def remove_field_name(a, name):
    """
    Given a numpy structured array, remove a column and return
    a copy of the remainder of the array

    Parameters
    ----------
    a : ndarray
        Numpy structured array

    name : str
           of the index (column) to be removed

    Returns
    -------
    b : ndarray
        Numpy structured array with the 'name' column removed
    """
    names = list(a.dtype.names)
    if name in names:
        names.remove(name)
    b = a[names]
    return b