ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Florida A&M University
said that it's dismissing four students for their role in the death of a
marching band member last month, while audio of an emergency call released
Thursday showed that the drum major had vomit in his mouth in the moments
before he died.
University President James Ammons referred to the
dismissals in a memo he sent earlier this week to members of the FAMU Board of
Trustees, but didn't specify what the four students did. Authorities say hazing
played a role in the death of Robert Champion, but they have not released any
more specifics as they continue to investigate.
Ammons says in his memo that the university has a
zero-tolerance policy on hazing, then states: "I want to report that four
(4) students have been dismissed from the University in connection to the
Robert Champion incident."
The 26-year-old Champion was found unresponsive
Nov. 19 on a bus parked outside an Orlando, Fla., hotel after the school's
football team lost to a rival.
In the 911 recording obtained by The Associated
Press, an unidentified caller told the emergency dispatcher that Champion had
stopped breathing and was unresponsive. Champion had just thrown up, the caller
said before handing the phone to a second man.
"We need an ambulance ASAP," the first
caller said. "His eyes are open but he's not responding."
The dispatcher told the second man to place
Champion on his back and clean any vomit from his nose and mouth. But the call
was disconnected before the caller could say if he was successful. Before the
call ended, the man told the dispatcher he was going to attempt to resuscitate
Champion. He also is heard ordering another man to get a defibrillator from
inside the hotel.
"He is cold," the second caller said.
The owner of the company that transported members
of the band known as the Marching 100 told the AP Thursday that the driver did
not hear or see any commotion on the bus before Champion collapsed.
Ray Land, president of Fabulous Coach Lines, said
his company has transported the band to many games and never had any incidents
of hazing or inappropriate conduct on the buses.
He said the driver is shaken up over what occurred
and that their experience with the band has always been positive.
FAMU's band director, Julian White was fired as
part of the fallout over Champion's death. Ammons also suspended the Marching
100.
FAMU says it will conduct an independent review,
but the group that oversees the public university system in Florida says it
also will carry out an investigation into whether FAMU ignored past warnings
about hazing.
Florida Gov. Rick Scott asked Thursday that the
state university system have all 11 universities review anti-hazing rules.
Florida's Board of Governors, which oversees all the universities, already
requires all schools to have anti-hazing rules and penalties.
White has documents that he says he sent to university
officials over the years regarding hazing. But Ammons said in his letter to the
trustees that he did not receive two recent letters from White regarding hazing
until after the university had already fired him.
He also wrote that he met this week with a group of
students who were protesting the decision to suspend the entire band. He said
he has promised to meet with the entire band sometime this week.
University officials didn't immediately respond to
messages seeking further comment on the dismissal of the students.
Ammons said in the letter that he could not talk
much about Champion's death because of the "potential for lawsuits"
but he also expressed concern about the negative publicity surrounding
Champion's death. He said that he was trying to overcome past bad publicity
regarding the university's handling of finances and its academic reputation.
"Preserving the image and the FAMU brand is of
paramount importance to me," he wrote.
Associated Press writer Christine Armario
contributed to this report from Miami.
Copyright
2011 The Associated Press.
