Coalition of black fraternities and sororities launch anti-hazing campaign
The Florida A&M University marching band performs at Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla., prior to Super Bowl XLIV on Feb. 7, 2010.
A coalition of black fraternities and sororities have launched a national campaign to end hazing rituals like the one Florida A&M drum major Robert Champion Jr. went through before he died from internal bleeding last November, the Associated Press reported.
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The group said it has spent $25,000 on its first initiatives, which include anti-hazing ads, a town hall on hazing in Charlotte, NC, on Aug. 11 and a National Anti-Hazing Day on Sept. 6, the AP reported.
"We no longer can treat [hazing] as a series of isolated and unrelated sets of unfortunate incidences," Jimmy Hammock, president of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Inc., which heads up the coalition, told the AP.
The announcement came the same day that Florida officials announced that a 14th Florida A&M University student is facing charges related to the hazing incident on Nov. 19, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
Dante Martin, a 25-year-old percussionist from Tampa, is charged with a misdemeanor and faces up to a year in prison if convicted. He is not charged directly with Champion’s death, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
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All band activities have been suspended at FAMU through the 2012-13 academic year, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.