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Subscribe to RSSTALLAHASSEE, Florida -- Florida A&M University, shaken by the hazing death of a marching band drum major last year, suspended a student dance group on Tuesday after receiving a tip that members were involved in an off-campus hazing incident over the weekend.
Interim President Larry Robinson ordered the suspension of the Torque Dance Team until an investigation could be completed. The move follows tightened scrutiny of alleged hazing activities following the November death of Robert Champion.
Prosecutor: At least 13 to be charged in FAMU band hazing case
"We have zero tolerance for hazing," Robinson said, adding the suspension followed an anonymous tip from a parent. "It is unconscionable that a student organization would participate in any hazing activity considering what has transpired in the past year."
The campus police chief, dean of students and director of student activities were all notified of the allegations. Robinson said they have launched an investigation, but details about what may have happened weren't released.
According to university records, the dance team had already been inactive since December 2011 because it didn't have an adviser.
Eleven of the 13 people charged in the death of drum major Robert Champion are facing third degree felony charges in what the prosecutor calls a case of 'homicide by hazing.' NBC's Kerry Sanders reports.
Champion, 26, died on a band charter bus after the university's renowned "Marching 100" band traveled from its Tallahassee campus to Orlando to participate in the annual "Battle of the Bands" and the "Florida Classic" football game between two historically black universities.
Officials with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement determined he died due to a brutal hazing incident in which he was subjected to a ritualistic beating. Thirteen band members have been charged in connection with Champion's death.
Also following Champion's death, FAMU suspended new membership intake for all clubs and organizations and implemented more strict procedures. That recruitment ban is set to be lifted this month.
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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What is wrong with these people. Hazing is so unnecessary and just plain ignorant behavior. Did those kids learn anything from last year? Sound like they are not ready to be in college.
Hazings and gang initiations are the same thing.
Hazing for anything is stupid. Hazing for band and dance teams? That sounds like a bad joke. Maybe this school shouldn't have any clubs or activities at all.
Here is some universally good advice. "Turn Away From Sin." Just four little words that could keep you out of trouble and save your life. "Turn Away From Sin."
At the first sign of Trouble, go the other way. At the first sign of Troublemakers, go the other way. Don't stay. Leave. Get gone. Escape! Kick bricks! Ditch the Troublemakers! Vanish! Disappear! Make tracks!
Comprende vous?
You can't call them kids! Robert Champion the Drum Major was 27 years old??? I always wondered what he was doing there and why he wanted to be hazed. Isn't that old for a Drum Major at any University? He should have already graduated and been out in the work field pursuing his career, something is missing in this story..
I lived in Tallahassee for several years and Florida A&M is nothing but a college for hooligans and thugs. There is a reason why FSU and A&M are never allowed to play each other and that is because the last time they did the A&M students started a brawl in the stadium after they lost. It is a pathetic college filled with ignorant students. It should be shut down permanently.
Don't these people learn anything? ... And more importantly, WHO SNITCHED?!!!
Thank you for your two cents, but you never said what college you went to? My guess was you couldn't get into either and was very upset. I didn't go to either but I know the history behind both FSU and FAMU. Look it up and you will find that FAMU has spawned greats in science, math, and Aggie.
The group has been inactive since 2011 because it didn't have an adviser, yet it was involved in a hazing incident? Doesn't add up. Without an adviser this is essentially a group of young adults. And they are blaming the University WHY?????
What happened when hazing was merely a fun and silly process? Or maybe a little humiliation... Now it's jumping the person making it a 10 against 1 brutal fight? It's a freaking marching band for effing sake! It's not the south side of Chicago trying to get into a retarded gang.
I hope these kids get exaclty what they deserve! JAIL time!!! And I also hope that their parents feel like complete failures! When I was a kid, I would NEVER have even thought of doing something like this!
I've said it before.... This world is broken.
Apparantly Florida A&M students learning curve is a straight line.
