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FAMU Band Returns to the Field After 2 Year Suspension

TALLAHASSEE Fla—Florida A&M University’s Marching 100 will return to the field Sept. 1 in Orlando, nearly two years after it was suspended because of a hazing-related death.

New band director Sylvester Young made the announcement Thursday as the band practiced.

FAMU lifted the famed band’s suspension in June, but Young was unsure at the time when it would be ready to perform again. He now says it will play at halftime when the university opens its football season against Mississippi Valley State during the MEAC-SWAC Challenge.

The band was suspended in November 2011 following the death of drum major Robert Champion.

Since Champion’s death the school has enacted anti-hazing policies and put in restrictions on band membership.

A New Track: Fostering Diversity and Equity in Athletics
American sport has always served as a platform for resistance and has been measured and critiqued by how it responds in critical moments of racial and social crises.
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A New Track: Fostering Diversity and Equity in Athletics