From my blog:
I was a resident at Duke when the story first broke about the rape of an exotic dancer by the Duke lacrosse team, a story that now turns out to have been completely fabricated by a drug-crazed prostitute looking for some media attention and carried along by a crooked District Attorney looking for the usual votes, the usual race-hustlers looking for money and attention, and the completely spineless President of Duke University looking for the usual accolades from the likes of Al Sharpton as he shamelessly threw students whose interests he purports to protect to the usual wolves.
The conceit and self-congratulation of the usual bureaucrats at Duke was, as usual, almost unbearable as they sought the usual remedies of the spineless which is the usual appeasement to people that most of us would usually tell to **** off. Oh man. They were so sure those guys were guilty. They reveled in their guilt, experiencing a pleasure that could only be described as sado-masochistic as they extrapolated the lies of a ***** to their favorite topic, the evils of White Men and their repressive society. And even as the truth came out, as it usually does, they cleaved to the story with a fanaticism as zealous as it was despicable,which is their usual MO, and to this day probably believe that even though no crime was committed, somebody, somewhere, still needs to pay for the usual sensitivity indoctrination and the usual pointless studies that will show, as they usually do, that rich white men are the Devil.
The point? First, the President of Duke needs to resign and teach elementary school because it seems this is all he can handle. Second, the DA (Mike Nifong) needs to be prosecuted. Third, those three players need to sue the crap out of Duke and screw those weasels out of everything they possibly can.
The fourth point? You cant trust a bureaucracy. Ever. If somebodys job depends on managing you, he will sacrifice you at the first sign of trouble to keep his job. This applies to corporations, universities, medical schools, residency programs, and every other bureaucratic organization.
I was a medical student at Duke when the story first came to light. I followed each aspect of the case as it progressed, from the initial allegations to the evolving evidence to the deterioration of the case to the eventual disbarring of Mike Nifong. Here is what I observed:
* At the outset, there was evidence that there was a party at a lacrosse house with underage drinking. This particular group of individuals had among them previous citations for underage drinking, noise disturbances, and being disorderly in public.
* There was an accusation from a young black woman of rape.
* Initially, little was heard from the lacrosse players other than one statement of "This did not occur."
* The University did not declare them guilty or innocent. It expressed concerns about underage drinking at the party and expressed willingness to cooperate with the police. The president of the University sent school-wide email statements indicating that we should not rush to judgment either way and should let the evidence sort itself out.
* Problems with the response:
- The players claim that legal advice from the University was poor/misleading
- The players claim that Duke Health was involved in the obfuscation of the rape kit results done by a SANE nurse in the hospital
- The players claim that Duke had no right to cancel their season without a finding of guilt
- The players claim that Duke should have been on their side from the start and that taking a neutral stance was akin to presuming guilt
* Reasons for the response:
- There are long-standing tensions between Duke medical center and the surrounding community based on a number of volunteer/community issues many years ago. The professional community and academic community at Duke is disproportionately white compared to the surrounding community.
- The surrounding community overwhelmingly supported the accusations of the young woman and interpreted all support for anything Duke as a distinct sign of racism and an attack on that community.
- The president's job was not to hasten the divide, but rather to prevent it from growing into a chasm that would further endanger students at Duke or that would compromise appropriate conduct of the investigation.
Where Duke really did go wrong?
- Not encouraging the players to seek out stronger legal advice sooner.
- When noticeable questions about the evidence mounted and the community became aware of Nifong's mishandling of the case, the University did not become active in pushing justice and proper conduct of the law, despite the urgings of many at the Duke School of Law.
- Whitewashing the obfuscation of the rape kit results.
To those who think the president of the university should have taken the players' side immediately, I would propose three questions:
1) What would that have done to the community reaction and the community relationship with Duke over the next 20 years?
2) What evidentiary basis would the president have used to take their side at the outset of the case? (Keeping in mind that the exonerating evidence was suppressed by the police and Nifong until a month or more into the case.)
3) What false statements did the president of Duke University make to the Duke community or the public in this matter?
Talk about rail-roading the guys into a case.
i mean the ability to pass up labor laws is amazing. in my company associated manufacturing facility, the illegals get better treatment than what you're describing.