Richard, they are not animals unless you consider all folk guilty of hazing "animals".... this kind of stuff, albeit tragic when it gets out of hand, goes on in ALL colleges, ALL fraternities, ALL sororities, amongst Masons, on college sports teams, and even at the NFL level. And don't get me started with hazing in our armed forces--let us see, woman tries to integrate West Point and oooops, she is raped to teach her a lesson? Insert black/Mexican/Jew in there and you get the same type of "hazing". Are you including these folk as well in your indictment? Well, if you intended the "animal" remark to include ALL of these groups and others, then I stand corrected at my offense.
Ironically, other animals don't do hazing all that much.
I mean, when was the last time you saw wolves make a new pack member run naked across the quad with underwear on its head and holding an egg between its butt cheeks?
MarilynMD
I went back to college to complete my degree when I was in my mid-thirties. So what if he was 27? And since when is it ok to blame a dead guy for wanting to be killed by 13 people?
I lived in Florida over 15 years, A&M is a very poor school, the education level is sub-par, it is really just a diploma mill for affirmative action black people. They will not even talk to Native Americans or Latinos!!
RGOLDBERGIVES- Try this pone instead "Don't be Supid" thats all thats needed. And your other statment about running from trouble and troublemakers is bullsh!t. turning a blind eye to someone doing stupid @!$%# is just as much consent as cheering them on. I can't believe how sh!tty our society is that advise is now turn and run.
Hazing in dance? Nerds.
To be that ignorant...or just flippant...about what's already gone on in the past year, these idiots not only deserve to be suspended...but expelled.
Geez,you're my friend.Let us beat you up so you'll be one of us..I just love it.Sounds like none of them are very smart.
close up the school. it seems that the only people going to it are to stupid to be there. people in college seem to think along with the college that laws and a code of acting like human beings ddoes not include them. it is the good ol-boys club deal just like or leaders. laws don't apply to them
All student activities should be suspended. As a student (of Pitt, not A&M) I think students should have consequences of impact. You decide to haze people? Fine, no organizations. You lost the privilege for everyone. Despite what some people may think, it is never, EVER just a few bad apples- it is leadership and advisors looking the other way, while students poorly conduct themselves. If you are convicted of hazing, you get expelled, with that on your transcripts, so the whole world can know what kind of subpar human you really are. Try to get a job and get into graduate school now.
Completely agree with everything you said. I helped found a sorority for women in science and engineering at my Alma mater. We did not condone any hazing in any way shape or form. It is unacceptable. If there are this many instances of hazing at a university, then they should just eliminate all student organizations.
This is a fine example of an institutional pathological culture. Hazing has been part of this schools culture for some time and unless the administrators were completely absent or absent-minded, they HAD TO HAVE BEEN AWARE!
That said, gang culture is overtaking many areas of life. Schools and boardrooms alike.
Assault is a crime and should be punished as such with or without the cooperation of the victim. We do not need any institution producing more criminals or criminal gang-like thinking.
Expel those who knew and did not have the integrity to report it and put those who did it in prison.
Hazing has been part of the college life for centuries and everyone associated with a fraternity, sorority and any other social organization in college are aware of hazing because most of them are part of these organizations themselves. Also students are aware of the riggers of pledging any type of social organization because none of rituals or procedures are secret regardless of what people say. There's nothing wrong with being associated with an organization nor is there anything wrong with hazing. lets just face it, some folks have unknown medical conditions that many are unaware of. Hazing in college is no different than a person practicing football and being injured ...it's all a choice of the individual and no one is making people do these things.
Does anyone else see anything wrong with the argument "it's ok to beat and torture because we've been doing it for hundreds of years" ?
I agree Leslie Curtis. Hazing has been around for years, not only in college, but especially in the military. It hasn't come to the public eye for its intensity until some years back when a few individuals went too far and killed someone. As for the military, hazing is officially banned. I've never witnessed any hazing while I attended college because I was attending college and studying; had no time for such things. But for someone to allow others to beat themselves repeatedly is shear stupidity. Most officials may choose to turn a blind eye to this activity because it hasn't come to this. Now they have no choice but to act, and that decision is out of their hands. Most hazing that I've heard of usually includes some psycho-social embarrassment along with a smattering of physical discomfort, not intense physical assault. It's so sad for this dead student and his family.
