Duke lacrosse players sue the university
The Duke lacrosse players are seeking justice. They deserve it:
Duke University will be sued by 38 members of the 2006 men’s lacrosse team who claim they suffered emotional distress when school officials failed to support them during a rape investigation, a spokesman for the players said.
The lawsuit, to be filed today in U.S. District Court in North Carolina, also will name Duke President Richard Brodhead, Duke’s medical center, and the city of Durham, North Carolina, according to a statement posted on a Web site run by players’ spokesman Bob Bork. University officials remained silent during the rape probe though they had evidence that the players were innocent, according to the statement.
“These young men want acknowledgment that they were wronged by institutions and individuals that they trusted to treat them honestly,” attorney Chuck Cooper said in the statement. “They were victimized by a corrupt investigation that ignored or suppressed evidence that would have cleared them. And, all for a crime that never took place.”
Three players were charged in the case. The prosecution of team members David Evans, Collin Finnerty and Reade Seligmann began with a stripper’s accusation that she was attacked after dancing at a team party. The charges were dropped in April after state Attorney General Roy Cooper took over the investigation.
More info here via Duke Students for an Ethical Duke and the new Duke Lawsuit blog. Here’s the full news release:
More than three dozen members of the 2006 Duke University men’s lacrosse team and members of their families filed suit against Duke University, its President Richard Brodhead and other officials, Duke’s medical center, and the City of Durham and city officials for emotional distress and other injuries in connection with false rape charges and a corrupt police investigation against team members in 2006.The charges were dismissed and the players exonerated by North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper in April 2007 after he took over the investigation from the local district attorney, Michael Nifong. Nifong was disbarred for violating legal ethics in his conduct of the investigation. Three players had been charged with a gang rape of an exotic dancer who was hired to entertain at a team party in March 2006.
The suit, filed today in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina, said University officials remained silent even though they possessed convincing evidence of the
players’ innocence and also “lent credibility to the rape allegations by capitulating to an angry mob’s demands to condemn and punish the innocent players and their blameless coach.”University Leaders Stood Silent While Team Members Were Harassed
“For more then a year, the lacrosse players were caught up in a horrifying personal nightmare. They were harassed in class by teachers and their fellow students. They were the target of protest marches and threats; they were called rapists and racists; they were surrounded in their own homes by screaming protestors. They were victimized by a corrupt investigation that ignored or suppressed evidence that would have cleared them. And, all for a crime that never took place,” lead attorney Chuck Cooper said in announcing the lawsuit.
The suit says that Brodhead and other Duke officials actively blinded themselves to and suppressed exculpatory evidence; discredited exculpatory evidence that had been publicly disclosed; stood passively while faculty and student protestors waged a campaign of abuse and harassment against the lacrosse team members; issued statements and imposed discipline on the team that signaled the players’ guilt; and remained silent when an inexperienced nurse at its medical center falsely characterized a medical exam at Duke Hospital as indicating that a rape had taken place. Brodhead later conceded that Duke students and faculty “were quick to speak as if the charges were true.”
Cooper said the University turned its back on the players in a bid to protect its own image.
Cooper noted that Nifong could not be named in the lawsuit because of the protections offered him by federal bankruptcy law. But the suit strongly condemned Nifong and his investigators for hiding and fabricating evidence, tampering with and intimidating witnesses, rigging photo lineups, and ignoring and hiding DNA and other evidence that demonstrated the players’ innocence. He said the City of Durham must be held responsible for Nifong’s misconduct, who was motivated in part by his desire to boost his flagging election campaign.
Suit Demands Accountabilty; Aims to Find the Full Truth The suit seeks underdetermined monetary damages, but Cooper said the suit seeks the full truth and accountability of those whose misconduct caused and prolonged the lacrosse team’s ordeal. “These young men want an acknowledgment that they were wronged by institutions and individuals that they trusted to treat them honestly. The pain and suffering they experienced cannot be erased; the misconduct of the University and town officials cannot be undone. But this suit will enable them to learn the full truth, to put the facts in plain view in a court of law, and to hold Duke’s leaders and town officials accountable for their wrongdoing.” Cooper said.
