This has peen posted on several other sites including Abyss2Hope and Justice4twosisters ‚ and I’m sure a few others including Talk Left — where they appear to be having some group orgasm over it on a daily basis. I am going to post it here anyway because I have been doing it all along no sense to stop now.
The following is my interpretation of Richard H. Brodhead’s response to a letter addressed to the board of trustees concerning the universities handling of the Duke Lacrosse alleged rape case.
The real letter and a link to it will follow.
I guess a group of people got together to let the school know they were dissatisfied with the way things were handled in regard to these poor boys and the poor victimized lacrosse team.
These people — “Friends of Duke University ” — can’t grasp the concept that justice for all means justice for all and that these boys have to go through th system because they have been charged with a crime.
I think this letter, even though I’m sure it was sincere and I ‘m sure the board of trustees hope nothing more than for the boys to be found not guilty, is succinct and to the point.
My interpretation of the the response first :
yea yea, yea I hear ya. I hope they are not guilty too and feel your pain, but the fact is they were total creepy assholes and shamed our school, not to mention may have committed and horrible crime, and now dear parents and friends of Duke Lacrosse we have to wait and see what happens.
The media is twisting is all around and we don’t know what end is up.
Please hear this though.…BUT FOR THE FACT that those boys had a party, (one of many throughout the year despite warnings), a history of bad and individually criminal( although previously unproseucted behavior),hired strippers, got drunk, and hurled racial epitaphs and possibly committed a very serious crime of rape and god knows what else,none of this would be occurring; therefore, would you all please shut the fuck up and let the system do it’s job.
Again I say, and not for the last time I’m certain, you can’t play in a pig pen without getting pig crap on your shoes and pig crap is hard to get off. Sometimes it takes years, maybe years spent in jail maybe not but it will at least teach you to stay out of pig pens.
The offical response follows via this a link or you can read more to read it. Letter To Duke University Board Of Trustees Receives Response
Dear Friends: I thank you for sending me a copy of the open letter that you published in the Duke Chronicle.
You say that you write not to criticize, but to offer support. I take you at your word for that, and I thank you. I well understand that in raising questions of such seriousness, you are demonstrating your concern for the University and the desire to make it better.
In a situation as complex as the one we’ve been grappling with, where powerful passions have coexisted with rapidly changing “facts” and where action has been required in the face of deep uncertainty, it was virtually inevitable that the University response would be open to question. It won’t surprise you to learn that I have received critical comments from a great variety of points of view, including diametrically opposite ones. I accept that, and would only say that those of us in positions of responsibility have acted as best we could to make two points: that what the players were accused of was, if true, a heinous act; and that it would be equally unjust to prejudge their guilt in the absence of proof and certainty.
This dual message has been at the heart of virtually every public statement I have made on the case. I won’t respond point by point to your message but do want to speak to two issues that you raise. You say that “at this point, no fair-minded person could any longer believe that a rape occurred” and, accordingly, you chide the University for not supporting the players more aggressively. But as you yourself recognize, “the university can express no opinion about the ultimate outcome of pending legal matters.”
I am well aware that, after many weeks of media stories that made it seem almost self-evidently true that a rape had occurred, recent stories have offered extensive evidence exonerating the indicted students and questioning the legitimacy of the case. But the University does not have direct access to the full truth of the case now any more than we did earlier, and we can’t speak with certainty of matters that only the criminal justice system can resolve. We are eager for our students to be proved innocent.
We share the wish for a speedy resolution of all the matters that are now in doubt. In my June 5 community statement I spoke of the ordeal our team members have lived through – a painful, costly experience for themselves, their families, and the community as a whole. I also reiterated that if the indicted students are the objects of a false accusation, they are the objects of an injustice as grave as the one they have been accused of.
But as you recognize, the University can’t go the further step and proclaim our certainty of their innocence. That requires resolution through the legal system – which is all the more reason why we require the legal system to proceed in a fair-minded, even-handed, and speedy fashion. You also voice the perception that the University has been complicit in scapegoating members of the lacrosse team. I recognize the gravity of the charge, but I do not agree with it. It was the party that the men’s lacrosse team held on the night of March 13 that precipitated the subsequent avalanche of publicity and notoriety. In our statements, the University has been consistently critical of the team’s conduct on that night (while taking scrupulous pains to distinguish between the acknowledged conduct and the felony charges, which have not been established).
But we have not confined our censure to this one team. The Campus Culture Initiative outlined in my April 5 statement recognizes that the underlying issues are pervasive in undergraduate culture, and not just at Duke. In coming weeks we’ll be working to promote responsible conduct among all students: on the men’s lacrosse team to be sure, but also throughout the Duke student body. Meanwhile, it was a report the administration commissioned, the Coleman Report, that gave testimony to the positive dimensions of the lacrosse team’s history.
I recognize the anguish in your letter. I am not surprised by it: we are living through an unusually painful and challenging situation. But in my view, the way to heal this anguish is not to go back and endlessly debate things people should have done in the past.
It’s to move forward – to a just and speedy resolution of the court case, to a proud new future for the men’s lacrosse team, and to an era of increased responsibility and respect among Duke students in general. I look forward to working with you and all other friends of Duke to achieve these goals.
Best wishes,
Richard H. Brodhead President
Some people are never going to be happy no matter the result. It’s the nature of the game. I’d almost rather see the whole thing put behind us as well. Far too much media time has been taken away from weightier social concerns to cover what is, essentially, a local legal issue.
it is a weighty social issue, probably more significant than a lot of things the media cover. They’re just covering it wrong.
The ramifications , both racial and sexual, of the case are national no matter how you look at it.
Your summary is good, but missed the point where Dick said, “No one can sue Duke because we are being responsible by setting up a program to educate our students not to party like animals, which by the way happens everywhere, so what could we have done?”
That’s pretty damn close to exactly what he was saying. Inclusive of the ” no one can sue us” addition.
I think it brings up valid social concerns almost social emrgencies.
The media sucks in their spirited quest for ratings.
I’d almost rather see the whole thing put behind us as well
Well, that’s easy done. Kill your television. Stop buying anything from media outlets and their advertisers that exploit this and related issues for ratings. Boycott ALL scholarship athletics EVERYWHERE and make sure your friends do too.
And be sure to carry your mirror around with you. Make sure that that face you’re cursing is not in fact your own.
I still say that sports and college should not be intermixed. When a student goes to college to play a sport, then it is pointless for them to attend class, and if they come to college to attend classes, then they really don’t have enough time to worry about how the sports team is doing. The argument that sports bring so much money into the college is pointless, as it all goes right back into the athletic program. As a college instructor, I would be personally thrilled to never have to make a secondary schedule to accomodate the student athletes, or have to explain to a student that while their absenses count against them, the ones for the athletes don’t.
I don’t know why student athletes have become special cases. If it has just been a normal Duke student who was charged, would they have garnered the nationwide defence that the lacrosse team has gotten? Would the case have gotten national coverage? Would that student’s advisor been held accountable for his actions? Yes, the coach should have had control of his team, but he didn’t rape the woman.
How many thousands of women are raped per year whose stories are never told?