I must say, I didn't see one accurate statement in your entire paragraph - not even one. As an alummni advisor for my college fraternity, I can tell you this - HAZING IS WRONG.
If you feel that hazing is a neccessary aspect of building a fraternal relationship with your brothers or sisters, then we don't want you. In our case - that's not what brotherhood is about.
We strive to build better men, and as such, we teach our members what is acceptable behavior and what is NOT. Follow the rules or you get booted out. My organization has expelled hundreds of members over the past 20 years for hazing. We encourage individual institutions to work directly with law enforcement on reported violations. Most states now have anti-hazing LAWS. Basically, what you're saying is it's OK to break the law, it's OK to assult someone as long as they don't complain about it. WTF?
Has it always been like that? No - but times change. In the early 1990s, risk management became an aspect of everyday life for student organizations and you either change or you get run over. It seems as though A&M still has some problems with leadership. It's time for the Florida Attorney General to get involved and start investigating this school.
Hazing doesn't begin in college, it starts in middle school and the behavior of college or military personnel engaged in hazing is at the same level of maturity as that of an average 12 year old. Administrators, teachers, professors or others in authority that look the other way ought to be held accountable as well as the people directly engaged in the hazing. Holding those in authority accountable might just make a significant enough impression to make them actually exercise their authority.
Blame the parents....they never taught their children consequences or responsibility! Hopefully the kids pay a big price.....parents might then learn! It's a shame that it will be too late to undo what they've done, but others might learn!
Military hazing is at least as bad as anything at the colleges. And, as with the colleges, it's fiercely defended by the units/teams/organizations that do it.
What kind of a mental deficiency allows a person to say that hazing is fine because people have done it for years?! For years people were burned at the stake for being witches - is that ok? Some cultures have been mutilating/circumcising woman for centuries - is that ok?
Yep. Just ask the troop that got crushed in the chest with a giant wooden mallet, collapsed and then had a seizure.
I hope that SFC get busted down to Corporal and loses several months of pay.
riggers? what, like some kind of canoe?
What exactly happened here? Describe the incident, report the news dammit!
Expulsion is the only answer - only then will students get it. Next have them arrested for assault. Then let them go home and explain to their parents how they wasted their money at college and now have a criminal record. They are too stupid to be in college and waste that precious resource.
Are we actually surprised this is going on at this place....the perps look like those you would find in downtown Camden at a local wedding at Howards Johnsons.
And you know what a dirty gorilla ass looks like?
Freudian slip?
I guess these kids don't get it at all hazing is illegal thats that and to me the entire school needs to shut down until they get it because the entire house needs to be cleaned up nothing less nothing more and that seems to be a fact.
OK, NCAA where are you? If what happened at Penn State deserved your attention, then this surely does as well.
Pretty sure that since the dance team and the marching band are not athletics, they do NOT fall under NCAA regulations.
Football however, does fall under NCAA regulations.
You see football is an athletic activity, that's what the third A in NCAA stands for - "athletics".
The NCAA won't touch this for at least three reasons (and not necessarily in this order):
-- it's not athletics. It's the band. They may be athletic supporters ..... but it's the band, not the athletic department;
-- FAMU is an HBCU. Not even the NCAA wants to get entangled in that. NBC's "The Grio" would be all over it;
-- the band doesn't make any money for the NCAA. As long as that is the case, the NCAA is like a honey badger, and we all know that "honey badger don't care."
Agree completely. The NCAA got involved in criminal case at PSU that had nothing to do with sports cheating. Why wouldn't they get involved here when the death of student was involved? becasue it is not athleteics per se'? Neither was the situation at PSU.
NCAA could care less...if they shut the school down,the "students" would move their anger to the local residents. ....anyone see planet of the apes...
it all started out peaceful
NCAA could care less because they don't have any control over "dance teams" and "marching bands".
These are not "athletic teams", they are "student organizations".
It's like saying the NCAA should get involved with the "debate team" or the "spanish club".
