As the state’s largest HBCUs prepare for their annual football showdown in Orlando, last year’s hazing-caused death of Florida A&M University drum major Robert Champion is on the hearts and minds of Rattlers and Wildcats.
BY ASHLEY THOMAS
FLORIDA COURIER
It’s been nearly a year since Florida A&M University Marching “100” drum major Robert Champion was savagely beaten to death in a hazing ritual during the Florida Classic weekend, the annual Black family reunion in Orlando between FAMU and longtime intrastate rival Bethune-Cookman University.
As the two teams, their fans and followers head back to Orlando, there will be a pall over the weekend extravaganza because of last year’s tragedy that gained international attention.
Champion, 26, died on Nov. 19, 2011 from injuries sustained after being beaten by fellow Marching 100 bandmates in a chartered bus parked outside an Orlando hotel.
The beating occurred the night of the football game during a hazing tradition known as “crossing Bus C.’’ During the ritual, students would walk down the aisle of the bus while being beaten by fellow band members.
Pause for prayer
Before boarding their buses on Wednesday to head to Orlando for this weekend’s Classic, members of FAMU’s Student Government Association (SGA) held hands in a circle for prayer. According to a report by WCTV-TV in Tallahassee, SGA Vice President Michael Jefferson says students wanted to give thanks and reflect on how they’ve healed since Champion died, and how the school is moving forward.
Jefferson says there were mixed emotions as his group prepared to travel to the same football game a year later.
“It’s not been the easiest of years. But there’s something to smile about because we made it through and the university’s better for having gone through this trial. I think the university has turned this corner and it’s about to shine.”
Tough year
The year indeed has been tough on FAMU.
Twelve former members have pleaded not guilty to charges of felony hazing. Dr. James Ammons abruptly resigned as FAMU’s president in July. The previous month he had received a “no-confidence” vote from the university’s board of trustees.
Florida A&M University Provost Larry Robinson took over the duties of interim president of the school following Ammons’ resignation. Ammons is now teaching at the university.
And the Marching 100’s longtime band director Dr. Julian White retired in May. The band and White were suspended after Champion’s death. White was reinstated about two weeks later.
The band is to be suspended for at least a year.
Criminal cases begin
On May, 13 FAMU students were arrested for taking part in the hazing death of Champion, with 11 of the 13 facing third-degree felony charges and the possibility of spending up to six years behind bars; the remaining suspects received misdemeanor charges.
Brian Jones, 23, a percussionist in the suspended Marching 100, was the first defendant to go to court. He was sentenced Oct. 22 to six months of community supervision – a monitoring arrangement that requires an ankle monitor and frequent check-ins with probation officials – followed by two years of probation. He is also required to do 200 hours of community service.
Trials for the other 11 band members charged in Champion’s death are set for next year. Two other former band members face a misdemeanor charge for hazing Lissette Sanchez of Orlando and Keon Hollis, another drum major. Those alleged beatings, which resulted in lesser injuries, occurred on the same bus before Champion was beaten.
‘Insulting’ offer
In the latest twist and turn with regard to a wrongful death lawsuit filed by Champion’s parents, Pam and Robert Champion, they refused to take $300,000 from FAMU to settle the case and are preparing to sue the state. Chris Chestnut, an attorney for the family, said that a $300,000 settlement offer from the school is “insulting.”
The amount offered is the maximum amount the university can pay without seeking approval by the Florida Legislature.
Chestnut said it showed that the university wasn’t serious about resolving the case with Champion’s family. Chestnut wouldn’t say what amount the family would consider acceptable.
“It is our hope that this settlement will be accepted and can in some way help in the healing process for the Champion family and the entire FAMU community,” Richard Mitchell, an attorney for FAMU, stated.
The school’s settlement offer was made less than a week after an all-day mediation session failed on Nov. 9 in Orlando.
Hazing conference
This year’s Classic was to include an anti-bullying and anti-hazing symposium on Nov. 16.
The three-part event titled “Band Together” will include signs of bullying and hazing, the effects of social media and proper online etiquette, concluding with a celebrity town hall meeting. It’s scheduled to include a keynote address by Dr. Michael Eric Dyson and closing remarks by FAMU’s and B-CU’s athletic directors.
B-CU’s “Marching Wildcats” will perform a halftime show as usual at the Nov. 17 game – without competing against its musical archrival from FAMU. Popular recording artist Charlie Wilson also is scheduled to sing.
Wells reacts
Director of Bands Donovan Wells said his thoughts are for Champion’s family.
“It was just a great sadness. I don’t look at it as a band director. I look at it as, ‘What are his parents going through even now?’
“Imagine being excited that your son is a drum major for a well-recognized band in the country. He has just performed his biggest performance of the year, which is the Classic, and within three hours of that performance he is gone. That has to be tough,” Wells remarked.
“Participation in a Black college marching band is supposed to be good, wholesome and without fear of death,” he said.
Black eye on bands
Wells said Champion’s death “was tough to swallow and has put a black eye on HBCUs and a blacker eye on HBCU marching bands.
“Each time something unfolded, it made the national news on most media outlets – from the president’s resignation to the band director retiring. Those were tough blows for everyone, but the toughest blow was to the Champion family and to the institution of FAMU – not just the band, but the school,” Wells said.
B-CU’s band director added that “No band director can sit up here and say they will never have a hazing problem. Just as no mayor or police chief can say they will eradicate crime – so I will never do that.
“In 17 years, we’ve had one complaint of an alleged hazing complaint filed with campus security. Other cities with bands have files upon files on incidents with the marching band,” he added.
Strict enforcement
Wells said he is quick to hand out fines to enforce the non-hazing policy adopted nationwide.
“In times when any wrongdoing was even suspected, we levied heavy financial fines and it hits home like nothing else. Students really get the message,” he explained.
“Furthermore, I will sacrifice one student to save the entire band if it comes to that. I will not hesitate to put out anyone who disrupts the chemistry of this band.”
Florida Courier staff writer James Harper, Daytona Beach freelancer Karsceal Turner and Associated Press writers Gary Fineout and Mike Schneider contributed to this report.
The repercussions of FAMU drum major Robert Champion’s death still reverberate. (FLORIDA COURIER FILES)
Source:
http://flcourier.com/2012/11/15/hovering-o...
Posted By: How May I Help You NC
Thursday, November 15th 2012 at 2:37PM
You can also
click
here to view all posts by this author...
