http://www.newsobserver.com/1185/story/552972.html
Published: Mar 13, 2007 12:30 AM
Modified: Mar 13, 2007 05:06 AM
Support was absent, coach says
Krzyzewski is to appear tonight on HBO's 'Costas Now.'
By Anne Blythe, Staff Writer
DURHAM - Mike Krzyzewski, the face of Duke athletics, was virtually silent last spring as the lacrosse case put the school and its athletic teams under scrutiny.
Now, a year after an escort service dancer alleged being gang-raped at a lacrosse team party, the men's basketball coach says the university should have shown more support for the players.
"The one thing that I wish we would have done is just out, publicly say, 'Look, those are our kids. And we're gonna support 'em, because they're still our kids.' That's what I wish we would have done," Krzyzewski told Bob Costas, a sports commentator who has a television show on HBO. "And I'm not sure that we did -- I don't think we did a good job of that."
For months, bloggers and others have criticized Duke, accusing the university of not standing behind the players as the judicial process unfolded.
Since the spring, defense lawyers have poked gaping holes in the prosecution's case against three former lacrosse players -- David Evans, Collin Finnerty and Reade Seligmann. District Attorney Mike Nifong, the prosecutor who led the investigation, has resigned from the case and is in a battle to save his law license.
One segment of "Costas Now," an hour-long sports program that airs tonight at 10, will be a one-on-one interview with Krzyzewski, according to Kris Goddard with HBO Sports media relations. According to excerpts from the transcript, Krzyzewski criticizes Duke professors for their criticisms of big-time sports at the university.
"We had almost 100 professors come out publicly against certain things in athletics," Krzyzewski told Costas, "and I was a little bit shocked at that. But it shows that there's a latent hostility or whatever you want to say towards sports on campus. I thought it was inappropriate, to be quite frank with you."
Krzyzewski voiced similar feelings in June during his first extensive public comments about the impact of the case. He called those who used the occasion to attack athletics "very narrow-minded."
"I don't think there's a latent hostility," said Paula McClain, a political science professor who has questioned the role of big-time sports programs at top-tier research universities. "The questions about athletics are not just related to Duke. I'm sorry Coach K really feels like it's hostility toward athletics and such, because most faculty really appreciate Duke athletics."
The 'Group of 88'
Dozens of Duke professors have been targets of outrage for the past year for signing an advertisement that ran in the student newspaper shortly after the gang-rape allegations. Critics accuse the 88 professors who signed the ad of being too quick to condemn the players. The professors, or Group of 88 as bloggers have nicknamed them, brush aside the criticism, saying they were speaking out about issues of race, sexual violence and social elitism that plague the campus culture, not taking a stand on the guilt or innocence of the players.
President Richard Brodhead has been under fire, too, for not standing up for the players more. In December, as defense lawyers continued their assault on Nifong's case, Brodhead began to publicly criticize the prosecutor.
Krzyzewski, who also bears the title of special assistant to the Duke president, told Costas he did not speak out last spring because Brodhead did not ask him to do so.
"I met with my college president. I told Dick Brodhead, 'If you need me ... you tell me, and then put me in a position where I'm not the basketball coach. But I am that special assistant to you,' " Krzyzewski said. "Dick Brodhead did not bring me in."
(Staff writer Luciana Chavez contributed to this report.)
Staff writer Anne Blythe can be reached at 932-8741 or ablythe@newsobserver.com.
Staff writer Luciana Chavez contributed to this report.
http://www.newsobserver.com/1185/story/552956.html
Saunders: Published: Mar 13, 2007 12:30 AM
Modified: Mar 13, 2007 03:22 AM
Milestone for a millstone
Barry Saunders, Staff Writer
Hello, my name is Ba... CLICK. Uh, hi, I'm calling from The News and...
CLICK.
Even when I was able to get an entire introductory sentence out to whomever answers the phone at escort services, the closest I received to a printable reply was from the lady at University Girls. "We're sorry, sir," she said. "We don't want any."
Me: "Want any what? I'm not selling any..."
CLICK.
With today marking the anniversary of what is now universally known as the Duke lacrosse case, we know that Duke has implemented some changes. The school has not exactly cracked down on students -- nor should it have to, since everyone enrolled there is presumed to be grown -- but it is demanding that they behave.
Associate Dean of Students Stephen Bryan told me this week, for instance, about the student government association's "Don't F*** Up" (their phrase and spelling, not mine) campaign, as well as other efforts to urge students living off campus to be "good citizens."
Students will vote next month on a modified honor code regulating image-sullying behavior.
It's a good bet that, since the defense in the case has put both the accuser and District Attorney Mike Nifong on trial, every prosecutor in America will be more circumspect in pretrial statements the next time an incendiary case comes along.
It's an equally good bet, sadly, that the next time a woman is sexually assaulted, she'll think twice -- and twice more -- before reporting it.
But what about escort services? How have they changed?
Hmmm. What better way to acknowledge a sordid anniversary than calling an escort service and ordering up a couple of strippers.
No, please. Don't thank me.
C'mon, now. Not for real was I ordering exotic dancers or whatever you want to call them. I just wanted to see whether escort services have changed the way they operate.
The infamous party where the incident did or did not take place started March 13 when police said someone representing himself as a Duke baseball player called and requested entertainers for a few buddies.
Again, depending upon whom you believe, March 13 was the day a couple of strippers forced their way into a Bible study meeting at 610 N. Buchanan Blvd. and forced members of the Duke lacrosse team to watch as they gyrated. Or it's the day a stripper who went by the name Precious said three men sexually assaulted her as she tried to dance her way through college.
The emotions evoked by the charges and countercharges have died down, if not died. In the nights leading up to the anniversary, there've been no teary marches, no candlelight vigils, no chanting protesters. There were plenty of each a year ago, when 610 Buchanan was viewed as hallowed ground in the fight against sexual exploitation and racism.
Duke, to its credit, had already begun efforts to rehab its image and the houses it owns in that neighborhood before this incident took place. Or didn't.
We can all rejoice if the relationship between the city and the school can be fixed up.
Too bad the lives -- of three men or one woman, depending upon how you feel -- had to be destroyed for that to happen.
Call Barry at 836-2811 or send him e-mail at barrys@newsobserver.com.