FAMU Frustrations

I know what I’m going to say is going to test the bounds of political correctness, but I’ve reached the tipping point on this here subject so it’s time to let rip.

My school has gotten on my absolute nerves with its handling of the Robert Champion situation. I’ve seen so many wrong turns it’s not hard to imagine how the decision-makers could be so lost (figurative sense, of course). I don’t think they’ve gotten one thing right – and only two have been understandable – in this entire sordid affair. Now, I’m just saying all this as an outsider looking in…but since my name’s at the top of this, I’m going to say what I want.

1. Robert Champion was an idiot…and his family needs to realize this on their way to shutting up.

I’m not saying he deserved to die. I have far too much respect for life (note: that says “life”, not “human life”) to believe that. However, people need to stop acting like he had zero culpability in this matter. What 26-year-old goes through all that to gain the acceptance of 18-year-olds? And he was already a drum major? For the 100? I wish some 18-year-old would have tried me like that when I was 18, much less at a point where I held that type of lofty position on campus. The fools who killed him deserve everything they get, but it’s not 100% on them.

2. The school messed themselves up by caving in to pressure and banning the 100.

This is the one that’s understandable. Silly as they ultimately are, public showings do have a place in society. You have to show everyone that you’re serious and that the matter is really important in a certain way. People have to see the show: the effort is meaningless without the show. (Note: insert side eye). Of course, after the school banned the 100 and put all these policies and procedures in place…there were still multiple reports of hazing.

So if you’re scoring at home: banning the 100 neither brought Robert Champion back to life nor stopped hazing at the school. May as well have had them play every note.

3. Every trustee needs to give up his/her seat. Yesterday.

If you’ve ever talked to me about anything FAMU-related, you know I have never been a fan of any board of trustees incarnation: especially after Dr. Humphries left. With the exception of the ones I know personally, [flip] them all. Every last one of them – and I’m not excluding the ones I know because I know them, I’m excluding them because they’re better than that. Grandstanding “think they’re better than the school” selves. Their big part in this? Doing the one thing they shouldn’t have done…and they’re too arrogant and stupid to have it any other way.

4. James Ammons should not have been fired.

Call it what you want, and I couldn’t care less how it was officially described. Ammons was fired. All the board said was that they wanted a return to the Humphries days (which is the finest of manure since Hump overshadowed them, but that’s another matter), but of course they fired the man who was provost during Hump’s tenure and was easily the best president since Hump. He was the president of the school. I can understand wanting Dr. White’s head, but it’s not the president’s job to make sure some 26-year-old doesn’t make the dumb decision to possibly get his head bashed in.

5. Julian White shouldn’t have been fired either.

This basically goes back to the whole “what did it accomplish” idea. The new band director hasn’t done anything...because there is no new band director. How are you going to have someone solve a problem when…hold on…wait for it…you don’t have anyone to solve the problem? Seems to me the idea is to sweep everything under the rug and let time pass: but they can’t be that dumb at the board….nevermind. Do they not realize the school will never move on until three things happen – and that those three things are the things they seem to have no desire of doing, under any circumstances?

6. Last but not least: everything that has happened has been bad for the bottom line, and that culminated with the release of the 2013 football schedule.

The schedule sent me over the edge. Anyone can see that the band will not be back in 2013. No Atlanta, five games in Tallahassee, two in Orlando. Did they not pay attention to the numbers in 2012? Stands to reason that the numbers will be even further depressed in 2013, as the team did worse in 2012 than in 2011. I’ll go to the classic because my parents go to the classic. The two games combined in Orlando probably won’t pull what the 2011 Classic pulled. That’s money the school is taking from its own pockets, and we all know FAMU isn’t exactly flush with cash.

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My head is starting to hurt from writing this and I’m well into the 800s, so I’ll finish by saying this. It’s bad enough that Champion died. The greater tragedy will be if the people who are currently running the school show Champion’s lack of sense and bury the university right next to him.