Former NCCU head on the hot seat in Florida

James H. Ammons, president of Florida A&M University, is on the hot seat after the death of a FAMU marching band drum major’s death recently. Ammons was chancellor of N.C. Central University from 2001 to 2007. Now the governor of Florida says he needs to go:

Florida Gov. Rick Scott said Thursday he wants the president of Florida A&M University suspended amid multiple investigations spurred by the death of a drum major in a suspected case of hazing.

Scott, who just returned from a seven-day trip to Israel, called the chairman of the FAMU board on Thursday and asked him to suspend James Ammons immediately.

The FAMU board of trustees discussed suspending Ammons last week but decided instead to issue a reprimand. I’m not sure what Ammons could have done about this incident, which is suspected to be a result of hazing. The legendary Rattler marching band, an institution, probably operates as an entity all its own, with the president of the university having nothing to do with it.

A famed institution like the FAMU marching band runs on a parallel track to conventional college administration. How Ammons could have prevented the death of drum major Robert Champion on Nov. 19 is unclear. That’s not to say that better oversight needs to be implemented. The FAMU marching band’s untouchability has apparently led to corruption:

The state has opened a new probe into potential fraud committed by Florida A&M officials as it looks into the suspected hazing death of the university marching band’s drum major.

High-ranking sources in Gov. Rick Scott’s office say the new investigation involves the finances of Florida A&M’s Marching 100.

During the course of an investigation into drum major Robert Champion’s Nov. 19 death, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement found “potential violations of criminal law relating to fraud and/or misconduct by employees of and/or persons associated with Florida A&M University,” according to a letter sent Tuesday to the state university system’s chancellor, Frank Brogan, and the Florida A&M Board of Trustees chairman, Solomon Badger.