Florida A&M University played its first home game without the famed Marching 100, which was suspended for the year after the hazing death of drum major Robert Champion.
This season, the words more commonly used to describe FAMU’s famed marching band, which has performed at high-profile events like the Super Bowl, are “disgraced” and “suspended.” Saturday marked the first football game in decades without a halftime show of elaborate dances, booming percussion and thundering brass.
The band will be absent for the entire academic year as part of the fallout from the hazing death of drum major Robert Champion. Champion died following a hazing ritual that took place following FAMU’s last football game of 2011.
Twelve former band members have been charged with felony hazing in connection with Champion’s beating. All have pleaded not guilty.
The scandal has nearly paralyzed the school. The band has been suspended, and the longtime band director and university president have resigned. The school is being sued by Champion’s parents, who say university officials ignored a culture of hazing.
University officials have responded by putting in a long line of new policies, including new requirements for band membership and new requirements for all students at the school.
More immediately, the university is trying to figure out how to entertain a fan base accustomed to dancing in the stands as the band played. They have turned to rappers, high school bands and DJs in an attempt to keep up attendance.
