Hazed to death: the fatal beating of a college marching-band leader in Florida has turned a national spotlight on hazing.

• Author: Majerol, Veronica
• Position: NATIONAL - Florida A&M University's Robert Champion

Like many musicians at Florida A&M University (FAMU) in Tallahassee, 26-year-old drum major Robert Champion was proud of the school's famed "Marching 100" band and felt honored to be a member. The band has won a closetful of awards over nearly seven decades, played at Super Bowl halftime shows, and marched in the inaugural parades of presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.

But on the night of Nov. 19, 2011, membership in that elite club cost Champion his life.

In what police have deemed a hazing incident, Champion was brutally beaten by fellow band members on a parked bus just hours after performing at a school football game in Orlando. When he collapsed, Champion was taken to a hospital, where he died. The cause of death, according to the autopsy, was shock from severe bleeding after suffering multiple blunt-trauma blows to the head and body. A criminal investigation of four band members is under way, and Champion's parents filed a lawsuit in February against the bus company, claiming the driver turned a blind eye to the beating.

Rite of Passage?

The case has focused a national spotlight on hazing, the practice of requiring recruits--and sometimes even existing members--of a group to endure emotional or physical abuse as a condition of membership. Hazing rituals date back thousands of years and occur in many countries, including India (where it's called "ragging"), Britain, and Japan.

In the U.S., hazing has long been a rite of passage for initiation into some fraternities and sororities; college and high school sports teams and clubs; and the military. In a 2008 national study conducted by the University of Maine, 55 percent of college students and 47 percent of high school students involved in clubs, teams, and organizations reported being hazed.

Fraternity initiation rites can range from silly--like forcing recruits to walk around campus in boxer shorts or do errands for senior members--to dangerous--like requiring them to do push-ups on broken glass or play drinking games.

Defenders of some hazing traditions believe the experience of shared torment promotes bonding and builds character and discipline. But Hank Nuwer, an anti-hazing advocate who has written several books on the subject, thinks the rituals often go too far, especially when alcohol is involved. "It's the deadliness, the death, the degradation that really concerns me," he says.

More than 100 college students in the U.S. have died in hazing-related incidents since 1970...