Student leaders at Florida A & M University (FAMU), hoping to help repair damage to the school’s reputation stemming from the death last month of a school band drum major after a hazing incident, are planning to ask peers across the campus to sign an anti-hazing “agreement.”
“In order for us to move on, we must address the problems of hazing by collectively committing to the eradication of hazing on this campus,” says FAMU Student Government Association President Breyon Love, a senior at the university majoring in business administration. FAMU has an enrollment of some 13,000 students.
Love’s comments Friday were issued as the Student Government Association announced a campus-wide “anti-hazing” forum on Monday, declaring mandatory attendance by representatives of all official campus groups. Clubs and organizations failing to have representation at the forum “will be sanctioned by the SGA,” says Love.
Love, who described the passing of drum major Robert Champion as “a tragic shock to the FAMU community,” did not respond to requests for a clarification of the penalties a group could face. Generally, sanctions at colleges run the gamut of possibilities from withdrawal of financial support to being banned from campus.
The call for the mandatory anti-hazing forum was one of several dizzying developments to emerge in recent days as the school continues reeling from the aftermath of the student’s death. The incident spurred the school to suspend the world famous “Marching 100” band indefinitely and dismiss its veteran band director, Dr. Julian White.
FAMU president Dr. James Ammons advised his board of trustees late Friday that four FAMU students have been “dismissed” from the school in connection with the hazing incident.
Further, Ammons suspended the work of his quickly organized, high-profile task force on hazing pending the outcome of several law enforcement investigations into the incident. The task force includes the state’s former attorney general and a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist, among others.
