This one time, at band camp...

Band hazing? How pathetic is this?

Tallahassee Democrat: Strike up the band

Band geeks unite. It's time to pay your dues.

It's nice to see the paper is taking this seriously.

Freshmen who are interested in joining Florida A&M University's Marching 100 are trickling in.

Seniors of the prestigious college marching band say that although the reward is great, it's not without its challenges and discipline.

However, Julian White, chairman of the Department of Music and director of bands at FAMU, told members recently that his staff and administration will be heavy-handed if there is any evidence of hazing.

"If this band hazes, it will disband," White said. "It doesn't matter that the band is an institution."

"She will say that she made a tough decision that someone had to make," White said about interim FAMU President Castell Bryant's probable response to a hazing incident among members.

FAMU's administration decided to boot the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity from the campus until 2013 for an alleged hazing incident involving a pledge.

White is a member of Kappa Alpha Psi, and so is Shelby Chipman, assistant to the director of bands.

White asked the group of young people: What will be your legacy?

The Marching 100 has been in trouble before for hazing.

FAMU trustees agreed to pay Ivery Luckey, a former band member from Ocala, $50,000 for injuries he reportedly received during a hazing incident. Luckey said a 1998 paddling, during which he was reportedly hit at least 300 times, sent him to the hospital and left him permanently injured.

Marcus Parker won a $1.8 million verdict in his civil battery case. Parker, a trumpet player, checked into a local hospital with kidney failure after being struck repeatedly with a paddling board, reportedly as part of a band initiation. (Thanks to Steve Czaban, from whom I stole this whole thing.)