ORLANDO, Fla. —
The president of Florida A&M University has decided that the school’s famous marching band, which has been suspended indefinitely since shortly after the hazing death of drum major Robert Champion in Orlando last fall, will not perform at all through the 2012-2013 school year, he told university trustees during a brief teleconference Monday.
The fate of the embattled Marching 100 band has been up in the air as university leaders debated whether to allow the group to perform at football games and other events in the fall.
Eleven band members were charged in Champion’s death earlier this month. Other allegations of hazing and other problems related to the band have surfaced in the months since the drum major was beaten aboard a parked charter bus after the Florida Classic football game in Orlando on Nov. 19.
The most recent revelation — that about 100 band members didn’t meet the requirements to be in the band, including at least two of those charged with Champion’s death — prompted Monday’s meeting of university trustees.
FAMU President James Ammons and members of his senior staff spent last week meeting with faculty, students and others about the fate of the band. Meanwhile, Gov. Rick Scott and the chancellor of the State University System said last week that FAMU’s band is not ready to take the field again.
On Thursday, University System Chancellor Frank Brogan sent Ammons a letter urging FAMU not to lift the band’s suspension yet. Brogan warned that bringing the band back too soon — before the school’s new committee of anti-hazing experts completes its work, for example, and before the Florida Department of Law Enforcement finishes an inquiry into financial irregularities related to band operations — could affect its survival.
He also told Ammons that “our concerns continue to mount regarding the ever-increasing body of issues that harm the institution, its students and, therefore, our State University System as a whole.”
The fallout from Champion’s death and the other allegations that have emerged have led to several FAMU employees resigning or retiring.
Longtime band director Julian White resigned unexpectedly late last week. Two music professors resigned recently after it was revealed they were present during a party where some band students were hazed and that one of the professors had hosted the gathering.
Less than a week after school leaders learned that the two professors had been present, the chief of FAMU’s police department, Calvin Ross, announced he was retiring. But Ross said he initially had planned to retire in January but stayed on because of the Champion investigation.
University officials have said they’re not sure what types of entertainment might replace the band if it could not perform in the fall. But the issue will be a major one for FAMU as it figures out how to boost athletic funding and fundraising at a time when that department is facing a financial shortfall.
The university is awaiting the results of at least two investigations connected to the band.
FDLE still investigating possible fraud involving travel per-diem payments to those affiliated with the band.
And, the Board of Governors, which oversees the State University System, is looking into whether FAMU followed its own policies to stop hazing prior to Champion’s death.
National News
FAMU band to remain suspended
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