How can those people at the Duke (professors and administrators) even begin to defend their actions in the rush to villify the entire team - and to project the attributes they assigned to the team to a larger segment of society - wealthy white males.
There isn't even a precedent for this type of class attack in regard to criminal behavior - in the last 50 years in this country.
_
[begin exerpt] My guess is that you recognized that my "brilliant insights" were pretty much on target or you won't have responded as rapidly and as sarcastically as you did (the misspelling of your precious name is at the _end_ of the article, ain't it now, my loyal reader).
No, you're not a bigot like Tim Tyson or a malicious failed academic like Peter Wood.
But, Chafe, you must know that nobody much likes petty, tenured vigilantes who attack and prejudge their students from the comfort of their cush offices There's a pretty big power differential there, DEAN, in case you didn't notice. It's called being a bully. Without the facts in hand.
I, the real historians and the Duke community have only begun to explore the Duke faculty's deplorable conduct in this case. And that will be a conversation going on all year with your students. And with your colleagues. But not with you or with your fellow Chairs and Deans who have already shown your character by signing that reprehensible letter.
Don't worry, I'll make it fun. I'm good that way. The spelling of your name will be the least of your worries.
[end excerpt]
Department of History
Duke University
History seeks to develop insight into a particular period of past human experience, whether revolutions in France, China, or Russia; civil wars in England or the United States; colonial encounters of Africans and Native Americans with Europeans in the Americas; migrations of men and women among continents; or the evolution of social classes in different societies.
The methodological approaches explored in our courses range from traditional avenues of political, economic, military, and intellectual history to the newer fields of labor, social, oral, or comparative history.
http://fds.duke.edu/db/aas/history/faculty/specialty.html
What baffles many is why anyone would fork over $160,000 plus,
for degrees in this stuff. Unless of course it is only pocket change
to your parents. The Great basketball may partly justify the expenditure.