I believe harmless physical hazing is tolerabe. When I say harmless physical hazing, I mean activities such as : iron my clothes, shine my shoes, bring my meals to my dining table, go to the store and purchase me a tuna sandwich without lettuce and tomatoes, etc. While it seems childish, I can go along with it. If I were a college advisor to an organization, , the activities I just mentioned, I would condone. To demand a fellow student to do something that would harm him/or her is inexcusable! Hazing that causes injury or death, the offending students need to be charged in a criminal manner through the court system.
My heart and prayers go out to the parents who lost their child in some foolish prank.
I agree Howard. There has been a line for a decades and it wasn't until the past 10 years that it has REALLY gotten out of control like this where they are literally kicking the @!$%#tt out of each other. At the same time, all parties are voluntarily going into this. It's not like so many are portraying it to be as there is a poor victim who gets beat up. They know ahead of time what is coming and they choose to engage. Stupid? yes, but their choice.
why? what purpose does that serve?
...
Don't many tribes have right of passage to manhood ceremonies also ?
...
Geez, I don't know, the tribes have moved out of the US a long time ago. Tell us, mr. i'm a weenie, what is your tribe?
When is the NCAA going to crack down on Florida A&M like they have done to other schools? The band program should be taken down permanently and the football program should be suspended from post season play for several years, have scholarships removed and the school should be fined a substantial amount. I know, I know people will say this was not a sports cheating scandal, it was a crime. However, Penn State's situation was a crime and did not involve sports cheating and they were given a huge penalty by the NCAA and Penn State's situation did not involve the DEATH of anyone nor were the crimes committed by a current employee or current student(s). The NCAA has become a joke.
NCAA has nothing to do with a dance team (It's NOT A SPORT) PEN STATE's situation involved a COACH of a SPORTS TEAM, The band and the dance teams are not under NCAA rule. Also the dance team didn't have an advisor. Unless a football coach was involved then the football team is not involved. Read and understand what the NCAA really means.
You can't fix 'STUPID' no matter how hard you try. These people should be expelled period, no excuses.
JLG....they are there on tax dollars, they are ENTITLED to the hand out. The rest of us paid off our student loans, some just get a free ride...by the way, ... why has obama sealed all his school documents?? Why are both obamas disbarred??
As a proud alumni of FAMU I am outraged about hazing to the extreme at ANY institution. But this is the only hazing case that CNN, MSNBC, hell FoxNews that america seems to care about.
So funny how I have read hazing deaths at PWI's (predominately white insitution) and football deaths from heat exhaustion from being pushed too hard for some years now. The only time we are outraged and feel this a bad situation is at a black school...go figure.
P.S. I dont see anywhere in this article where it indicates that anyone was beat, hit, or assaulted. Hazing can bemaking them run laps or go get you lunch. Hazing is in all forms. No one is outraged at military hazing, prof sports rookie hazing, PWI marching band hazing, PWI fraternity/sorority hazing which has contributed to numerous deaths, more deaths than the Marching 100 can even think of.
Know what your talking about before lending your opinion, but this is america so im sure thinking before we react is not common.
You are right, there needs to be consistency in both the media and in the punishment that these institutions receive for allowing such behavior on campus and at school and sports related functions, thus my comment above about the NCAA. Unfortunately our media has become so corrupt that they are more interested in sensationalism than actual journalism.
@Cee-830269; how is that relvent to my statement...its not! So because a person is shot to death its different than being stabbed to death? Hmmm
Likereally what are you saying
Disgruntled.............Maybe you didn't read the part where a young man was killed last year at this school from hazing. That makes it kind of important, don't you think?
Maybe you didnt read what i typed...
" I have read hazing deaths at PWI's (predominately white insitution) and football deaths from heat exhaustion from being pushed too hard for some years now. The only time we are outraged and feel this a bad situation is at a black school...go figure."
Go do some research and get back at me...you'll see it didnt start here nor will end here.
You are wrong, Disgruntled. You said in your post that you do not see anywhere in the article where it says anybody was beat, hit, or assaulted. But the article clearly states law enforcement determined he died due to brutal hazing incident that involved a ritualistic beating. This is merely what Cee was pointing out. You cannot win this debate because the words do not lie. He WAS beaten, and the article clearly states this.
