BY IRIS B. HOLTON<\/b><\/p>\n
Sentinel City Editor<\/b><\/p>\n
Members of the Florida A & M University Band will return to the field after a 19-month suspension. The suspension was part of the fallout associated with the death of Robert Champion, <\/b>a drum major who died as a result of hazing.<\/p>\n
Last Saturday, several freshmen, along with current band members attended the audition and practiced into the evening. However, those who are chosen to participate in the world-renowned band will have to adhere to new rules.<\/p>\n
One of those rules is the size of the band that once numbered 400 members. This year, only 256 members will be allowed to participate; students must maintain a 2.0 grade point average; and members will only be allowed to be band members for four years.<\/p>\n
In respect of the memory of Robert Champion,<\/b> this year, drum majors will be referred to as \u201cfield commanders.\u201d<\/p>\n
Champion, <\/b>26, died in November 2011 after the homecoming game. He became ill while on the bus in Orlando and complained of not being able to breathe. His death was ruled a homicide.<\/p>\n
It was later determined that Champion<\/b> had been a victim of hazing. He allegedly ran from one end of the bus to the other as fellow band members punched, hit, kicked, and struck him with sticks. Thirteen band members who took part in the hazing were arrested and charged. The charges ranged from misdemeanors to felony charges.<\/p>\n
In addition to the arrests, the band was suspended indefinitely, the band director was terminated and the president of the college stepped down as well.<\/p>\n
Champion\u2019s<\/b> parents also filed a lawsuit against the school.<\/p>\n
Sylvester Young<\/b> has been chosen as the new Band Director.<\/p>\n
Alumnae Share Comments<\/b><\/p>\n
<\/b>Former FAMU band members shared their opinion about the lifting of the suspension.<\/p>\n
Andre Walker<\/b> said, \u201cI\u2019m so happy the suspension has been lifted. A group of us were singing \u201cOh, Happy Day\u201d <\/i><\/b>Saturday. There are about 150 to 200 members and they were looking good. There are a lot of changes that must take place and I\u2019m happy about that.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey must be a student at FAMU, they must maintain a 2.0 GPA, they are limited to 4 football season, which is wonderful because they need to get their education and get out of there. They have also changed the names of section leaders to \u201cprincipals.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt should also be noted that B. K. Jackson,<\/b> who graduated from Blake High School volunteered a lot of his time recruiting kids for the band. He really helped out in that position.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rufus Spencer<\/b> said, \u201cSome thinks it may be a little too soon for the band to return. They are going to get scrutinized coming back this soon. But, the longer you wait, the harder it will be to get the band back together and I understand that.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t really have an opinion, but the Band Director is going to have to be really strict and have no hitches at all. If anything comes up, it will be detrimental to the band.\u201d<\/p>\n
Terry Clark<\/b> said, \u201cI\u2019m very excited to see the band is getting back on the field, especially knowing that the band will have different personnel than when Champion <\/b>died.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s good to know that they are not just letting anybody walk in off the street. They must be a student and must be attending classes. I\u2019m especially glad that the new Band Director is a graduate of FAMU and I hope he maintains the high quality of the band, its music, and the precision in which the band performs. And, remember that the Marching 100 is often imitated, but never duplicated.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BY IRIS B. HOLTON Sentinel City Editor Members of the Florida A & M University Band will return to the field after a 19-month suspension. The suspension was part of the fallout associated with the death of Robert Champion, a drum major who died as a result of hazing. Last Saturday, several freshmen, along with […]<\/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":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news","pmpro-has-access"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23434","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=23434"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23434\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}