The players and their parents are represented by the law firm of Cooper & Kirk, PLLC, in Washington, D.C.
More information about this lawsuit, including a downloadable PDF of the complaint and other
materials about the case can be found at www.dukelawsuit.com.SOURCE Cooper & Kirk, PLLC
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Well, I think I know why Nifong filed for bankruptcy now.
I hope they bankrupt Duke, They should have taken no action until the charges were deemed valid and if they had information that it was a bogus charge then they should have stood up beside the players and defended them but they did’nt, they did just the oppisite. Sue away boy’s I hope you collect a bazzilion dollars.
Very glad to see that they are fighting back. I have long felt that the university and especially the faculty got a pass for their appalling behavior. Typically, the liberal mindset went to guilty until proved innocent, against the rights of the accused. I hope the players win a huge judgment and embarrasses the university, faculty and student body big time.
They may never recieve the justice they deserve but they should get compensation and appologies, and plenty of both.
Each one should sue for millions to bankrupt Duke, just as leftist professors always want people to sue to financially hurt McDonalds, Walmart, and other forms of “capitalistic imperialism.”
This article from National Review Online shows clearly how the crazy leftist professors were treating the INNOCENT LaCrosse players.
I say, if Duke has be shutdown and all it assets sold then “so be it”. Disregard at this magnitude by Duke should mean Institutional death penalty.
They should absolutely win for the mistreatment by the University, which immediately assumed the Big Bad Athletic And Mostly White Boys were guilty, and cancelled the season prior to any evidence being presented other than the words of a stripper (or, single mother just trying to make a living, according to the MSM).
Are the Black Panthers and Al Sharpton still there? Didn’t they say they wouldn’t leave until the players were all in jail?
They could easily bankrupt Durham which has insufficient liability insurance for this type of misconduct.
Would love to see them go after the individual leftists in the faculty who publicly attacked them.
This is long overdue in America. The good guys finally striking back against the racial hypocricy and injustice that is festering in our country.
Go get ‘em, lads!
Good for them. However, no judgment can get back the reputations, education, and other damage done to these young men.
Is Jackson still going to pay for college for the liar? Something had better happen to her as well.
Finally. I hope this doesn’t get ignored by the liberal press.
Why aren’t they going after Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, the New York Times, and others for smearing them too? They are just as guilty, or even more so, since they were the ones who turned it into a national/world wide story.
bra-effin’-vo! I hope they take the school for everthing it’s got!
Go get ‘em Duke Lacrosse!
Even if all they get is $1, for everyone to admit that they failed true justice is vindication enough. I would like to hear the professors who signed the infamous letter, the university, the “accuser,” and especially the disgraced M. Nifong to clearly state for the record:
That said, I agree with blind_mule. I hope they bankrupt them — all!
There will never be justice until the person who caused it all is punished. There sure were a lot of rats that took the cheese and ran with it and they should get their due too, but one person wrongly and purposely accused innocents and refused to admit it. That is what caused it all. For her to go unpunished is the grand stink of political correctness and will assure more such injustices in the future.
Nifong has filed for bankruptcy.
How he can get away with it is beyond me.
Those players deserves everything he has and will have.
Boo friggin’ hoo……he’s broke. How convenient.
They should sue Jesse and Al too while they’re at it for slander.
Duke won’t go bust. They are too financially equipped and lawyered up big time. Just write the Methodist Association of NC. Make them answer.
Seems Protestant colleges/universities think they’re above the law?
Boycott Methodist churches….that should help send a message. Do not donate to their causes.
To add:
Justice would be Nifong doing time to boot! He deserves it.
Good for them and good luck. If only Karla F. C. Holloway, the English professor that organized the faculty smear campaign, could be named in the suit and financially ruined like Mike Nifong. It might make her think the next time she seeks to destroy innocent people because it fits into her warped world view.
Why are they not going after the acuser as well. It was she who ruined their lives. Maybe they should seek compensation from her school fund to offset the cost of theirs at a new university.
