Duke rape case still splits faculty after a year of tension (DukeLax update)

Associated Press ^ | March 12, 2007 | Staff

[abb]

The Drive-By Media does what it does best. Leaves blood and guts in its wake, and then reports on it after someone else cleans up the mess.

[abb]

Ping

[abb]

More of the interview here:

http://www.wral.com/news/state/story/1232022/

[OldFriend]

The story will never be forgotten, nor should it be forgotten.

Both Nifong and Duke will live in infamy for their callous disregard for the lives of those falsely accused.

[Bob]

But he says he has always emphasized the players' presumption of innocence.

...which he demonstrated by canceling the lacrosse season immediately after the accusations were made.

[freekitty]

I think the students are right to hold these teachers accountable and responsible for their actions. Finally people can now see what is happening on our campuses and if anyone thinks the left is protecting, in this case, the students they teach, think again.

[maggief]

"We have to deal with this situation and we will," he said. "But it's been our job to remember that we have a university here, and after this story is long forgotten, that university is going to go on."

The story has only just begun ...

[patton]

Interesting.

[Locomotive Breath]

But he says he has always emphasized the players' presumption of innocence.

...which he demonstrated by canceling the lacrosse season immediately after the accusations were made.

Yes, he was always careful to include a "innocent until proven guilty" safe-harbor provision in every statement. Then he would go on and on about what a horrible crime rape is and how it should be condemned and anyway, even without the rape, "what they did was bad enough". Nothing there to fuel the fire is there?

[geezerwheezer]

Sounds like a lot of the same ol' stuff coming from a academic fraud of a university president. Throw those slings and arrows of outrageous fame and if they hit, then claim "you didn't mean it." That is what this jerk is claiming and it is a liberal lie!

[Carolinamom]

It's still all about THEM, not the 3 students they abandoned.

[ltc8k6]

It'll be forgotten when the War of Northern Aggression is forgotten. :-)

[writmeister]

"I believe the feeding frenzy of the last few months has scarred the intellectual community, largely because of the tone of the e-mails and the insinuations made," Chafe said in an e-mail from Europe, where he is teaching this semester. "There has been little willingness to presume good faith on the part of anyone, or to admit that there could be some justice on all sides of the issue. There is now fear on the part of many faculty to speak out lest they too become targets."

Funny. I do not remember Professor Chafe showing any presumption of good faith toward the LAX players.

[Constitutions Grandchild]

abb, while the local media may have made a mess of the coverage, believing as most people do, that there's no way someone in the D.A.'s position could make such a mockery of the system or that there's no possibility that a woman in the AV's situation would be brazen enough to lie about what happened (whether it was, in fact, a rape at all, or who did it), I still say had it not been for media coverage of this case, these young men would be convicted and serving their sentence out as we post. The media dealt far more kindly with Duke that most of us who have followed this case would have.

If there's a mess on Duke's campus, I'm sorry. The University definitely has issues to address, and Brodhead had better get a move on. They also need a strong dose of common sense and a refresher course in Constitutional Law.

I am still concerned that this review of the case is taking far too long. I wanted it to be thorough, but this is a rough time to be one of the three young men or a member of their families. North Carolina had better get it right or there will be absolute hell to pay -- and I don't mean from the far left or the far right, but from normal Americans (black and white) who can see the handwriting on the wall for our system of justice.

[Tribune7]

Critics should recognize the ad was published "against the background of the DA speaking with certainty about a rape having taken place," he said.

But before a trial and conviction. This crowd makes me sick.

[bjc]

The only reason for caution in ousting Brodhead is that there are even worse characters in close proximity, viz., Harvard

[ishabibble]

"In recent months we have lost some of our ability to exercise these qualities in speaking with one another," Lange said. "In the face of this decay some have become strident, harsh or unhearing; others have retreated from the public arena." - Balless Wonder Provost Peter Lange.


http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1799697/posts

This is a story about real men.

[Eva]

Opponents of the Group of 88 regret there were personal attacks, but say criticism is warranted. They say some colleagues exploited the players' predicament to advance their radical agendas — and it backfired.

Says it all.

[San Jacinto]

The drive-by's have plenty of blame to share in this matter, but they didn't create the group of 88. I'm glad to see this report that there has been some negative fall-out on the real racists on campus.

And as for brodhead, he is just a bald-faced liar:

But he says he has always emphasized the players' presumption of innocence.

At most, he gave a passing nod. It was never emphasized--or is he referring to when the players were kicked out of school?

[CondorFlight]

It ain't over yet. The defendants STILL face 30 years in prison. And if North Carolina was willing to retry Gell in a death penalty case(knowing he was innocent) in order to spare the state from political fallout, do you think it wouldn't still try to convict these three? (And the prosecutor in the Gell case is now the Special Prosecutor in the Duke case.)

Petition for Justice in the Duke Lacrosse Case :

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/208340697

Rock the boat. Let the NC authorities know that the spotlight
is focused on them now.