CNN reports that, less than a year after drum major Robert Champion's death after a postgame band hazing ritual, Florida A&M University's Torque dance team was suspended yesterday after a report that it engaged in hazing.  

According to a university spokesperson, a parent informed the school that the incident, which allegedly involved drinking alcohol and running up hills, occurred at an off-campus event over Labor Day weekend.

"The university takes very seriously any allegation of hazing and has moved quickly to shut the organization down pending the outcome of an investigation," said Larry Robinson, the university's interim president, in a statement.

"We have zero tolerance for hazing. It's deplorable and will not be tolerated. It is unconscionable that a student organization would participate in any hazing activity considering what has transpired in the past year," Robinson added.

The university has launched an investigation based on the parent's report, the statement said, and campus police and administrators have been notified.

Drinking alcohol and running up hills doesn't sound nearly as scary as the November 2011 "Crossing Bus C" ritual that killed Champion, in which band members said which pledges had to run down the center aisle of a bus while being assaulted. But given the seriousness of that incident and the fact that the 11 students are still facing charges of third-degree felony hazing resulting in death, we wonder what it will take for students to get the school's zero-tolerance message and cease the dangerous practice altogether.

Read more at CNN. [5]

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