TALLAHASSEE Fla. – Florida A&M University's Board of Trustees is scheduled to meet Monday to consider Gov. Rick Scott's request that President James Ammons be suspended while authorities continue to investigate the hazing death of drum major Robert Champion.
The meeting comes three days after the state medical examiner ruled Champion's death a homicide. Officials say he was beaten so severely that he bled internally and went into shock. He died within an hour.
In the wake of Champion's death, Ammons and other university leaders have been criticized for not doing enough to stop a culture of hazing within the university's famed "Marching 100" band. Band director Julian White has been placed on temporary leave, and the board voted recently to reprimand Ammons publicly.
But students have largely stood by both leaders. Students protested outside the governor's mansion on Thursday to show support for Ammons, and the leader of the national alumni association was expected to speak Sunday protesting Scott's involvement and recommending Ammons not be suspended.
“This is under investigation,” Tommy Mitchell said. “How do you make a determination before all the evidence is in?”
Champion, 26, died Nov. 19 after falling unconscious on a bus outside an Orlando hotel after the school's football team lost to rival Bethune-Cookman. Witnesses told emergency dispatchers that he had been vomiting.
The medical examiner's office in Orlando found that Champion had bruises to his chest, arms, shoulder and back and internal bleeding. State and local authorities are continuing to investigate the death. No charges have been filed.
Champion's death shed light on years of hazing that has plagued the band and left several students injured. In 1998, Ivery Luckey, a clarinet player from Ocala, Fla., was hospitalized with kidney damage after being paddled as part of an initiation to become a member of a group known as “The Clones.” Three years later, band member Marcus Parker was also hospitalized with kidney damage after being paddled.