Oh, those poor babies. What great victims from the home of the Elite Establishment in the New York area. Their lives are just ruined. How could we have made them suffer so.
So what they have a stag party with underaged drinking. So what they pay hundreds of dollars for strippers. So what they refused to cooperate with the police, taking a “one for all and all for one approach.” So what they lied about knowing NOTHING HAPPENED. Wouldn’t that require knowing what happened. So what that some of the commentators at Fox News are friends of the families of these guys. So what the case NEVER came to court and was tried in the press with information coming from the lawyers. So what that the accusers life was ruined and she received numerous death threats. After all boys must be allowed to be boys.
Only winners in this case, will be the lawyers. Splitting any compensation 38 ways, after the lawyers’ cut (at least a 1/3), won’t be much unfortunately. That’s sad.
How do you know that?
They should go after the Group of 88 as an official representatives of the University and personally as well. Ask for their dismissal from the University. Public apology, etc. you get the idea.
Part of the redress should be that the ‘gang of 88′ have to purchase a full page in the school newspaper acknowledging their rush to judgement, and sincerely apologizing.
sorry #26, you beat me to it.
The case never came to court because the new prosecutors reviewed the material and deemed that there was no case.
The accuser ruined her own life by coming up with these bogus charges to begin with. She was never charged with filing a false report - she was allowed to simply ‘go on’ with her life.
I highly doubt that if someone mentioned her name, anyone would recognize it - but mention the names of the accused - and I’m pretty sure they’re immediately recognized as ‘accused rapists’.
That is an injustice - and you sir, are nothing but a troll. Begone.
“So what that the accusers life was ruined and she received numerous death threats”
Exactly - so what? She got what she deserved. She should count herself lucky that she wasn’t even prosecuted!
Mister P, does right and wrong or justice mean anything to you, or only if you like the victims do they deserve the protection of the law. Be careful, someone surely thinks you don’t deserve justice because you have that fancy computer they don’t have. Maybe some Nifong type will agree with them and see you as a meal ticket if they can go after you. That’s what happened and it could be you next. That’s why it matters.
A one-point loss to Miami last night, and now this. Not a good week for Duke.
Is “emotional distress” an actual tort or violation of law? I fully agree with the fraud and other violations, but I’ve never liked suing for “hurt feelings”.
I think you may have misinterpreted Mr. P’s comment. He may have meant How do you know that they are not going after her?
Just a thought.
Wow Mister P. So, if your kids ever make mistakes and some girl cries wolf and ruins your kids lives and reputation and, to top it off, your kids get crucified by the MSM, you would have the same attitude?
Somehow, I doubt it.
I mean, by that reasoning, all guys that were parting that night are guilty.
So what if the accuser’s life was ruined. So what if she is/was a person of ill repute anyhow. So what if she is a liar. So what if she had sex with others that same night.
So what if there was no case. So what if there was no evidence. So what if Nifong did not follow the rule of law.
So what if you are innocent UNTIL you are proven guilty?
Duke needs to incur a significant financial penalty to send a message about the American justice system - you are presumed to be innocent until proven guilty, not presumed guilty until you prove your own innocence.
Duke has more than a little problem here - the facts are overwhelmingly against them. Most glaring is the letter by the 88 professors that was published in newspapers pronouncing the players as guilty racist rapists. Duke, to its discredit, not only did nothing to stop that, they took no corrective action against the 88 at all. By failing to take any action, they willl be viewed as condoning and supporting the actions of these professors.
I know that in cases of sexual harrassment in corporate America, if you take no disciplinary action against the employee who is proven to have committed the offense, the corporation opens itself up to significant damages.
Duke has done nothing to punish the beahvior and actions of these professors, It has done nothing to penalize the actions of the administration that rushed to judgment by banning the team, taking away more than a few athletic scholarships to boot. If the sitiation had involved accusations against minority players, there would have been a rush to make things right - implementing diversity training for all, allowing outside organizations to monitor their new policies on minority relations, donations to groups like ACORN, community outreach grants, and public apology after public apology. And if 88 professors had taken the actions they took against the lacrosse players against any group other than white males, they would have been summarily fired. Duke did none of this.
