The Penn State incident remains one of the nation’s top news stories, so it is only natural that many Americans are tempted to compare it to the Marching 100 hazing controversy.There are certainly several similarities between the two tragedies. Both happened at state universities. Penn State’s football team and the Marching 100 are sources of great pride and national acclaim for two small college towns. And both events have inflicted irreparable harm upon innocent families.
But the similarities essentially end there.
First, the Penn State incident has been the subject of an active grand jury investigation since 2009 -- over two years--- and criminal charges have been filed. No charges have been filed in the two week old Marching 100 incident. The law enforcement investigation is still in progress.
The Penn State incident involved an adult who allegedly took advantage of minor children. Right now, the public does not know the actual cause of Robert D. Champion’s death. But it looks as if the individuals who were allegedly involved in the suspected hazing crime which took place prior to Champion’s death were his peers (college students).
FAMU’s big problem does not center on the need to do more to shield underage children from alleged adult predators. The key challenge on FAMU’s campus is finding a way to break the cycle of underground hazing traditions that adult college students pass down to other adult college students year-to-year. This is an issue that FAMU has publicly acknowledged and sought to address for years.
A 2008 study, "Hazing in View: College Students at Risk," found that 55 percent of postsecondary students who join college clubs, teams and organizations endure some type of hazing. The tragedy that happened at FAMU has the potential to occur at most American colleges.
Finally, FAMU has taken swift action by suspending the Marching 100 and all music performance programs until it can determine what actually took place on November 19. None of the local or state-level criminal investigators have publicly complained about a lack of cooperation from the FAMU administration, either.
We should also remember that Penn State only dismissed legendary head football coach Joe Paterno, a vice president, and its university president after the Pennsylvania Attorney General released a grand jury report and charged former Assistant Coach Jerry Sandusky with some 40 counts. A lengthy internal review conducted at the university in light of the facts uncovered by detectives and prosecutors helped Penn State come to the conclusion that senior administrative officials could and should have done more in response to Sandusky’s alleged actions.
While media analysts and a shocked and outraged public might, as a knee jerk reaction, try to insert the FAMU name into the Penn State script, the situations are far too different to make such a correlation.
This is not to say that FAMU should escape criticism. FAMU, like Penn State, can be rightfully faulted for its chaotic reaction to the media circus it faces. FAMU’s slow response to the headline-grabbing media tour of dismissed Director of Bands Julian E. White has allowed the rampant public speculation and confusion to grow even worse.
To be sure, the death of a student who was traveling on university business and in the university's care is a reason for alarm. But as Rattlers we need to be patient as the criminal investigators and medical examiners sort out the facts. Again, it is much too early to jump to any conclusions.
We are NOT Penn State.