(Reuters) – Florida A&M University has suspended its
celebrated marching band indefinitely as it grapples with the beating death of a drum major and an
ongoing probe into the band’s culture of violent hazing.
of Florida speaks in front of the Ninth Judicial Court in Orlando, Florida May 2, 2012. Lamar announced
that 13 people are being charged with felony hazing and 20 with misdemeanour hazing in connection with
the hazing death of Florida A&M University band major Robert Champion. REUTERS/Octavian
Cantilli
“I have decided
the suspension of the band will continue through the 2012-13 academic year,” James Ammons, president of
Florida A&M in Tallahassee, told university trustees in a conference call on Monday.
The
band has been on suspension since the November 2011 hazing death of 26-year-old drum major Robert
Champion during a road trip to Orlando.
“I was heavily influenced by the need to be respectful
of Robert Champion’s family as well as other alleged victims,” Ammons said to the board, in explaining
his decision to sideline the band for the foreseeable future.
Ammons said the band won’t return
to the field until a new organizational structure and guidelines are implemented to ensure that an
incident like Champion’s death never happens again.
Thirteen people have been arrested as part
of a continuing investigation into the incident. Eleven of the defendants have been charged with a
third-degree felony for “hazing with death,” which is punishable under Florida law with a maximum of
six years in prison. Two others face a misdemeanor charge.
Champion’s death, which was ruled a
homicide by the medical examiner, pulled back the curtain on the band’s long history of physically
abusive hazing.
The victim’s mother, Pam Champion, has called for the dissolution of the band
“to clean the filth out” and objected to the fact that harsher charges have not been filed.
The
Champion family welcomed the decision to continue the band’s suspension.
“There were certainly
concerns by the family about the safety of students were that band to march this season,” Champion’s
family lawyer Chris Chestnut told Reuters.
The FAMU “Marching 100,” made up of approximately 460
musicians, is famous for its high-stepping showmanship. The band is credited with the widespread
transformation of college bands from the traditional military precision style to more innovative
pageantry.
In recent weeks, two music professors resigned after allegations in a Tallahassee
police report that they were present at a band party in which band students were hazed.
Band
director Julian White, who joined the faculty in 1971, resigned last week.
(Editing by Tom Brown
and Eric
Beech)