I do hope it goes to trial and reveals what these young men endured. And a jury, after the plaintiff’s lawyers are done, should be so outraged as to go to the max on punitive damages. For each player.
Mr. P
So, in your opinion, the fact that these were rich white boys, cancels out the fact that they were wrongly accused and were harassed and faced public humiliation, not to mention that their families had to spend large sums of money on their defense. Either that, or you forgot your sarc tag.
Wow you are full of presumptions. First of all she never said she was raped by 38 players. I think she said it was 3, so what are the other 35 sueing for? The new prosecuters (A case by the way of the state usurping the case from the locally elected attorney), ruled after months there was not enough evidence to go on with the case. That in no way means that the person who brought up the charges was not raped. So NOTHING was proven.
Now the troll and begone part. Who the hell are you? I am a lifelong conservative and fan of Michelle Malkin and have posted on these boards for quite a while. At no time have I turned off my brain however and decided to always agree with her or you in all things. In this case I would say that many people have leaped to conclusions based on little real information.
I would say your own complete lack of tolerance is absurd and symptomatic of a large ego and small mind.
Which facts are you talking about.
The fact that 3 were accused, not 38. The fact the case never came to court. The fact that there is no proof that the 3 that were accused were wrongly accused. The fact that there was underaged drinking. The fact that they hired strippers. The fact that one player emailed racial slurs because he was unhappy with the strippers. The fact that one of the beltway boys at Fox admitted to being a friend of the family. The fact that the accuser had to leave town and received death threats. What facts are you talking about?
Seriously, you’re not that ignorant are you? How obtuse. All the team members were victimized by association.
Did you even look at this case at all? The DA Nifong effectively hid DNA evidence that cleared any of the players of rape. What part of that did you not understand? He wanted a big public win to bolster his failing public support, and he was willing to do so at the expense of the Duke team. He got caught. If she was raped, it wasn’t by any of the players.
No there weren’t. That us utter nonsense. The DNA evidence had to do with the 3 who were arraigned, not the other 35. It is quite possible, Nifong’s mistake was selecting the wrong 3.
Wow. This is really surprising coming from such a conservative campus as Kook, I mean Duke.
Talk about elitist. That sentence right there shows his discrimination against athletes if nothing else. “All us dum futbal plaers must bee 2 slow fer hiz klas.”
‘Calculation Error’…Riiigggghhhhtttt. I wonder if the I.R.S. would accept that excuse on my returns. So, it’s obvious that these student athletes were both discriminated against and acedemically punished BEFORE the trial, for something they didn’t do. (note: both of those teachers should be fired for their actions, including the ‘88′ that published the Newspaper ad.)
Well, what do you expect from the university that invites Madeleine Albright and Kofi Annan as commencement speakers.
Mr. P, for this reason. Here is an excerpt:
You even had professors purposely failing the lacrosse students:
If they were doing this to blacks or any other group on campus, you probably would be supporting the suit.
Mr.P, there was no evidence of Rape. She lied. Get over it.
BWAHAHAHAHA! oh gawd, you’re a comedian.
So you are claiming you know exactly what each and every one of those players went through for every minute of every day for a year, and can honestly stand there and claim they were not victimized in any way whatsoever by anyone.
Don’t bother replying, I see little point.
The fact I am talking about is that 46 of the 47 members of the team were DNA tested and not one were found to be connected to the alleged rape. The 47th member of the team was exempted, due to the fact he was black and the accuser specifically stated the rapists were white.
Gabe, too true.
Imagine if it was a white girl, and the accused were black. Can you say Jena 6?
It’s racism! would be the cry of the day.
If nothing else, the remaining 35 players lost out on an completing a NCAA Lacrosse seasn in which they were highly ranked, which was a decison made completely by Duke. That alone is enough to sue the school!
MisterP sychosis
Were you one of Bill Clintons defense attorneys.
