"The mood on FAMU's campus is tense. The usual upbeat attitudes and smiles of the members of FAMU's Marching 100 around the Foster-Tanner building were replaced with closed mouths Monday," Democrat reporter Jordan Culver wrote.
"With their arms folded and their lips pursed, students surrounding a typical campus hangout for the band kept to themselves. A Democrat reporter who tried to approach six different band members was told they were instructed not to speak to the media," he wrote.
The punishment for on-the-record interviews, they said, was dismissal from the band.
University Spokesperson Sharon Saunders acknowledged the rumors surrounding the students death, and said they come from those who do not have the full scope of what happened.
"Anytime you don't know for sure what has occurred, there is speculation into what has happened," she said. "We are waiting for the Orange County Sheriff's Office to complete their investigation."
Multiple calls, by the Democrat, to FAMU band director Julian White were not returned. An assistant said the university's media relations department is handling all questions.