Gasps? No hazing in this band room

[hoosier]

Does anyone think there won't be hazing secretly among the Rattlers?

Tue, Aug. 20, 2002
FAMU aims to thwart band hazing
Workshop outlines consequences to members
By Kim McCoy
DEMOCRAT STAFF WRITER


Gasps spread across the band room on the Florida A&M University campus Monday night when a university police officer showed students a thick, wooden paddle used in hazing.

"No one writes on their resume, 'I let somebody beat me 60 times,'" FAMU Police Lt. Louis Wichers said.

Wichers was among a panel of police officers, FAMU administrators and community leaders who spoke to about 400 Marching 100 band members about the consequences of hazing. The first-ever public forum was organized by Julian White, director of the internationally known band.

"We don't allow sectional rituals," White said before the meeting. "We have strict marching and playing standards. That's the criteria to get into any section."

He said the band's zero-tolerance policy on hazing will be enforced. Students involved in hazing are expelled from the band, he said. They also can be suspended or expelled from school, and in some cases, criminal charges are brought.

Last year, trumpet player Marcus Parker was beaten and hospitalized for kidney failure as a result of hazing. Eleven band members and former band members were arrested and several students were dismissed from the band because of the incident, White said. The university also kicked 11 students out of the band and suspended them and nine former band members from the university during the 1998-1999 school year for hazing. That year, a clarinet player, Ivery D. Luckey, was hospitalized after he told investigators he was paddled at least 300 times during an initiation ceremony.

Monday's meeting was the third workshop on hazing that band members have been required to attend this year. Band members also are required to sign a statement saying they will not haze or allow themselves to be hazed. The statement also acknowledges that the students received a copy of the state statute on hazing, which prohibits hazing and requires universities to enforce and assess its penalties.

Student band leaders also created a pledge that denounces hazing. It was distributed to band members Monday.

"[Students] realize hazing is not acceptable," said Virgil Miller, band president and an author of the pledge. "They realize it's not the popular thing."

At Monday's forum, Wichers explained some of the legal consequences of hazing, such as going to jail, and AME Bishop Adam J. Richardson, presiding prelate of the 19th Episcopal District, explained the moral consequences.

"How can hazing make a band strong if it makes us as individuals weak?" Richardson, a former drum major for the Marching 100, asked the group. "(Hazing) is wrong; it's obsolete. I'm so pleased to be in this session to declare hazing is dead."

Timothy Barber, head drum major, said students will hear the anti-hazing message loud and clear this year.

"We're taking it to the forefront," said Barber, a graduate student from Miami. "We're not putting it as second or third in the program. ... We're starting the year out letting people know we're not having it."