Okay, lets presume they did not slander the whole team. The three accused and the two charged should at least get damages and mucho damages.
I read and saw many times on the College, MSM and papers always described it as the “Duke Lacrosse Players”, very seldom did I hear them by name, that is kind of a blanket statement would’nt ya say, pretty much disparages the whole team does’nt it.
Mr. P
She accused three but the entire team was convicted by the media, the school and the staff. The coach resigned, the team had the remainder of their season canceled and were not allowed to defend the national title……Are you wondering why the rest of the team is suing?? Take a look at the link Gabe at #5 provided.
I am not a lawsuit happy guy but this one is more than warranted…
Mister P, are you the one that wrote Michelle that lovely letter yesterday? Seems you’d be the type to do something like that.
Good on them, I say!
Has the accuser ever been punished for her actions?
Mister P,
If the accusers life is ruined, then it was self-inflicted. What about the 3 lives she tried to ruin by filing a false charge? Her life should be ruined, but I’m guessing that it was long before her false allegations.
If the players were black, you’d probably be marching with Jesse Jackson.
BTW, you don’t sound like a conservative to me.
“imposed discipline” - The season was cancelled, some of the players lost athletic scholarships, the coach was fired just days before the charges were dropped.
“later conceded” - ‘Uh yeah, we kinda did railroad the guys to cover our asses when we should have protected them.’ Can you imagine the outrage if a group of teachers at Jena High School issued a statement about the Jena 6 similar to the one issued by the 88 professors? How much more howling would occur if it was later revealed that the Jena 6 were set-up and the prosecution hid evidence that would exonerate them!?
I am sooo glad that these boys might finally get their just rewards. Unfortunately, the millions they will probably win are not Dick Brodhead’s dollars to give away. They’re my dollars. Mine and every other student who’s ever attended the university. It crushes me to think that my $160k is now going to be part of the “Cover up Brodhead’s mistake fund” instead of going towards hiring faculty, new construction or boosting security (a grad student was murdered just off campus 2 weeks ago) like it should be.
Hopefully the LAX team will see how this negatively impacts the student body, and instead demand their compensation in the form of President Brodhead, athletic Director Alleva, and the gang of 88’s public apologies and resignations.
How can anyone with half a brain defend the mentally-challanged accuser, the ethically-challanged Nifong, or the equality-challanged campus and faculty?
This bastion of fairness and free speech will fight this to the end, all under the pretext of defending their “good name,” something they denied the lacrosse players. Hypocracy…nah!
Well it is interesting the responses I have gotten.
1. We don’t know if the accuser lied. What we know is that the DNA evidence (against the 3 she accused) did not back up her story.
2. To say she RUINED 3 lives is hyperbole. It assumes that their lives are ruined, which I question and that she was actually wrong. We don’t know that since the case never came to court.
3. The comment about marching with Jackson is again pure nonsense. I have no respect for Jackson and never saw this as a racial issue.
4. On accusing me of writing that letter to Michelle yesterday, I would say somebody has let his own emotions turn his IQ into a 10. My wife is Asian, I found that letter completely repulsive and expressed that fact in a post.
The coach had no control over his team. There has been a problem for years of off campus drinking parties. What they did was against the School rules. They also had underaged players getting drinks at that party. This is a violation of school rules and yes Durham laws (for those who see that breaking the law is actually a crime).
They then hired 2 strippers, another violation of school rules. Duke had every right to fire that coach and to suspend the team.
Bingo.
Is that not what our legal system is about? She made a charge and it was up to the state to prove the case. No evidence - no case. How these men lived their lives (and even if they drank while underage) has NO bearing on the case. If you choose to condemn them based on the life style they are living, then, there is but one conclusion to be made:
She is guilty.
Mister P,
The DNA evidence did not match ANY of the 46 Lacrosse Players. PERIOD. The DNA of three other men WAS found on her person at the Duke hospital. Meaning that IF she was raped, it was NOT by any of the 46 members of the Lacrosse team that wilfully submitted DNA samples for testing.
