Bethune-Cookman student says he was injured in campus hazing

DAYTONA BEACH, Florida -- Christopher King, a student at Bethune-Cookman University in Daytona Beach, says he was hit in the back of the neck so forcefully and often during a recent hazing ritual at the school that he blacked out several times.

King also was made to roll around in the mud or do strenuous exercises as part of a series of hazing activities by members of the marching band this past semester, he said. He said he did not want to participate but felt coerced.

"You feel like if you don't participate, you know, you're going to be that only one," said King, 18, who plays the baritone horn. "You're worried about reputation, and you're worried about what people are going to think about you."

He described how more-experienced members of the famed Marching Wildcats hazed and ridiculed the freshman members after band practice on some evenings.

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