FAMU Band Suspended Indefinitely

[PortCityProphet]

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.

FAMU band to remain suspended - BostonHerald.com


all the black bands bout to stop that hazing ish. this is a game changer

 

[gldnone913]

folks used to go to FAMU games just to see their band -- huge

 

[Silver Surfer]

sad day for the 100....funny thing is all this stuff was going on when i was in the band...its just now becoming public knowledge...especially the part about people in the band that are not enrolled in school

 

[MsChungLee]

^^yep.. wonder what's gonna happen to all the people that were there on a band scholarship, The whole situation is

 

[Majestic Pape]

Never been a fan of hazing.

 

[Silver Surfer]

^^yep.. wonder what's gonna happen to all the people that were there on a band scholarship, The whole situation is

They still gonna have the music program....just the 100 is suspended and any activities associated with that

 

[CrimsonTider]

Never been a fan of hazing.

I'm all for shaving your head, making people clean up, carrying bags, etc


But, the shyt FAMU was doing. Somebody has to have the balls to say this is nonsense

 

[The_Sheff]

Yeah we got hazed in the band back in the day but it wasnt on some gang stomp out sh*t. Worst we got was the paddles.

Attendance for games about to drop. Nobody goes to those games to see the actual football game.

 

[Dog Based Gremlin]

They should have never given you nikkas trumpets

 

[pete clemenza]

I'm all for shaving your head, making people clean up, carrying bags, etc


But, the shyt FAMU was doing. Somebody has to have the balls to say this is nonsense

c/s

Cats take shyt too far.. and on top of it all its not like HBCU's are basking in academic excellence these days either. I know the bands are popular but put them in their proper place

 

[The_Sheff]

They should have never given you nikkas trumpets

Hold up bruh, dont ever disrespect the trumpet. If you gonna diss take that shyt to the woodwinds.

 

[Silver Surfer]

RIP my freshman year...the last time we were good

[YOUTUBE]Pm7L5iv1fyQ[/YOUTUBE]

 

[Silver Surfer]

Hold up bruh, dont ever disrespect the trumpet. If you gonna diss take that shyt to the woodwinds.

co-sign...no such thing as a marching band without trumpets

 

[MegaTronBomb!]

Maybe this will cause HBCU's to field quality football teams ?

never in my life would i go to a fukking football game to watch the band, that's some Bring It On type shyt.

 

[Koapa]

Am glad this shyt has hit the fan, now all band hazing will cease. Some folks just take s*** too far and it results in someone dead or seriously hurt. Real talk, HBCU's bands have a hardcore ganglike attitude about them. It's some schools band that let unregistered people play just to win competitions.