As they like to say on Fark….
altogether now….
Duke sucks.
*out*
Hows it feel to be accused of something you didn’t do? Now magnify that by infinity and that’s what those guys are going through.
I hope that they win as well. For the rest of their lives when they apply for jobs, or when they’re at work and they discuss “the good old college days”, they’ll be looked at with disdain by many of their co-workers just be virture of the “guilt by association” of being on the Duke LaCrosse Team. I for one believe that Crysal Gail Mangum is a liar, she had quite a bit of dna in her but none belonging to the 3 players, she has no deep pockets so she won’t be on the list to be sued but she should be. This wasn’t the first time she had accused someone of rape either. Remember the second one was asking how this could be spinned to help her out. However, there was no case there period. What we all know whether we want to admit it or not is that the school jocks generally get away with more than the average person be it in high school or college. I’m not excusing what these guys did, I know their parents aren’t proud but I honestly don’t know too many people who didn’t drink underage (myself included) or too many guys who haven’t ventured into a strip bar or hired a strippers for bachelor parties, etc. The silence from the 88 or 86 Duke Profs is deafening. As for Nifong, he’s scum and will always be scum.
Sounds like a lynch mob atmosphere, tolerated by Duke and city police???
Maybe “reckless endangerment” - any attorneys out there??
Duke and the city are darn lucky nothing happened to any team members in this atmosphere.
Mr.P
Please read my post #46. 46 of the 47 members of the team willingly submitted to DNA testing and not one were found to have any connection to the accuser. The facts show that these boys did not rape this woman. Mike Nifong chose to persue this case, despite this evidence, and proceeded to drag these boys through a kangaroo court of public opinion willingly abetted by the faculty of Duke University. They were wrongly accused Period. They deserve reparation. No amount of money can bring back what they must have endured, but the people responsible for that need to pay, and I don’t mean financially, for the nightmare these boys and their families have been through.
At the private Christian University I attended, and now teach at, no athletes took science classes. Why? Because the department had a policy that one had to attend and actually do the work to pass the classes. Had nothing to do with being “dum” but it did have something to do with maintaining high standards. An education is earned, not purchased.
There is nothing “elitist” about demanding that course work actually be completed by everyone taking the class.
I hope they sue the pants off of Duke.
Sounds like college to me. Not to excuse their behavior, but find me any team on any campus where the coach can control what their players do on their own time. The school over reacted because of the “severity of the charge”
I attended a Christian University, was an athlete, majored in chemistry and minored in physics……thanks for perpetuating the stereotype…..
My son was caught drinking in the dorm, the first week he was at college. He attended a hearing, was fined and was put on notice that if caught again, would be thrown out. He never did it again[to my knowledge]. The point being, he did what many college-aged kids do, I don’t condone it, I’m glad he was punished, but he was never publicly humiliated, there was no press coverage, his reputation was not ruined. By Mr.P’s logic, if this was the case, he had it coming to him. The Duke boys punishment for partying against college rules, does not fit the crime.
and another chem major I graduated with was the star on the basketball team. We both graduated with honors and he went on to med school.
A Key Phase is:
The claim is likely to be that the Duke University officers both as individuals and as University activity damaged all the 38 players and did so knowingly. I am thinking that they will seek full lifetime income replacement for every player plus all the normal adds. One Hundred Million Plus per player is not out of the question. If they are able to break through the Corporate liability and go after the personnel assets of Duke Officials, the Duke officials will be start jumping ship and rat out as many of the others as they can.
Chill dude, you are reading way too much into my comment. If you missed more than one class in the science department you were failed, everybody. The baseball and basketball teams would leave town and the players would miss more than one class. Does not mean they are stupid it just means if you want to pass the science courses you have to actually attend the classes. What a concept, one has to actually attend the intended instruction and labs to pass.
Again, chill and stop reading into my comments.
What has anyone heard from the reverend Jesse Jackson? Why was he so vocal then and so quiet now? He ought to be included in the lawsuit!
