by Reggie Sylvain, (concerned father)
rsylvain@bellsouth.net
404-578-5654
Final Plea for Justice in Hazing Allegations against Atlanta Student at Florida Agriculture and Mechanical University (FAMU)
"I am aware the fact that in the hearing even their own witnesses attested to the fact that my daughter was not present during any alleged hazing activities."
APRIL 26, 2013 - False allegations of hazing has caused my daughter (an
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honor student) to be dismissed from Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University for five years with only two months prior to her graduating from the university. As a concerned father this is my final plea for justice from the office of judicial affairs, the President Larry Robinson, the Board of Trustees and the Board of Governors. After an emergency hearing held on March 13th and non-emergency hearing held on April 23rd the office of judicial affairs still has no basis to continue upholding this 5 year dismissal of my daughter but has decided to do so. There seems to be a personal vendetta with individual(s) from the office of judicial affairs. My daughter insists that she was not involved any alleged hazing activities and the university has not been able to provide any evidence that she was but still continues to keep her out of the classroom.
My daughter felt that individuals on the panel at her emergency heari
ng had been coached and was extremely bias in their questioning and are determined to wait out the entire 14 days (which is allowed but not mandatory) to provide the results from the hearing. I will go on record to say that they are prolonging the results in order to make sure that she does not graduate on May 4th and this is still only based on allegations. I am aware the fact that in the hearing even their own witnesses attested to the fact that my daughter was not present during any alleged hazing activities.
It is very unfortunate that the university is allowing individuals to make this decision and not take a closer look into this matter. If the President of the university has not already done so, I urge him to take one hour out of his busy schedule prior to May 4th to review all the findings or lack of and even he will see that there was never any basis for my daughter to receive such harsh punishment for what are only unproven allegations. This is a total injustice to a young lady with a bright future. As a concerned father, I will fight this to the end until someone other than the biased judicial affairs office looks closer into the findings. Hazing has been a buzz word around FAMU's campus since the Robert Champion incident but the university should not be making such knee jerk decisions and dismissing innocent students prior to even interviewing all of the accusers and witnesses. The dismissal of my daughter from the university is more severe than the suspension of the individuals involved in the Robert Champion case. Things are just not adding up and I cannot understand why this has gone so far. My daughter is at risk of not graduating and losing a job offer that is pending her graduation. This has caused a tremendous amount of stress on her as well as her family. My daughter has had to seek medical attention due to the unnecessary stress this has caused.
I have been asked by the University's General Council (via my daughter's attorney) to "cease and desist from making what clearly appears to be inappropriate statements regarding lawful adherence to the student code of conduct disciplinary process". I request that Mr. General Council be specific about the inappropriateness of anything have I said. I stand behind my statements 100%. They still have not proven my daughter to be guilty of hazing but are still not allowing her back in class to complete her studies. My daughter has not been able to return to class since March 4, 2013. This is almost 7 weeks. She has written letters to the Board of Trustees, the Board of Governors, and the President of the university and has had no relief. My wife and I have also written letters to the President and have received no response. We feel like our daughter's education and future is in the hands of certain individuals in the office of judicial affairs (who were recently hired by the university) who can care less whether she graduates or not.
I can assure you that if any individual took just one look at the transcripts of testimonies from either of the hearings they will find that the university has no basis for what they are doing to my daughter other than making an example of innocent students. This is total injustice. We have tried everything we know of; including filing for an emergency injunction in the circuit court of the Second Judicial Circuit for Leon County Florida. That hearing was held Thursday morning (April 25, 2013) and the Judge has requested that they convene again on Monday April, 29, 2013. According to my daughter the Judge also strongly recommended that the office of judicial affairs come forth with their findings from the non-emergency hearing prior to the 14 days that is allowed since graduation is less than two weeks away. The judicial officer made it clear that they do not plan on doing that. Again, I beg that someone other than the office of judicial affairs step up and do what's right by innocent students.
Reggie Sylvain
FAMU honor student sues after getting dismissed over hazing allegations
AP (by Gary Fineout) - A Florida A&M University student is suing the university after it kicked her out over hazing allegations.
Aisha Sylvain, who was supposed to graduate this spring, wants a judge to block the dismissal since it would ban her from campus for five years.
A FAMU sorority was investigated for hazing in February. The Leon County Sheriff's Office decided against pursuing criminal charges in the case.
But a report said pledges were forced to do exercise squats and memorize information about sorority members during the gathering, which occurred from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m.
Interim FAMU President Larry Robinson contended the allegations merited students being dismissed.
But Reggie Sylvain, who is from Atlanta, maintains his daughter did not participate in any hazing and that the university is on a personal vendetta.
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Aisha Sylvain: Study Abroad in Costa Rica was life-changing, life-saving experience
September 19, 2011
By Sheree Oats
Your Capital Bureau
Soft white sands, dazzling blue-green waters, and hilltops piled with jungle and streaming waterfalls.
Two Florida A&M University students were not in Tallahassee any more.
In another part of the world, they changed their lives, and one of them became a hero by saving the life of a young girl.
Alone, but not afraid, Aisha Sylvain, a third-year public relations student
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from Atlanta, and Jazmin Rucker, a third-year nursing student from Jacksonville, spent their summer studying abroad in San Jose, Costa Rica.
Sylvain and Rucker took interest in studying abroad after a mutual friend participated in "Quench for Haiti" last fall through the Office of International Education & Development.
"My purpose for studying abroad was language submersion," said Sylvain. "Learning Spanish has always been a goal of mine so when the opportunity to study and volunteer was presented to me, I gladly took it . . ."
As one can imagine, traveling to a country where one's main language is not English can be challenging.
However the language barrier was not as difficult as Rucker thought it would be. "At times it was hard to communicate what I saying, but the people were very friendly and patient. I had very few negative experiences trying to communicate with them," said Rucker.
There was one incident that one of young ladies proclaimed as "the scariest moment of my life."
One afternoon Rucker was in the beach water and as the tide got stronger Rucker ascended deeper into the water. Hearing a faint scream from behind her, Rucker turned around and witnessed a young girl panicking in the water.
"All I saw was this girl going in and out of the water and I thought to myself, this can't be happening," said Rucker. Scared, Rucker fended the strong tide water to get to the girl.
"I knew that if I didn't act quickly, this girl was going to drown right in front of me," Rucker said.
Luckily she was able to get the young girl onto her back where she aided her to the shore. "I never thought anything like that would ever happen to me. I felt like a real hero," said Rucker.
The experiences, the language, and simply the memories are what Sylvain and Rucker brought back with them to Tallahassee.
Aside from getting homesick a few times, Sylvain and Rucker encourage FAMU students to look into studying abroad. Both of the girls agree that it has been a life-changing experience.
"Putting yourself out of your comfort zone is scary yet rewarding. It allows you to broaden your view of the world and actually learn a lot more about yourself," said Sylvain. "We (young people) need to make ourselves more internationally aware, and what better way to do that than to actually spend some time in a foreign country. . . "
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