Four FAMU Students Dismissed Following Hazing Arrests - East Idaho News
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Four FAMU Students Dismissed Following Hazing Arrests

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GETTY N 112211 FAMUMarchingBand?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1327381018635Scott Cunningham/Getty Images(TALLAHASSEE, Fla.) — Four students have been expelled from Florida A&M University Monday after being arrested and charged with hazing offenses.

The expulsions come two months after drum major Robert Champion died on a school bus following a football game. Police have said they believe hazing contributed to his death.

The four band members expelled in the latest hazing incident were identified as Denise Bailey, 22, Brandon Benson, 23, Hakeem Birch, 21, and Anthony Mingo, 22. They were arrested on Thursday for allegedly attacking five clarinet players as part of a hazing ritual for a group of the school’s famed marching band, the “Marching 100.”

An arrest report said that “the hazing created a substantial risk of physical injury or death.”

Five FAMU students and band members were identified in the arrest report as the victims of the hazing: Elijah Brown, Riva Nance, La’Nesia Smith, Sychiquita Stokes and Shantivia Conley.

The students were pledging to become members of the “Clones,” a group within the clarinet section of the band. Three or four initiation meetings had been scheduled for the Clones, beginning around Sept. 1, 2011.

“During the scheduled initiation meetings, the pledges were forced to exercise, play music, and were either punched, prepped (slapped with both hands on back) or paddled,” according to the arrest warrant.

After the meeting, the students discussed their experiences and showed each other their injuries. Conley took photos of her bruising and quit the pledge process after the first meeting.

The meetings were coordinated by Bailey or Benson, according to the warrant, and took place at the off-campus home of Birch and Benson.

The FAMU Police Department did not respond to requests for comment.

Last week’s arrests were the latest in a hazing scandal that has marred the school and its famous marching band.

Since Champion’s death in November, the school has stepped up its efforts to stamp out hazing, which has long been a surreptitious tradition within its band.

Champion, 26, was a member of the college’s Marching 100 band when he collapsed and died Nov. 19 on a bus parked outside an Orlando, Fla., hotel after a football game. His death was ruled a homicide, but no charges have been brought.

Four students dismissed by the university in Champion’s case were reinstated while authorities continue to investigate.

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