It is too soon for Florida A&M University’s famed marching band to resume activities, Gov. Rick Scott said the day after authorities charged 13 individuals in connection with the hazing death of Marching “100″ drum major Robert Champion.

“I think we ought to finish and make sure that there’s not going to be anything like this happen again. I don’t think we’re in that position yet,” Scott told reporters after a “National Day of Prayer” event in the Capitol this afternoon. “The band’s got a great history. But we can’t afford to lose another individual like Robert Champion. So I think they ought to continue the process they’ve been going through with their task force but I don’t think it’s ready yet.”

FAMU administrators suspended the celebrated marching band and all other ensembles in the music department in the aftermath of Champion’s November death. The 26-year-old died of a homicide by hazing, authorities said, after being pummeled by his peers following the Rattlers’ loss to rival football team Bethune-Cookman.

As of Wednesday afternoon, seven of the 13 individuals charged had been arrested or turned themselves into authorities, including two in Tallahassee. Eleven individuals were charged with felony hazing, punishable by up to six years in prison. Still others may be charged in the future, Orange County State Attorney Lamar Lawson said yesterday.

Champion’s death exposed a “culture of hazing” at the historically black university. Long=time FAMU music director Julian White was put on administrative leave and the university and Board of Trustees created a task force to look into FAMU’s troubled history with hazing and how to reverse it.

Four members of the fabled band were arrested in January in connection with an unrelated hazing. And two music professors who were allegedly present during the hazing of band fraternity pledges resigned last week.

Both faculty members had been placed on paid administrative leave in late March after a Tallahassee Police Department report quoted witnesses as saying they were on hand when the hazing occurred at the home of one of the professors in early 2010.

Prosecutors have charged 13 people in the hazing death of Florida A&M University “Marching 100″ drum major Robert Champion.

Orange County State Attorney Lamar Lawson announced the charges at a press conference Wednesday afternoon in Orlando, where Champion died after being pummeled to death aboard a charter bus outside a hotel in November.

The 22-year-old’s death “is nothing short of an American tragedy,” Lawson told reporters before announcing the charges.

Lawson said the charges include 11 felony hazing charges, which carry a penalty of up to six years in prison, and 20 misdemeanor hazing charges.

The prosecutor indicated more individuals may yet be arrested and asked “others who have facts about Champion’s homicide to come forward and tell the truth.”

Champion’s death exposed a long legacy of hazing within the celebrated marching band. FAMU administrators have halted all of band’s activities until the investigation was complete and launched a task force to look into the “culture of hazing” at the historically black university.

Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings, whose child is a student at FAMU, said his team interviewed four dozen peopel in Tallahassee and spent more than 1,000 hours investigating the case.

“As the parent of a current FAMU student, I know the importance of the work that has been done in this case and how it has impacted the institution,” Demings said.

Hazing that involves bodily harm is a third-degree felony in Florida. The charges filed Wednesday were made possible by the 2005 law passed in the wake of the death of another Florida college student. The law defines hazing as any act that endangers the health or safety of a student for the purpose of admission to a school group.

Lawson said that without the law, he would not have been able to file the charges that carry enhanced penalties when someone is injured or dies after being hazed. No single blow killed Champion, who died after being pummeled to death, Lawson said, thereby preventing him to file more serious murder or manslaughter charges.

“The testimony does not support a charge of murder. We can prove participation in hazing and a death,” Lawson said.

Gov. Rick Scott refused to back down from his contention that FAMU President James Ammons should step down, at least temporarily, even after the university’s board of trustees decided to keep Ammons in his post.
Scott issued the following statement shortly after the board’s conference call this morning:

Florida A&M University President James Ammons will remain in his post after the historically black university’s governing board this morning rejected Gov. Rick Scott’s recommendation that Ammons be suspended until investigations into the hazing-related murder of FAMU Marching 100 drum major Robert Champion are complete.

The board also agreed this morning to meet weekly for at least the next two months to receive updates on the investigations into Champion’s death – ruled Friday a homicide by the Orlando medical examiner’s office – and alleged financial wrongdoings.

“We will stand firm against outside influence regardless of how well-intended that lead to detrimental consequences that threaten the viability of the university,” Board of Trustees Chairman Solomon Badger said during a telephone conference call this morning. “Our decisions will be fact-based and will result from a deliberative process…Therefore, it is my recommendation that until a final report results from these investigations with official facts, the president’s status remains the same.”

There was no discussion of or vote on Badger’s recommendation.

Scott has repeatedly asked Ammons to step down, and called Ammons into his office Friday afternoon to urge him to step aside until the investigations are complete.

But the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools – the accrediting organization for the university – warned that Scott’s interference may threaten FAMU’s accreditation which requires that schools be free from political influence.

FAMU’s Alumni Association President Tommy Mitchell held a press conference Sunday afternoon warning Scott to let the university operate independently.

And late Sunday evening, Scott’s office issued a statement defending his actions thus far.

“It is up to the FAMU Board of Trustees and Dr. Ammons to determine how to proceed. I have not and will not try to influence their decision. I simply offered my advice and opinion based on the events and the facts I was made aware of. Like all other Floridians, I will abide by the decisions made by the Board of Trustees and President Ammons tomorrow, and I do not plan to release any further comment before then,” Scott said.

Two weeks ago, the trustees rejected a motion to suspend Ammons and instead publicly reprimanded him. Ammons abandoned an effort to fire the renowned band’s director Julian White and instead placed him on administrative leave with pay until the investigations are over.

Read more about the “culture of hazing” here.

Florida A&M University Marching 100 drum major Robert Champion‘s hazing-related death was a homicide, an autopsy report ruled today.

The Orlando medical examiner’s findings were released as Gov. Rick Scott stepped up pressure for the historically black university’s president James Ammons to step down.

After being summoned to Scott’s office this afternoon, a subdued Ammons – until then appearing to reject calls for his ouster – said the governor was committed to preserving FAMU’s future and indicated he may go along with Scott’s recommendation before the university’s board of trustees meet on the issue, again at Scott’s urging, by telephone Monday morning.

“It’s something I’m considering,” Ammons told reporters before leaving the Capitol to hand out diplomas at FAMU’s fall graduation ceremony.

Champion’s death was caused by internal bleeding after suffering blunt trauma, the Orlando medical examiner’s office said. The autopsy found the 26-year-old had bruises to his chest, arms, shoulder and back and suffered bleeding from soft tissues.

Former state Sen. Al Lawson, a FAMU alumnus who accompanied Ammons to Scott’s office in the role of mediator, said it was no surprise that Champion’s death was a homicide.

“This young man lost his life as a result of hazing. It had to do with a lot of physical blows and so forth, in that report. I think everybody expected that it would be that,” Lawson said. “We know the history of hazing at the university. It’s been around since the early 50s.”

Lawson also advised Ammons to stay on the job until the trustees reach a decision Monday morning, and indicated the governor-appointed board may not agree with Scott.

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