Robinson right to resist pressure from arrogant “Free the 100” campaign

big rattler
12
The clueless arrogance of the FAMU students who are buying and selling “Free the 100” shirts is more proof that there are still some individuals on campus who just don’t get it. FAMU Interim President Larry Robinson is right to refuse to be pressured by those who don’t seem to understand that the decision to suspend the band was 100 percent appropriate.

“Free the 100” couldn’t be more a ridiculous slogan. It suggests that the band is a victim that is being treated unfairly. But the real victim is FAMU. FAMU has been victimized by hazers and willing hazing pledges who choose to support beating rituals that they know are illegal and dangerous.

The suspension of the 100 still hasn’t convinced some students to start cooperating with criminal investigations of hazing. FAMU’s work to try and help the Tallahassee Police Department bring criminal charges against alleged hazers in the Torque dance group and the Kappa Kappa Psi band fraternity went nowhere because none of the students interrogated by detectives provided any information that was sufficient to secure arrest warrants.

This simply proves that FAMU can’t afford to treat the students in campus organizations with long-running hazing problems like responsible adults. The Marching 100 used to trust its drum majors to help report hazing to university officials. But four of the ex-drum majors from 2011 face hazing charges. An investigation by the Orange County Sheriff’s Office concluded that two other drum majors from that year, Keon Hollis and Robert Champion, “willingly participated” in hazing.

FAMU has no choice but to start treating the drum majors and every other student in the Marching 100 like little kids. The 100 must return with an army of chaperones who sit in every section of the buses for each out-of-town game and constantly watch the band members everywhere they go like high schoolers on a field trip.

Robinson should also consider rebuilding the band with entirely new members. FAMU can still honor to scholarships of all its current music students without ever letting them back on the field.  

The interim president would also be completely justified if he chose to keep the Marching 100 on the sidelines for the entire 2013 football season. If he thinks that the new band director, music compliance officer, and special assistant to the president on hazing will need more than eight months to implement the controls that are necessary to rebuild the 100 into a safe student organization, then he should give them that time.

And if the students with the “Free the 100” shirts don’t like that, then they’re free to go somewhere else for their college education.

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12Comments

  1. Lol what do you mean tell the students to leave?! Lol what sense does that make? What will happen to FAMU without its students? It's a school!!! You have to expect American college students to express themselves in radical ways. Even if you don't agree, and whether they are wrong or right in their thinking, they do reserve the right to say whatever they believe to be true. If YOU don't like the fact that Americans are allowed to express themselves per the bill of rights, then perhaps YOU should leave the country. But never suggest that, just because a group of students have different beliefs than you, that they relinquish the right to be a part of our university.

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    1. Telling the student to leave is just as ignorant as the Free the 100 slogan....

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  2. That's an extrememly real perspective...Break up the cult mentality in the 100...its obvious because famu has set the precedent of extremem hazing and as for the marching 100 it seems like people care more about the preservation of a legacy; the same school of thought can be referenced in the taking of the life of one of the best people in the band....school daze already covered this...WAKE UP

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    1. "famu has set the precedent of extreme hazing" is a irresponsible and reckless statment simply because it is not true! Yes,they recieve a lot of press but please do more research. Not to point fingers or even validate hazing but death due to hazing has occured right across the railroad tracks ijs.I believe punishing innocent band members is not balanced, logical or FAIR! With that mentality I would be in jail because my uncle robbed a corner store (example).Punish fairly, fix the challenges and move forward.

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  3. oh I didn't know that every single student that was in the Marching 100 was on that bus the night of this tragedy (with sarcasm). I agree there must be reforms but at some point we must move beyond this and the band must come back. The media has painted the Marching 100 as a cult that is all about hazing people. Where as there was hazing in the band it is not and was not as prevalent as the reports. Most band members are good upstanding students who follow the rules and who are dedicated to a very special organization. I think the students with the "Free the 100" shirts are just saying that they just want to get back on the field to try to rebuild our band that has a very large scar. The students and alum are extremely remorseful and humbled because of this tragedy. The students just want a chance to start the healing process. Please understand that FAMU would not be the leading institution it is today without the success of the Marching 100. Before there were College of the Years, SBI's, Pharmacy Dept's, and other national accolades there was the Marching 100. If you really want to punish everybody then just close down the whole damn school then.

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    1. Exactly!! I agree 100%.

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  4. I could see restricting the 100 from traveling during 2013 and allowing them to perform on campus only, but to keep the band suspended another year is absurd. Especially given the school didn't accomplish anything during the first year's suspension! Where is the new director or compliance people that supposed to be hired? THEY SHOULD BE ON STAFF NOW! We still have a school to run folk! New students arrive each year, and its them I feel sorry for because they are missing out on the joys of being a Rattler due to incompetence all around! If this were a white school, this whole situation would've been handled differently!

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  5. This entire article is nothing more than the mad ramblings of individual clearly with a grudge and hell bent on bringing down the Marching 100 and FAMU with it.

    We must move forward and get the university morale back up to where it belongs.

    I think FAMU has done an excellent job in making sure students "get it", and should proceed with all speed to get us back on course.

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  6. The problem is these ghetto students do not get it...we still have hazing on campus. I support another year of suspension.

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    1. Can everyone just do themselves a solid and shut the hell up.

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  7. Ugh, some you all comments are ignorant. First, the band is an entity of FAMU. I was a student back in the 70's; though the band was an important faucet of college life, it most certianly did not build FAMU where its at today. This is not fine arts & music university. Anyone with this crazy thought obviously never was a student a FAMU. More so, SBI, pharm, college of education, our engineering school, our best in the nation nursing program. These are what is building FAMU to distinction, and what is continuing to build upon this institution. Look, im totally for the reinstatement of the band in 2013, but if things are not in place than maybe the band may need to step back for another year. If you asked me the band has had a fair deal of treatment kappa alpha psi was suspended for how many years and all they did was beat the crap out of some grown dudes...somebody was murdered in one of the bands rituals and you all might be back come 2013 so lets just be real about this situation. My only issue has been the lack of oversight within the band and these grown@$$ super non-students who were still in the band for what reason i dont know.

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