initiations.
The problem has persisted. In 2004, the victim of a 2001 band hazing incident was awarded a $1.8 million civil judgment for the beating he took as a freshman trumpet player. Marcus Parker was beaten so hard by five band members with a paddle board during an initiation, he suffered kidney failure.
Ammons said anyone found to have threatened the safety and welfare of any student would face "serious disciplinary action."
Florida A&M's Long-time Band Director
Fired as Hazing Investigated
Dr. Julian White, director of bands
at Florida A&M University, speaks
during a memorial service for Robert
Champion, a Florida A&M University
drum major who died Nov. 19,
Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2011, in
Tallahassee, Fla. (AP Photo)
(AP) TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - The longtime director of Florida A&M University's
famed marching band was fired Wednesday as the fallout from a drum
major's suspected hazing death deepened. Florida's governor said state
investigators would join the probe and the college announced an independent
review led by a former state attorney general.
Band member Robert Champion, 26, was found unresponsive on a bus parked
outside an Orlando hotel on Saturday night after the school's football team
lost to rival Bethune-Cookman. Champion, of Atlanta, was vomiting and had
complained he couldn't breathe before he collapsed. Investigators believe
hazing occurred before 911 was called.
As authorities investigate the student's death, the accusations surrounding the widely revered
and imitated band could have an impact far beyond the Florida university's campus. Parents
and officlas are scrutinizing black college marching bands after the death of FAMU drum major
Robert Champion.
Florida Governor calls for suspension of President of Florida
A & M University over drum major's hazing death Gov Rick Scott requests president of Florida A&M University be
suspended over the death of drum major Robert Champion
Florida Governor Rick Scott
FAMU President James H. Ammons
Florida's governor wants the president of Florida A&M University suspended
amid multiple investigations spurred by a drum major's death.
Republican Rick Scott called the chairman of the FAMU board on Thursday
and asked him to suspend James Ammons immediately. The board met last
week and discussed suspending Ammons, but instead voted to publicly
reprimand him. The board meets again Monday.
It was Scott who ordered Florida's law-enforcement agency to join an
investigation into the death of Marching 100 band member Robert Champion.
He died following a FAMU football game last month and hazing is suspected in
his death.
State law enforcement officials said earlier this week they have opened a
second investigation into possible criminal violations dealing with the band's
finances.
Chanting "We've got questions. You've got answers,"
the students marched to the governor's mansion,
promising to stay until Scott changed his mind.
"We are not going to leave," said Breyon Love, the FAMU
student body president. "Mr. Governor, with all due respect,
we will be here all night, all day tomorrow until you apologize
or rescind that recommendation."
Eleven defendants were charged with hazing resulting in death, a felony, and misdemeanor offenses that all together could bring nearly six years in prison. Two others face misdemeanor charges. It was not immediately clear whether those charged were all students or whether they included faculty members or others involved in the road trip.
Dante Martin—the former de facto student president of the hazing rituals conducted by Florida A&M University’s marching band—was sentenced to 77 months in prison (almost six-and-a-half years) for the 2011 hazing death of FAMU student and drum major Robert Champion, the Orlando Sentinel reports.
Before Martin’s sentencing on manslaughter charges in Champion’s death, his family, friends and former classmates testified and sent letters to Circuit Judge Renee Roche, asking that she be lenient when sentencing Martin, explaining that the hazing ritual was part of the band’s tradition.
Roche explained that though Martin was a “remarkable young man” with “limitless potential,” forgiveness had no place in the criminal-justice system. “Forgiveness ... doesn’t have a role in the legal system,” Roche said, explaining that her duty concerned “punishment” and that “all other things are secondary.”
Champion’s parents took the stand before the sentencing and seemed to be pushing for Martin to serve prison time instead of the house arrest and community-service work that Martin hoped for. Champion’s father said that he sympathized with Martin’s family, but that “today we've got to set an example that this has got to stop now.”
The hazing practice required that Champion make his way from the front of a school bus to the back, shirtless, while being pummeled by senior band members. Champion “died of soft-tissue bleeding caused by the flurry of blows he absorbed,” the Sentinel explained.
Nine other former band members were sentenced to community-service hours and probation for their involvement in Martin’s death.