Your hostile attitude and inability to accept facts even when they are clearly stated in the article indicate that maybe there is some truth to people's statements about the poor quality of the student body at this school. You are an alumni aren't you? This is what you stated unless I am mistaken. And do you want to know the surest sign of a guilty party? It's when they try to divert attention away from the topic at hand by bringing up irrelevant facts like the whole race issue. This isn't about race. It's about the inappropriate actions of the students involved in Mr. Champion's death.
Likereally? Is this what passes for rhetoric from our college students? I can't believe Disgruntled claims to be a Florida A&M grad and then posts such nonsense words as likereally. And he did not even put a space in between the words. I'm sure glad he's not trying to defend my alma mater.
People have no problems reading what you've typed, Disgruntled. Most people who read the comments on these boards are used to deciphering the inarticulate ramblings of the posters. Your post is no different. The issue here is not about white institutions vs black institutions. The issue is about hazing at Florida A&M. It makes you look weak to try and switch the topic rather than admit your comments were in error. Cee was right, and you were wrong. The article cleary states law enforcement determined he died due to hazing that involved a ritualistic beating. You said it did not, but it did. You are wrong, and you are rude and insulting which is even worse.
I'll bid you adieu now. Try to stand on the merit of your own arguement in the future instead of reverting to childish denial and insult.
@Nixon99 you Idiot, Im talking about the current article, not the death of Robert Champion.
This article, the one your commenting on, it in relation to a possible hazing situation for a dance organization on campus. Not talking about the past issue, which all you care about. As I re-state
"Know what your talking about before lending your opinion, but this is america so im sure thinking before we react is not common." Its called knee jerk, something "typical" americans are known for.
My point is its not about just my insitution its about the other 5-10 students that die each year from hazing at all universities. Yet this is the school and person we seem to only care about and in typical fashion its in the black community, where its common to exploit the action of out community but not the same in others.
Just wait a few years. You'll see these girls standing on street corners selling their coochie for $$$. Bunch of bimbo whores.
How do you spell S-T-U-P-I-D... correct !
Now for the alternative spelling T-O-U-R-Q-U-E D-A-N-C-E T-E-A-M
I mean come on after a hazing death? The school is on the alert...oh let me guess they wore camo so no one would see them!
Let me see they have bullied several people and have actually KILLED one person thank goodness they didnt have sex with a kid then the NCAA would have to step in and shut this program down. I mean really where do we draw the line Penn State was horrific and now this costing a young person his life. This program needs to be shut down and not allowed on campus for at least 5 years which is a manslaughter sentence.
They didnt shut down Penn State at all, I saw them playing Saturday so they looked like thyre up and running to me.
And this is bamd, not athletics FYI. NCAA will not be involved with this
Isn't hazing a ritual performed by a CLUB? That is, a club......that you join of your own volition? And, aren't these hazing activities a part of being in that club? It seems these days EVERYBODY wants to join "the club" but when the club doesn't suit one's particular tastes there is screaming and outrage that the club MUST change. WHY? The club existed BEFORE you showed up....if you don't like it, don't join! Go start your own club that fits your ideals.
gang land culture how about lynchings and racism why are these things not mentioned? because it is a "primarily black institution" perfect example that blacks can act as racist and foolish as anyone else. Time to face the facts and quit hiding behind history to justify one's agenda
My goodness, perish the thought: racism, gangs, lynchings? The lame stream media can't mention the truth, just embellish some cock-a-mammey story that doesn't even get close to telling the truth. Good old US News, NBC, and MSNBC, up to the same old jive. Lame Stream Media, if you're going to try to convey a story, regardless of race, creed, or color, just give us the facts, man! We can all take the truth, we just can't take the lies. Our hearts and prayers are, of course, with the victims....and there is more than just one in this tragedy.
gangs culture really how about the terms lynching or racism why are these not mentioned here and why is it acceptable for the kind of behavior to take place? Is it because it is a "primarily black institution" how about admitting to what is painfully obvious that it is acceptable in the media's mind not to publish black on black crimes or even black on white crimes for that matter because it doesn't fit into the platform they wish to present. This is a real tragic story with little detail or description sad sad sad. What has happened to the valuation of human life?