Florida A & M University (FAMU), trying to restore its prestige in the aftermath of the recent death of a FAMU band member after a hazing incident, issued a sweeping ban Tuesday on campus club intake for the remainder of the school year.
FAMU also cancelled its popular summer band camp, a key recruiting tool that historically draws several hundred top high school musicians to the FAMU campus from across the country.
“Our top priority is the health, safety and well being of students,” a FAMU statement quotes its president, Dr. James H. Ammons, as saying. “We are convening a panel of experts and outstanding thinkers to provide advice and recommendations on the operation of student organizations,” Ammons is quoted as saying.
“Before we enter into a new student intake process, we should have the benefit of the work coming from the committees and the investigations,” Ammons says in the statement, referring to ongoing law enforcement investigations by state and local police into events that led to the death last fall of 26-year-old Robert Champion, a school band drum major. Champion’s hazing-related death has been ruled a homicide.
The campus club ban, which was to take effect immediately and last through the summer, prohibits the more than 140 organizations registered at FAMU from “induction, enrollment, initiation, membership intake and recruitment” activities of any kind. The school also said it would “suspend” any organization violating the temporary suspension.
The decision, announced after a student forum Tuesday, covers sororities, fraternities, academic achievement and athletic clubs. The school did not say whether its student government association was included.
Breyon Love, president of the FAMU Student Government Association, was quoted as supporting Dr. Ammons’ move. He was quoted as saying the school needed to take “far-reaching” steps” … to make sure that all of our students are ready to seriously move in a direction that will result in a complete culture change … making sure we wipe out hazing on our campus.”
