Duke Responds to Lacrosse Team Crisis
Duke University, one of the finest in the country, is in a tough spot. The Lacrosse team embroglio seems no closer to being resolved. After Wednesday's suspension of a student and resignation of the team coach, morale is low. Duke is trying to rally and today President Broadband announced separate committees will examine and report back to him as quickly as possible on the following:
- examining the culture of the lacrosse team;
- investigating the Duke administration's response to the sexual assault allegations;
- examining the student judicial process and disciplinary procedures;
- launching a Campus Culture Initiative, a rigorous self-examination "to evaluate and suggest improvements in the ways Duke educates students in the values of personal responsibility."
- creating a presidential council, made up of people from the Durham community, national higher education circles and Duke, that will scrutinize Duke's responses to the lacrosse team incident and advise the president on whether the responses are appropriate and effective.
I spoke tonight with some Duke parents I've known for 25 years whose son is a Freshman at Duke. They are pretty freaked out and their son, who adores Duke, is confused. They said this couldn't come at a worse timing -- acceptance letters go out April 1, and those accepted have until May 1 to make their decision. So it is this four weeks high school seniors have to decide whether to go to Duke. Many of those that get into Duke also get into Harvard, Yale and other Ivy League schools.This Lacrosse incident could cause Duke to lose some of its brightest admission candidates, should they or their parents be scared by the lacrosse incident.
If there's anything I know less about than sports, it might be the college admissions process. But they asked for my perspective. It turned out mine meshed with their's. We worried about the effect of the lacrosse incident on the incoming class. What are the chances that a student or his parents will say, all things being equal, let's choose the school without this kind of trouble.
The parents are hoping the accuser is embellishing what happened. If it turns out the boys did it, they should be removed immediately and programs need to be installed to teach these kids how unacceptable the behavior was, from top to bottom. If, on the other hand, as they suspect, the girl embellished what happened out of anger over being asked to return the money or the racial slurs, she should be held accountable too.
I think either way it leaves an ugly taste. Duke will recover, after all, only three students were involved in any heinous acts, should they be found to have occurred. But the students' parents and alumni, who get monthly or quarterly reminders to donate to the school, on top of the $40+,000.00 tuition, may not feel so generous this year.
So was it racial slurs and a phyiscal fight over returning the money....or was there also a rape, as the accuser describes? I'm hoping it was the former and if it was, the dancers should be charged with filing a false report. If it's the latter, Duke will have a lot of catching up to do to restore its reputation.
| < Republicans Propose New Immigration Plan | GA Convenience Store Sting Results in ACLU Suit > |
