Orlando Sentinel editorial board hits new low

Pictured (l-r): Orlando Sentinel editorial board members Darryl E. Owens and Mike Lafferty

The Orlando Sentinel editorial board has responded to FAMU's alleged insensitivity against victims of voluntary hazing by being insensitive to rape victims.  

FAMU's motion to dismiss the wrongful death lawsuit filed by the parents of deceased drum major Robert Champion points out that a criminal investigation concluded that their son "willingly participated" in the illegal hazing ritual that took his life on Nov. 19, 2011. FAMU argues that Florida taxpayers should not be held legally liable for a 26-year old adult's decision to break rules that were in place to protect him.

"Rather than working contritely with the family on a resolution, FAMU borrowed a page from the rape defense playbook and blamed the victim," the Orlando Sentinel editorial board wrote.

Individuals who are injured in voluntary hazing rituals are absolutely nothing like rape victims.

Rape is an involuntary, violent sexual attack. That's why it's ridiculous to ever claim that a rape victim is responsible for what happened.

No person ever asks to be raped. But there are students who do ask to be hazed. That is the difference that the Orlando Sentinel’s editorial board can’t seem to understand.

Hazers AND voluntary hazing pledges are BOTH making a mutual decision to do something that is wrong.

If Champion had survived the "Crossing Bus C" ritual and had been reported to FAMU's administration, he would have been subject to suspension or expulsion from the university. That wouldn’t have been "blaming the victim." It would have been holding a student who broke the rules accountable for his actions.

The civil jury that heard the case of Chad Meredith, the 18-year old University of Miami student who died from drowning during a hazing ritual led by the campus' Kappa Sigma Fraternity, found that Meredith was ten percent responsible for what happened.

Maybe the Orlando Sentinel thinks potential civil jurors in the FAMU hazing trial should decline their duty to objectively determine whether Champion bore any personal responsibility for the illegal hazing activity that took place after the Florida Classic.

But what does anyone really expect from an editorial board that called for the head of former FAMU President James H. Ammons over the Champion death but still hasn't criticized University of Central Florida (UCF) trustees for keeping President John C. Hitt after a civil jury found his institution $10M negligent in the death of football player Ereck Plancher?

There's no evidence that Plancher broke any UCF rules. He trusted UCF to protect his health during official conditioning drills that were coordinated by the athletic program and ended up losing his life.

By now, it should be obvious to see what the Orlando Sentinel editorial board is doing. FAMU and UCF are two institutions that have been in constant competition for shrinking state dollars and new programs (such as dental schools). The Orlando Sentinel editorial board wants UCF to have a strong president. It won't let the Hitt administration's negligence in Plancher's death get in the way of the editorial board's support.

But the Champion death offers a convenient excuse for the Orlando Sentinel editorial board to attack the former administration of Ammons and current administration of interim President Larry Robinson, two men committed to helping FAMU compete against UCF and other public universities in the state.