Florida Board of Governors Chairwoman Ava Parker’s November 29 letter to FAMU reads almost like a notice confirming former Director of Bands Julian E. White as a client for private investigation services.White and FAMU President James H. Ammons are in dispute over who is to blame for the problem of hazing within the Marching 100. Ammons says White failed to exercise competence reporting alleged hazing within the band. White says he did everything he could to stop hazing and did not receive enough assistance from his superiors.
Parker’s letter announced that the BOG is going to investigate White’s allegations that “he received little support despite repeatedly advising current and former university administrators of hazing activities within the Marching 100 band.” It did not specifically mention any intent to examine Ammons’ claim about a lack of competence on White’s part.
The letter did ask Ammons to “please apprise the Board and Chancellor [Frank] Brogan of all findings and conclusions” it develops as a result of the university’s review of the hazing problem. But this is not the same as stating that the BOG will personally investigate whether White did anything wrong.
In case the BOG hasn’t noticed, there are two sides to this story. Unless the BOG probe gives equal attention to both sides, it will have no chance of uncovering all the facts.
One-sided investigations are the specialty of private detective agencies. Private detectives only look for what their clients ask them to find. They do not investigate to see whether the client is actually at fault for anything.
Another disturbing development is that the Florida Governor’s Office, which appoints most of the BOG members, has not criticized the one-sided focus of the investigation. The governor’s office wants its inspector general and the BOG inspector general to work together to review FAMU’s hazing problem. It has also taken a hostile position against FAMU’s citizen task force on hazing, saying that the “Inspector Generals are much better suited to review this matter than the group assembled” by the university.
FAMU has now postponed the first meeting of its citizen task force. Ammons says the university will direct its attention toward assisting the other investigations being led by the BOG and other governmental agencies.
The BOG has responsibility to conduct an objective investigation no matter how much political pressure there may be to only target Ammons. It is impossible for an investigation to be one-sided and fair at the same time.