Next, when rites of passage rituals cross the line into potentially dangerous hazing. Ray Suarez has the story. Students, faculty and trustees at Florida A & M University, commonly known as FAMU, gathered yesterday for a town hall on hazing. It was their latest effort to deal with an issue that made headlines last November.That's when drum major Robert Champion died after he was severely beaten in a hazing ritual by members of the school's popular marching band.Eleven FAMU band members now face felony hazing charges.And, on Sunday, the school played its first football game in decades without the marching band. The band is suspended for a year. Yesterday, the student body vice president said he hoped the town hall would mark a turning point. We have had these before, but none like this. Today was different.Today was a conversation. Today was inclusion. Today, you saw students that were a part of it and that were excited about it,that were standing up saying, I commit to end hazing. That may be easier said than done. As the 1988 movie" School Daze" depicted, at many schools, hazing has been a rite of initiation in fraternities, sororities and other organizations for generations. But the FAMU incident and others have brought out the dark side of hazing. At Cornell University, sophomore George Desdunes died of alcohol poisoning during a fraternity initiation last year.
