Clark Atlanta University’s marching was suspended from last weekend’s home opener, due to allegations of “possible” hazing. We all knew there would be fallout from the hazing death of FAMU drum major Robert Champion, and this was our first look at how schools would react to avoiding the new list of negligent schools in a post-Champion HBCU culture.

And thankfully, student musicians at CAU are leading a new way of thinking on hazing and the acceptance of hazing on campus culture.

Clark Atlanta doesn’t suspend the entire band without credible information on possible hazing, and the only credible source on student hazing is students themselves. Someone in the band heard something or saw something and reported it to the school; we can only pray it wasn’t someone stupid enough to haze or be hazed that told authorities, at least.

Someone was man enough or woman enough to recognize the lunacy of hazing at an HBCU after all of the tragedy and controversy at FAMU, and wanted to spare the band and the university the humiliation of being the next HBCU popped on hazing allegations. That student saved the school millions of dollars in legal fees and lost recruitment revenue, hundreds of thousands in marketing and rebranding efforts to remove the stigma of hazing, and more importantly, someone’s life.

And the school can reinstate the band after an investigation, and we go on with CAU and HBCUs, for the moment, looking a lot tougher on hazing.

Clark Atlanta University