The three falsely accused players made the following point after they were exonerated: how many more defendants who have been falsely accused have the resources to clear their names, have been faced with the choice of wiping out their life savings to defend themselves, settling for incompetent legal aid attorneys, or copping guilty pleas to offenses they never committed? Prosecutors like Nifong are given entirely too much leeway in conducting their offices, and a strict code of conduct is needed to prevent the abuses documented here.
On February 21st, 2008 at 2:03 pm, John Ansell said:
4. On accusing me of writing that letter to Michelle yesterday, I would say somebody has let his own emotions turn his IQ into a 10. My wife is Asian, I found that letter completely repulsive and expressed that fact in a post.
Hows it feel to be accused of something you didn’t do? Now magnify that by infinity and that’s what those guys are going through.
Kudos John Ansell… and a classic “Touche” to you sir! You hoisted him on his own (Mr.) P-Tard!
Are they still looking for the multiple men that are a DNA match for the semen collected inside her and in her panties- that did not match any member of the lacrosse team?
She did maintain that she was not a prostitute and that she is faithful to her boyfriend…
if she was raped, where is the investigation into who DID actually commit the offense on her?
When I look at my framed college degree, I always feel a little sense of pride, in achieving the degree, and in the school I attended. It is hanging in a place of pride in my home. These young men, if they earn their degrees from Duke, are robbed of that pleasure. Yes, they hold a degree from a prestigious university, but it will always be tainted by bitterness. They would rather have a diploma from some small community college, they will never go to Duke basketball games as proud alums and cheer like crazy, never wear a Duke sweatshirt with pride or put a “Duke Alumni” sticker on their car…. it is really sad for them. Yes, they were a little silly in their choice of “entertainment” one evening, but what college boy is not? I hope that Duke University pays up big time, enough so these guys can all finish their BAs or get Master’s degrees in a school that they will feel pride in.
That seems awfully strict. I was also in the education program. We would periodically be required to go, as a class, to spend a day here and there at various inner city schools. I occasionally (more than once) had to miss a class or two.
I always did the work, I was “reading into” your comment that if you didn’t make the class you couldn’t do the work, which of course you can if you plan adequately for it. We were not allowed to miss labs either but could schedule to do it at another time.
Your comment just stirred up memories of an Organic Chem professor that believed my entire college education revolved around HIS class……I don’t need to get started with him…..
His quote says nothing about people not attending his classes or missing labs due to away games. What he says is that he thinks the reason athletes don’t attend his class is because he ‘gives very hard reading.’ Implying that he thinks understanding tough literature is beyond an athlete’s ability.
Old Tanker - did we have the same Organic Chem professor? Or, as I kinda suspect, are they just all the same guy?
I think they’re all the same guy
Michelle - I wish you would update this with Duke’s response, which, I believe, essentially amounts to “The students have a complaint against NIFONG, but not the university”. Snort-worthy, indeed.
Why thanks. It wasn’t hard to do though.
Mister P needs to go over to Durham-in-wonderland, if he really wants to know the details of the case.
Like the fact the the accuser changed her story several times and in contradictory ways. That the accuser’s stories were contrary to the account given by the other stripper at the party. That one of the accused was at a ATM, miles away, when he was supposedly participating in the crime. That the Durham police, on Nifong’s direction, held a lineup with only suspects, in violation of their own procedures.
Nifong was removed from the case when his prosecutorial misconduct became exposed, first when it came out that Nifong conspired to suppress exculpatory evidence.
There were good reason for AG Roy Cooper ’s not merely dropping the charges against the lacrosse players, but going so far as to say that the players are innocent–not victims of a case with insufficient evidence, but innocent.
sorry, but innocent people are accused of crimes all the time.
sorry if my sympathy for the “lads” has run out. does anyone know if any of them even spent a night in jail?
talk about frivolous lawsuits.
derel3433 said:
sorry, but innocent people are accused of crimes all the time.
Yes, but seldom are the accusers backed up by institutions, or conspired against by corrupt DAs.
The case is strong.
the 3 wrongly accused already settled with Durham and Duke. looks like some fellows are hoping to get into the action.
lawsuits gone wild.
