By now, anyone who is or was a band member is well-aware of what has been happening with the Florida A&M Marching Band. In November of 2011, drum major Robert Champion Jr. (who was a clarinet player from DeKalb County, GA), was fatally beaten during an alleged hazing incident on a chartered bus trip to Orlando. Thirteen members of the band have been charged in the death, though none for murder. It is believed that Champion was targeted for severe hazing due to his stance against the practice. It is also rumored that Champion may have been hazed more because he was believed to be gay, a rumor that even the parents of Champion dismiss. The ramifications of this beating have reverberated across Florida, and metro Atlanta, where Champion was from. Champion’s parents have accused FAMU of a cover-up, even going so far to say that alumni of the famed Marching 100 band have coached active members on what to say to police in the hopes of saving the band’s reputation. In suburban Atlanta, DeKalb county school official have suspended marching band activities because many of the band directors in the county are alums of FAMU. Other incidents of hazing at FAMU have come to light in the wake of Champion’s death, exposing a deep culture of acceptable hazing at the institution between students and at faculty members’ houses, though the music director, Julian White, denies witnessing any hazing taking place under his watch.
As of now, the future of the band remains in doubt. Champion’s parents have demanded that the school suspend the band program until real changes have been made and faculty and students involved in hazing are forced out. DeKalb county officials have not given a timeline on when marching activities can resume. And a group of musically-inclined High School Seniors are wondering if they should attend FAMU without a guarantee that the band program will be in operation in 2012-2013 and beyond.
There are differing types of hazing that goes on. Most of it is innocent: Freshman carrying Seniors’ gear, Freshman having to learn chants, fight songs, etc. Occasionally, it gets out of hand. But I have never witnessed it go to a level of beatings during my time (and I would have been more likely to have been on the receiving end of such hazing). This is beyond my tolerance, and apparently it’s been going on for as long as anyone can remember. There is clearly a lack of institutional control at FAMU. There’s only one way to handle this, and it is an extreme action: Terminate the Band Program for at least 2 or 3 years and disassociate with any active/alumni that has been remotely involved with hazing for at least 10 years.
The termination of the Band Program is the easy part. It at least tells students and future students that the era of extreme hazing is over. Many current students will leave FAMU and transfer to other schools, but their will have a scarlet “H” over their reputation, which they will have to work to overcome. When FAMU returns, there should also be a new band director and new music faculty with a new anti-hazing policy. It will take years for Florida A&M’s Band to return to the glory it once had (at least 10 years, probably longer). But when they return, it will be under the right way.
The disassociation of alumni/students who hazed will be the harder part. Some alumni will be all too happy to cut ties with an institution that no longer tolerates things they once did. But some alumni will want to rejoin the university’s support system either to hide their past sins or try and repent for their indiscretions. And some alumni were never involved in the hazing and will feel blackballed for something they never did or condoned. But disassociation from the past will help to begin the healing process that will take time and will tell new band members that they have nothing to fear from vengeful alumni of the past.
In the end, Florida A&M has one chance to get this right. Succeed, and the Band will suffer in the short term, but eventually could regain its status in the long run. Fail, and the band will eventually be starved to death by parents unwilling to put their kids lives at risk just for a tainted legacy. It will be hard, but cleaning house is a good place to start.
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