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Days before the death of Robert Champion, FAMU's Dean of Students recommended a long-term suspension of the band. (George Skene, Orlando Sentinel)
Three days before the hazing death of FAMU drum major Robert Champion, the university's dean of students urged top administrators to impose a long-term suspension of the school's famous marching band because of concerns about hazing.
The recommendation from Florida A&M University Dean Henry Kirby is outlined in notes he took about a critical meeting that was held on Nov. 16 specifically to discuss hazing within the band.
Those notes, requested by the Orlando Sentinel nearly a month ago, support former FAMU police chief Calvin Ross' recollection of the meeting of four university administrators and two FAMU police department employees.
Ross told the Sentinel several weeks ago that neither he nor Kirby wanted the band to travel to Orlando to perform at the Florida Classic football game on Nov. 19, when Champion was beaten to death by fellow band members.
While Kirby has refused to comment about the meeting, he wrote in his notes that he repeatedly recommended that FAMU "impose the 'KAPPA' effect" — or suspend the band long-term, as the university had done with the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity years earlier.
In 2006, FAMU suspended the university's chapter of the fraternity after five members were charged with using wooden canes to beat a pledge during an initiation ritual.
The chapter's charter was revoked in 2007, according to Kappa Alpha Psi's national office.
"I explained that if we suspend the band like we did the KAPPAS that it would effectively stop all of this hazing," Kirby wrote.
Kirby's notes also offer details about events that happened before and after the critical Nov. 16 meeting.
According to the dean's notes, police chief Ross had also recommended the band be suspended. As an alternative, Ross had suggested that the senior members of the band be suspended since it appeared that the freshmen were the targets of hazing.
Kirby mentions that longtime band director Julian White, who has since retired, had wondered during the meeting whether it would help to tell band members that his job might be in jeopardy.
William Hudson Jr., FAMU's vice president for student affairs, had suggested holding a mock arrest of White in front of the band "to show them that we are serious about stopping hazing."
Kirby's notes do not indicate that a decision was made at the meeting, which was held in the office of then-provost Cynthia Hughes Harris. He does write that he assumed his recommendation would be shared with university President James Ammons "in a timely manner."
Ross has said he expected one of the higher-level administrators who attended the meeting to tell Ammons about his recommendation prior to the Classic.
On Friday, however, university spokeswoman Sharon Saunders said Ammons did not learn of their recommendations until after the Classic.
It was not until January that Ammons received a "briefing" from four of the six people who had attended the Nov. 16 meeting, Saunders said.
"He learned that several options were discussed during the Nov. 16 meeting, but the general consensus was that they would call together the entire band to underscore their written Anti-Hazing Agreements and the fact that hazing is against FAMU policies and a felony crime under Florida law," said Saunders.
It was January 4, Ross told the Sentinel almost four weeks ago, that he and Kirby met with Ammons to express disappointment that he had not acted on their earlier recommendation to take harsher action against the band.
Eleven band members have been charged with felony hazing in Champion's death. Three other band members have been charged with misdemeanor hazing for their roles in the beating of three other FAMU students during the Classic weekend.
The recommendation from Florida A&M University Dean Henry Kirby is outlined in notes he took about a critical meeting that was held on Nov. 16 specifically to discuss hazing within the band.
Those notes, requested by the Orlando Sentinel nearly a month ago, support former FAMU police chief Calvin Ross' recollection of the meeting of four university administrators and two FAMU police department employees.
Ross told the Sentinel several weeks ago that neither he nor Kirby wanted the band to travel to Orlando to perform at the Florida Classic football game on Nov. 19, when Champion was beaten to death by fellow band members.
While Kirby has refused to comment about the meeting, he wrote in his notes that he repeatedly recommended that FAMU "impose the 'KAPPA' effect" — or suspend the band long-term, as the university had done with the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity years earlier.
In 2006, FAMU suspended the university's chapter of the fraternity after five members were charged with using wooden canes to beat a pledge during an initiation ritual.
The chapter's charter was revoked in 2007, according to Kappa Alpha Psi's national office.
"I explained that if we suspend the band like we did the KAPPAS that it would effectively stop all of this hazing," Kirby wrote.
Kirby's notes also offer details about events that happened before and after the critical Nov. 16 meeting.
According to the dean's notes, police chief Ross had also recommended the band be suspended. As an alternative, Ross had suggested that the senior members of the band be suspended since it appeared that the freshmen were the targets of hazing.
Kirby mentions that longtime band director Julian White, who has since retired, had wondered during the meeting whether it would help to tell band members that his job might be in jeopardy.
William Hudson Jr., FAMU's vice president for student affairs, had suggested holding a mock arrest of White in front of the band "to show them that we are serious about stopping hazing."
Kirby's notes do not indicate that a decision was made at the meeting, which was held in the office of then-provost Cynthia Hughes Harris. He does write that he assumed his recommendation would be shared with university President James Ammons "in a timely manner."
Ross has said he expected one of the higher-level administrators who attended the meeting to tell Ammons about his recommendation prior to the Classic.
On Friday, however, university spokeswoman Sharon Saunders said Ammons did not learn of their recommendations until after the Classic.
It was not until January that Ammons received a "briefing" from four of the six people who had attended the Nov. 16 meeting, Saunders said.
"He learned that several options were discussed during the Nov. 16 meeting, but the general consensus was that they would call together the entire band to underscore their written Anti-Hazing Agreements and the fact that hazing is against FAMU policies and a felony crime under Florida law," said Saunders.
It was January 4, Ross told the Sentinel almost four weeks ago, that he and Kirby met with Ammons to express disappointment that he had not acted on their earlier recommendation to take harsher action against the band.
Eleven band members have been charged with felony hazing in Champion's death. Three other band members have been charged with misdemeanor hazing for their roles in the beating of three other FAMU students during the Classic weekend.