Mister P, you have misguided liberal leanings. The discrimination against the lighter skinned folks of this country is sickening. It is about time that people stand up to the multicultural/diversity/pc crap that is destroying America.
“LarryD”, MisterP knows all about the Duke case, he is an apologists for the people who can’t behave themselves and be held accountable.
Brooklyn wrote,
“Yes, but seldom are the accusers backed up by institutions, or conspired against by corrupt DAs.”
IMHO, this is more common than is reported. When Eliot Spitzer was New York’s attorney general, every one of his prosecutions, at least during his second term when he was running for governor, was politically motivated, justice be damned. Since his successor, Andrew Cuomo, is reportedly after Spitzer’s job, his prosecutions are suspect as well.
MrP ,you never saw this as a racial issue,you need to look again,this was complete racism.Most of the campus,admin and faculty jumped on the same horse to “get those white boys” for a woman of questionable character.It doesn’t get any more racist than that.
nbarry, good point & thanks for shining a light on heir Spitzer… but going after someone who is guilty because it makes you look good & KNOWLINGY persecuting the innocent cause it makes you look good, different, no?
Yes, Brooklyn, there is a distinction between the guilty and the innocent, but I don’t think it ever weighed on Spitzer’s conscience.
As an athlete and someone that has seen first hand what happens when a person is falsely accused of a sex crime-it won’t matter what the evidence says; there will always be people who believe that they are guilty or if nothing happened, then why were they accused in the first place.
If you think what happened to the Duke LAX team is a rarity, Check out the Innocence Project—21 males that served time in prison for false rape/sex crime conviction have been exhonerated.
This also doesn’t take into account the number of men who have lost their jobs, careers, and etc because a woman (not bashing)/military command knowingly made a false accusation despite the evidence to a person’s innocence. The cloud of suspicion never completely dissapates.
I know—a nurse never let me forgot (9 yrs after the incident) what she accused me of, despite what my patient said in my defense and her comments about three black HM’s that was raunchy before BET ever came into existence. The nurse, and the three HM’s weren’t punished, never fired, or held accountable for their actions. At the time EEO/Affirmative action didn’t apply to white males in the military, but times have changed and if this incident would have happened now-all four would be losing their jobs, the HM’s would facing a SCM and I would own the nurse’s license.
The other point that hasn’t been brought up is the damage to men and women that have been truly raped and how much harder its going to be for them to get justice because (pure speculation here) a defense attorney is going to bring up the Duke Lax rape case as proof that their client is being falsly accused.
For you trolls that think the gang of 88 or the protestors are going to forget-let the prof’s course syllabus be your wakeup call that still states that these guys are guilty. Short of the second coming of Yeshua, there is nothing that is going to change the minds of person who is convinced that the LAX team is guilty and just got away with rape.
GSP
Gunslinger. You are correct. There are many falsely accused men who have had their integrity questioned by simpleminded girls. I emailed the few remaining gang of 88 to request they say their were sorry for falsely accusing innocent people. NO RESPONSE. Cowards. Liars.
chiefrz-
simpleminded girls is not what comes to mind—hhhmmm….how about cold, calculating, scheming, and manipulative in playing a gulliable system for their own gain without any remorse, sense of shame or consequences.
Additionally, noticed that the Duke Lax press conference annoucing their lawsuit againt the university is noticeably absent from USA Today online edition, and The Comercial Appeal’s print edition.
Duke Lax and former Coach Mike Pressler, you guys and your families are to be commended. You have shown more courage, and integrity than mere words can express. Continue to keep up the good fight, and remember Harry S. Truman’s famous words; “Give ‘em Hell”
GSP
I really would like to see these young men sue the faculty that participated in the ‘lynch party’ crusade against them. Maybe then people like that would think twice about their rhetoric based on political correctness.
The University deserves a law suit - - it is their behavior and attitude that help create the witch hunt that resulted.
This should be a wake up call to all Americans to look at their own institutions and ask some questons about what exactly they stand for.