Jackson State University: 27 Students Given Two-Year Suspensions for Hazing Incident

Jackson State University officials said 27 students were given a two-year suspension because of an alleged September 18, hazing incident involving Sonic Boom of the South marching band. These suspended students have filed appeals to the university. The students were suspended from JSU after the university’s judiciary committee found them guilty of hazing and moral turpitude. The suspensions are serious because the students cannot attend class at JSU or get class records to transfer to a different university. Of course, some parents of the affected students have said the university went too far in its punishment. The bottom line is hazing is serious and students have been injured and even killed as a result of such actions. It is simply unacceptable.

In my opinion, the punishment is just. Parents do not send their children to institutions of higher learning to be beaten up. Marcus Chanay, the university's associate vice president of student life, told WAPT, that the suspensions stemmed from a September 18 incident that followed a band practice. Underclassmen, that are part of the band’s percussion section, were told by band members to meet at an off-campus location on High Street. Chanay said the underclassmen were beaten with boards, mallets, pipes, beer bottles and baseball bats. He also said that several of the students were injured and complained of swelling and soreness and one of students suffered a broken collarbone.

Earlier this month, university officials suspended 45 members of the Sonic Boom following the hazing allegations. The group was comprised of freshmen and upperclassmen, Chanay said. The freshmen who were involved will have a separate hearing Thursday, Chanay said. They will most likely be fined and placed on probation on campus, Chanay said. It’s unlikely that they will be suspended from JSU, according Chanay.

When I attended Ohio University during the late 1980s, I deliberately decided not to join a sorority because there were some instances on hazing on campus, though some were never investigated. I remember hearing that a student joining a fraternity had lost a kidney due to being paddled during initiation. I could not afford to let my grades slip nor would I have wanted to be subjected to humiliating treatment and even hit by anyone for the sake of joining such an organization. I know that there are many students who have embraced their sororities and fraternities, which is fine, but there has been a culture of hazing from middle school to high school, which continues and grows in intensity in colleges and universities. That must be discouraged by harsh punishment. Many universities and colleges have strict policies regarding hazing and I must admit that the number of documented incidents have fallen, but there are still cases in which it occurs off-campus.


What is equally shameful is that Dr. Lewis Liddell, the band director of the Sonic Boom from July 1992 until his retirement on June 30th, in an interview with WAPT, said "Hazing is like a disease that I dealt with for the entire 17 years that I was the JSU band director," Liddell said. "The Sonic Boom is one of the best bands in the country, and their shows are legendary. As band directors, our primary concerns were always the quality of the show, the music, the showmanship and of course the discipline, safety and welfare of the band students."

Liddell said that he addressed hazing with members of the Sonic Boom while he was band director."I lectured, threatened and even had them sign paperwork saying they would not be involved in hazing," Liddell said. "Freshmen would often tell me that upperclassmen would tell them that that was just a speech that I gave every year because I was required to and not to heed it. I was deadly serious about it and publicly embarrassed and took action against those I found hazing."

Liddell said that if he found instances of hazing, he punished the offenders. He said he suspended some band members and took away scholarships and even had some removed from the university."We spent a lot of time monitoring the students and looking for hazing situations," he said. "You learn and know your students and who you have to watch. I can't count the number of times I was out after midnight and sometimes up at 4 a.m., checking on possible hazing at some off-campus location. If I found it, I took action and let them know I was serious."

Liddell said he knows some of the students who were suspended from JSU Wednesday."This is a teachable moment and one that the whole student body needs to learn from," Liddell said. "Regardless of the organization, no one has the right to put their hands on anyone or to physically hurt anyone -- never. That is the definition of assault and if they physically put their hands on another student or person, they should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."Liddell said he fully supports the decision to suspend the students involved in the hazing incident. He said he would have recommended going further if he were still band director."I would ask that they be permanently expelled and that criminal charges be filed," Liddell said. Source: WAPT

Hazing is a dirty secret that needs to be weeded out of our schools and universities. These students deserved the punishment that was meted out to them. The next move should be expulsion for the ringleaders of any hazing incidents on any college or university campus.

Photo credit: Jackson State University Sonic Boom Band, WAPT