As Florida Classic approaches we must not forget Robert Champion

Ten years ago this week, on November 19, 2011, Robert Champion Jr., a drum major in the FAMU Marching 100 was brutally beaten to death during a hazing ritual hours after the Florida Classic game ended. Champion was 26 years old.

Champion died during a hazing ritual known by band members as “Crossing Bus C”.   According to over 2,000 pages of evidence released by the Orlando District Attorney’s Office, Champion endured a lethal pummeling down the aisle of a pitch black bus that rocked from the force of the violence inside, the culmination of a tradition of violent hazing by members of the nationally known marching band.

According to the documents, Champion struggled, with a female band member holding him back to prolong the punishment, through a gauntlet of band mates who used their fists, feet, straps and sticks to pound him into unconsciousness.

Band members, at the time, considered the repeated "hot seat" beatings and the final "crossing over" gauntlet that killed Champion as a rite of passage.

"It's a respect thing, you know," Jonathan Boyce, also 26 years old, who was the head drum major in the band, told investigators.

Band members said that then band director (Dr. Julian White ) and the bus driver were not on the bus for the "crossing over," but that they were sometimes up front watching movies during the "hot seat" beatings.

Boyce, along with ten bands members, were charged with felony hazing.  While Boyce told detectives that Champion "was wanting to do it [cross over] all season," but Boyce had been reluctant to let him. Champion could not participate without Boyce's permission, as dictated by the band's internal code of hierarchy, according to the documents.

Boyce eventually pleaded to no contest to the charges and was sentenced to five years of probation.

An Orange County (FL) jury also found former band member Dante Martin guilty of manslaughter in the hazing death of Champion.  Six band members, including LaSherry Codner, accepted plea deals and were sentenced to probation.   

Band director fired
Following Champions death, FAMU moved swiftly and fired former band director Julian White five days after the incident, and expelled nine former band members from the university for their participation in the events.  Among, the university’s finding were that over 100 non-FAMU students made the trip with the band, and White collected per diem each.

The university also suspended the Marching 100 indefinitely, along with all music ensembles, while it worked to put in place the proper policies and conditions under which the band could return, along with hiring an "anti-hazing czar", implementing new strict university-wide anti-hazing rules and launching an anti-hazing website and course which all students are now required to take.  FAMU is now a national model for anti-hazing and prevention efforts. 

The music ensemble suspensions lasted for about a year, however, the Marching 100 did not return for another 8 months, after former Ohio University Band Director Sylvester Young, a FAMU grad, was brought on to user in a “new era”.

When the band did return in 2013, Larry Robinson, then interim university president, told the band “this band will truly exemplify the principles of Character, Academics, Leadership, Musicianship, Marching and Service. The band will be a model for others to emulate on and off the field," said Robinson. “We’ve learned a lot in the past 20 months. We’ve made significant adjustments to educate and inform our students about the great traditions and values of Florida A&M University and the Marching ‘100’ which include respecting and supporting each other in the light of day and when the crowds have gone. We’re looking forward to a great season and future for the band.”
 
Aftermath of death extended far beyond the band
In response to the incident, FAMU was placed on probation by its accrediting body the Southern Association of Schools and Colleges, primarily for using university funds to support non-university students.  

In addition, the university spent close to a half million dollars in attorney fees defending itself against a multi-million dollar lawsuit filed by Champions parents, which was eventually settled out of court for $1.1 millon,  and several hundred thousand dollars trying to repair the its reputation following the negative national news headlines which followed.

On campus, in 2012, band loyalist launched a “Free the 100” campaign in an effort to force FAMU administrators to reinstate the band.
 
This week, while FAMU band loyalist might want to move on, for Robert and Pam Champion, forgetting what happened to their son that tragic night in November isn’t an option.