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Dr. Julian White’s career as band legend ends on a sour note due to hazing scandal at FAMU

FAMU in news: excerpt from the Sentinel article by Denise Balona: “By Denise-Marie Balona, Orlando Sentinel

Florida A&M University band director Julian White, who has been under intense criticism since the hazing death of drum major Robert Champion in Orlando last fall, retired unexpectedly Thursday amid more troubling revelations about the embattled Marching 100 band.

White’s attorney, Chuck Hobbs, announced the decision late Thursday afternoon. White, 71, chairman of the university’s music department and director of bands since 1998, had been fighting for months to keep his job.

Meanwhile, Gov. Rick Scott and the chancellor of the State University System said Thursday that FAMU’s famous band, which is under indefinite suspension, is not ready to take the field again.”

By Hank Nuwer

Journalist Hank Nuwer tracks hazing deaths in fraternities and schools. Nuwer is the Alaska author of Hazing: Destroying Young Lives; Broken Pledges: The Deadly Rite of Hazing, High School Hazing, Wrongs of Passage and The Hazing Reader. In April of 2024, the Alaska Press Club awarded him first place in the Best Columnist division and Best Humorist, second place.

He has written articles or columns on hazing for the Sunday Times of India, Toronto Globe & Mail, Harper's Magazine, Orlando Sentinel, The Chronicle of Higher Education and the New York Times Sunday Magazine. His current book is Hazing: Destroying Young Lives from Indiana University Press. He is married to Malgorzata Wroblewska Nuwer of Warsaw, Poland and Fairbanks, Alaska. Nuwer is a former columnist for the Greenville (Ohio)Early Bird and former managing editor of the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner in Alaska.
Nuwer was named the Ohio Society of Professional Journalists columnist of the year in 2021 for his “After Darke” column in the Early Bird. He also won third place for the column in 2022 from the Indiana chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. He and his wife Gosia, recently of Union City, Ind., have owned 20 acres in Alaska for many years. “The move is a sort-of coming home for us,” said Nuwer. As a journalist, he’s written about the Alaskan Iditarod sled-dog race and other Alaska topics. Read his musings in his blog at Real Alaska Daily--http://realalaskadaily.com and in his weekly column "Far from Randolph" in the Winchester Star-Gazette of Randolph County, Indiana.

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