{"id":11612,"date":"2011-12-01T15:10:55","date_gmt":"2011-12-01T20:10:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/?p=11612"},"modified":"2011-12-01T14:58:16","modified_gmt":"2011-12-01T19:58:16","slug":"famu-band-director-i-warned-them-about-hazing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/?p=11612","title":{"rendered":"FAMU Band Director: I WARNED Them About Hazing"},"content":{"rendered":"

TALLAHASSEE, FL \u2014 The fired director of Florida A&M\u2019s famed \u201cMarching 100\u201d band said he repeatedly warned university leaders over two decades about the dangers of hazing and that he\u2019s been made the scapegoat for a band member\u2019s death in which the practice is suspected.
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Julian White<\/strong>, 71, said he suspended 26 band members for hazing two weeks before drum major Robert Champion\u2019s<\/strong> death on Nov. 19. He reported his actions to university administrators, he said.<\/p>\n

Hazing has been \u201crampant on university campuses,\u201d and the suspensions would serve notice it wouldn\u2019t be tolerated at A&M, he said.<\/p>\n

But instead of being supported, White<\/strong> said, he was second-guessed, particularly from some parents of band members, and said the punishments were akin to suspending star football players. \u201cAnd so the band members were apprehensive. `Doc, you think we can go without 19 trombone players?\u2019\u201d said White<\/strong>, who replaced \u201cMarching 100\u201d founder William P. Foster<\/strong> as director in 1998. \u201cAnd other folks. `Doc, do you think you can do it without them?\u2019 My comment was, it doesn\u2019t matter, I am not going to sacrifice the performance for the principle.\u201d<\/p>\n

After A&M\u2019s football team lost its annual game against rival Bethune-Cookman, Champion<\/strong> collapsed on a bus parked outside an Orlando hotel. The 26-year-old junior had been vomiting and complained he couldn\u2019t breathe shortly before he became unconscious. When authorities arrived about 9:45 p.m., Champion<\/strong> was unresponsive. He died at a nearby hospital.<\/p>\n

Authorities have not released any more details, except to say hazing allegedly played a role.<\/p>\n

Less than a week later, White<\/strong>, a tenured professor, was fired by FAMU President James Ammons<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI walked into his office and he said, `Doc, I don\u2019t know any other way to put it, this is it for you,\u2019\u201d White<\/strong> recounted. \u201cHe said `you can resign or you can be terminated.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Ammons<\/strong>, meanwhile, met Monday with former Florida Attorney General Bob Butterworth<\/strong>, who was named last week to head a task force investigating what led to Champion\u2019s<\/strong> death. \u201cIf some strong actions had been taken, then Robert Champion<\/strong> may be alive now,\u201d said White<\/strong>, who was asked by the student\u2019s family to speak at Wednesday\u2019s funeral service.<\/p>\n

White<\/strong>, who was the lead drum major as a student, said he fears the tragedy could doom the showy high-energy, high-stepping band that has performed at Super Bowls, the Grammys and presidential inaugurations and in Paris on France\u2019s 200th anniversary.<\/p>\n

Since Champion\u2019s<\/strong> death, the school has shuttered the marching band and the rest of the music department\u2019s performances.<\/p>\n

Shutting it down was a meaningful decision, White<\/strong> said. The band would have been the first of the Historically Black Colleges and Universities to perform at Carnegie Hall. \u201cThat hurts,\u201d White<\/strong> said.<\/p>\n

Hazing has a long history in marching bands, particularly at historically black colleges, where a spot in the band is coveted for its tradition and prominence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TALLAHASSEE, FL \u2014 The fired director of Florida A&M\u2019s famed \u201cMarching 100\u201d band said he repeatedly warned university leaders over two decades about the dangers of hazing and that he\u2019s been made the scapegoat for a band member\u2019s death in which the practice is suspected. Julian White, 71, said he suspended 26 band members for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":210,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11612","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","pmpro-has-access"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11612","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/210"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11612"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11612\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11612"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11612"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11612"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}