The president of Florida A&M University e-mailed his resignation to trustees on Wednesday, the same day the parents of a university band member who died in a hazing incident last fall filed a lawsuit against Florida A&M.
James H. Ammons’s resignation will take effect on October 11. He will remain on the faculty, in a tenured position in the university’s political-science department. Mr. Ammons’s letter, which was provided to the Tallahassee Democrat, does not clarify his reason for resigning. He wrote that he had made the decision after “considerable thought, introspection, and conversations with my family.”
The university’s Board of Trustees voted no confidence in Mr. Ammons last month and also voted in December to reprimand him. On Wednesday the trustees met in a previously scheduled teleconference to discuss budgetary issues. One board member, Rufus Montgomery, said Mr. Ammons’s decision was “unexpected and unanticipated.”
Since November, Mr. Ammons and the university have been mired in controversy following the hazing death of Robert Champion, a drum major in the university’s marching band. Mr. Champion was beaten to death on a bus after a football game. In their lawsuit against the university, his parents are seeking damages of more than $15,000.
Eleven band members are facing felony hazing charges in connection with Mr. Champion’s death, and two others have been charged with misdemeanor counts for their alleged roles in the hazing. All have pleaded not guilty. Mr. Ammons, who has been accused of ignoring a culture of hazing at his university, had said in recent months that he had no intention of stepping down. In May he suspended the band for the next academic year.
At Wednesday’s meeting, the board had a tense discussion over the urgency with which they should respond to the resignation. Solomon L. Badger, the board’s chairman, felt that the discussion could wait until an in-person meeting could be held. Mr. Montgomery, who repeatedly referred to the board’s mode of operation as “punting” on such difficult issues, said the trustees needed a swifter response.
They eventually decided to meet on Monday to discuss assembling a search committee and devising a plan for the leadership transition.
