Posted on 02/22/2016 8:08:22 AM PST by reaganaut1
Next month will be the tenth anniversary of the spring break party that triggered the Duke lacrosse case. That incident probably remains the highest-profile false rape claim in recent U.S. history—rivaled only by the claim against University of Virginia fraternity members leveled, and then retracted, by Rolling Stone.
That both of these false accusations occurred on a campus should come as no surprise. A general disinterest in due process for accused students combined with a one-sided intellectual atmosphere on questions related to gender make universities poorly suited to evaluate sexual assault allegations. The lacrosse case, moreover, added race and class to the mix.
From the standpoint of a faculty dominated by the race/class/gender trinity, the purported facts proved too tempting to resist: wealthy, white males accused of brutally attacking a poor, African-American female. And so dozens of Duke professors abandoned the academy’s traditional fealty to due process to embrace the version of events offered by Durham’s unethical (and subsequently disbarred) district attorney, Mike Nifong.
In their most prominent action, eighty-eight Duke faculty members signed a public statement affirming that something “happened†to Crystal Mangum. They actually boasted of their closed-mindedness by promising to continue their crusade regardless of “what the police say or the court decides.â€
And after high-profile protests that had urged the castration of the lacrosse captains and blanketed the campus with “wanted†posters containing 43 of the lacrosse players’ photos, the Duke faculty members had a message for the protesters: “Thank you for not waiting and for making yourselves heard.â€
Why was it so important for the protesters not to have waited until the facts were known? Not a single member of the Group of 88 has ever explained.
(Excerpt) Read more at popecenter.org ...
-a one-sided intellectual atmosphere-
There seems to be a lot of that in this country these days.
If it was the Duke Basketball team we would never have heard about it.
Young black men: 3% of the population. 50% of the murder.
Duke lacrosse was meant to hide the truth we all know about black culture.
A rare white on black crime, even a false accusation, is milked for all it’s worth.
The MSM does their best to hide the truth... you're right on that...
These 88 professors and the Duke community, need to be reminded, 10 years later, of their close-mindedness.
What I want to know is, did the liberals ever write a play about this incident like they do with all their other celebrated causes?
Where's the sorrowful three act play that illustrates how in Act One three innocent young white men from wealthy families were castigated by bloodthirsty pot-banging liberal racial activists before the facts in the case were known, how in Act Two they were maligned by an evil prosecutor with an insidious agenda, and in Act Three their fiendish accuser is charged with murder, the evil prosecutor is himself brought to justice, and the rich young white men are exonerated and live happily ever after on Wall Street?
You'd think a story of injustice and redemption would be a smash hit with the liberals and pack them into the playhouses to see that production. But, NOoooo.
Ping
I remember reading a book about this case a few years ago.
What happened there was truly horrifying.
I told my kids that if they insisted on attending Duke that I would disown them.
And I would have.
>> This scandal cost Duke University $100 million <<
You may be correct. I just dunno.
But I thought the parties to the settlement had agreed to keep the amount forever secret.
Are you sure that the amount was ONLY one hundred million?
ping
Bump! Many of us spotted the flaws in the story almost immediately. It just took a while for reality to bite the people who believed the story.
The amount they settled with the players for was reported to be $20 million each.
Great article, thanks for the post and the ping.
It’s amazing how Libs are consistently wrong on high profile cases, thinking about this case as well as Ferguson, in particular.
Boy, no kidding. You sure did nail it with that post of yours.
Cultural judicial outrage is only reserved for one side of the political spectrum.
At least Michael Nifong (the DA) and Crystal Magnum (the bogus victim) both ended up in jail, although Crystal got there because she murdered someone. Nifong was also disbarred. The Duke 88 and the university backed some real winners.
>> Michael Nifong (the DA) and Crystal Magnum (the bogus victim) both ended up in jail <<
Yeah, but Nifong was jailed for only 24 hours. Certainly not enough!
On the other hand, not only was he disbarred, but also he was ruined financially, due to civil claims against him that amounted to almost $200 million. That seems like a fairly good dose of justice.
In the meantime, Richard Brodhead’s reign as Duke U’s prez rested more-or-less undisturbed. The fact that he wasn’t defenestrated forthwith is a lasting stain on Duke’s reputation. Ditto for Brodhead’s supporters on the Board of Trustees. They deserve a big heaping of contempt.
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