Julian White, longtime band director of Florida A&M University’s marching band and who in some ways was at the center the storm following the hazing death of drum major Robert Champion, retired suddenly on Thursday.
The famed Marching 100 has been the subject of intense scrutiny following Champion’s hazing death in Orlando last November. Since then several investigations have been launched and White was suspended for a time but reinstated in early December.
Last week, thirteen were charged in connection with Champion’s death, 11 with felony hazing.
White’s abrupt retirement also comes in the wake of FAMU President James Ammons disclosing Thursday that, 101 of the band’s members were not enrolled in FAMU last fall, but marched anyway, according to the Miami Herald.
Today, Frank Brogan, chancellor of the state university system wrote Ammons urging him not to reinstate the band given the “the ever-increasing body of issues that harm the institution, its students and, therefore, our state university system as a whole.”
So, for now the Marching 100 remains silenced, its future uncertain.
Read More Here.
