“The parents and Chestnut think his beatings were meant as
retaliation,” the Sentinel reported. “Champion, they said, followed the
university's rules that prohibit hazing. He also exemplified how a student
could be successful in the band — he was slated to be the head drum major next
school year — without submitting to the abuse and humiliation some students
endure to become part of such a prestigious group.”
The findings of the criminal investigation conducted by the
Orange County Sheriff’s Office (OCSO) directly challenged the claim that
Champion “followed the university’s rules that prohibit hazing.” It concluded
that Champion “willingly participated” in the hazing ritual that took his life.
A comment that Chestnut made yesterday suggests that he
might be changing his public relations strategy now that it’s clear that the many
people aren’t buying the argument that Champion was really opposed to hazing.
“There was no choice of whether to be hazed or not,” Chestnut
said in a quote published by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “There was a
choice of whether to succeed or not. And there was a sacrifice you had to make.
And if you failed in that sacrifice, well now you’re on your own.”
The suggestion that a student could not be successful in the
Marching 100 without being hazed is shaky, too, because former Director of
Bands Julian E. White was the one who made the decision about which person
received the band’s top student leadership position.
“He was a very fine drum major who was of excellent
character and very trustworthy,” White told reporters shortly after Champion’s
death. “I had not told him yet, but he was slated to be the head drum major
next year.”
There is absolutely no evidence that White required
candidates for the head drum major position to undergo any type of hazing
process. The only person a potential head drum major needed to impress was the
band director.
Keon Hollis, a fellow drum major who also went through the “Crossing
Bus C” ritual on Nov. 19, said he and Champion agreed to be hazed because they
wanted more respect from other student band members.
“I felt like that played a major part [in] his decision,”
Hollis told ESPN. “because, like me, he probably thought, ‘OK, if I do the bus,
I'm going to get more respect from my band members. The people that disrespect
me, they’re going to respect me because I did Bus C.’”
Peer pressure does not take any person’s choice away. It’s
just like the old saying: Just because all of your friends decide to jump in
the lake doesn’t mean that you have to jump in, too.