A 22-month silence has ended and the students of the Marching 100 at Florida A&M University, a historically black college in Tallahassee, will take the field in performance once again this fall, several news agencies are now reporting, including CNN, Reuters, and the Tallahassee Democrat.
Actually, the suspension was lifted by the university in June in order to allow students to participate in the marching band, but officials hadn’t decided when the band would once again strut onto the gridiron in one of their memorable performances. The suspension of the marching band program, known as the Marching 100 despite a participation level of more than 400 people, came after the death of drum major Robert Champion in November 2011. At the time of his death, Mr Champion was 26. The band’s director was forced to retire, and several criminal charges were filed in connection with Mr Champion’s hazing death.
The reinstatement of the marching unit brings a few new rules:
- Students are eligible to participate in marching band for only four years
- Each participant must have earned 24 credit hours in the previous year
- The minimum GPA for participants is 2.0
Sylvester Young, a former Marching 100 member and director of the marching band at Ohio University in Athens, has been hired as the new band director. In addition to his musical duties, he will also oversee anti-hazing training, to be provided by a new special assistant, for all band members. Hazing is illegal in Florida, and assuming none of that takes place, we are delighted to welcome them back to the field.
“We think we’re in a position to demonstrate to the world that this band is ready to perform at the level of quality and excellence that’s in its rich tradition and also absent of all of those things that led us to its suspension in the first place,” said FAMU interim President Larry Robinson. “I think people are a little bit concerned, as they should be, because of the nature of what happened in 2011. … We know that when it comes to changing a culture, those things don’t necessarily happen overnight. We have to remain vigilant and make sure that all those who come in contact with the band—new members, old members, the alumni—everybody understands what we need to do in order to have them out there on this field,” USA Today quoted him as saying.
On Sept. 1, Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, a historically black college in Tallahassee, brings a marching band, one of the most famous show-style units ever to take the field, to the same stadium in Orlando where they gave their last performance nearly two years ago and this time, for a game between FAMU and Mississippi State. Trayvon Martin’s father will serve as band captain for the performance, to be led on a rocking field of 126 marchers, not by drum majors but by “field commanders.”
