BY CHRISTINA HARTMAN
Suspected hazing in the death of a Florida A&M drum major.
And now the state is calling for an investigation. WGCL has background.
“The university has expelled four students for their role in Robert Champion’s death and they have not said exactly what they did. He died earlier this month and investigators say hazing played a part in his death.”
But details are fuzzy as to how Robert Champion died. WESH has audio of the newly-released 9-1-1 call, placed by an unnamed caller.
DISPATCHER: “He just threw up?”
CALLER: “Yes.”
DISPATCHER: Okay. Well like I said I do have help on the way. I want you to keep -- was he, like, shaking or anything like that prior to this?
CALLER: “No. He wasn't shaking. I do t even know how he was. He was just sitting there. We were just talking and next thing yo know he was, he was shaking not doing anything.”
DISPATCHER: “Okay he was shaking or wasn't shaking?”
CALLER: “No. He wasn't shaking. He wasn't moving.”
Why do officials suspect hazing? For starters, another FAMU band student recently came forward to say she was hazed just days before Champion died. She told WFTV, band members are under enormous pressure to fit in.
REPORTER: “Afraid of retaliation she didn’t want to give details about what she said high-ranking band members allegedly did to her. But according to this police report Hunter’s initiation period started in September and didn’t end until she was rushed to the emergency room in November.
REPORTER: ‘Why do you guys still participate in this hazing process?’
STUDENT: ‘So we can be accepted. If you don’t do anything, then it’s like, you’re lame.’”
And though FAMU President James Ammons fired the band director and suspended band activities -- an opinion columnist for the Tallahassee Democrat puts at least some of the blame on the university.
“While Dr. Ammons fired Dr. White … the entire matter needs to be publicly addressed by the president. Beyond his official statement vowing to illuminate and eradicate this ‘culture of secrecy,’ Dr. Ammons has deferred to attorneys and declined further comment.”
Florida A&M is doing an independent review of the entire marching band program. The Associated Press reports -- when FAMU fired its band director Julian White, it cited “misconduct and/or incompetence.” But as The Washington Post Matt Brooks reports -- the band director shouldn’t be a scapegoat.
“The most troubling aspect of all of this is that the University could have seen this coming. The Associated Press reported that two decades prior to last month’s tragedy, White reportedly warned the school about the dangers of long-held hazing practices within the ensemble...”
CNN reports, Florida Governor Rick Scott is asking the state’s universities to review their hazing and harassment policies.
Transcript by Newsy.
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