Duke president discusses rape case with students

ESPN ^ | 3/29/2006 | ESPN.com news services

[vic ryan]

Reverse the races involved. Change the sport to basketball and back up the date of the alleged offense to the middle of March and see if the administration's action would be the same. Wanna bet?

[hole_n_one]

I have no proof that the more serious crime(s) that have been alleged did in fact take place.

However, some of the players did admit to underage drinking, so, in actuality, a crime did occur.

I would expect that if a serious crime took place, witnesses would and should reveal all they know. If no serious crime took place and one was present at the time of the alleged incident, by the same token, reveal all they know and not simply clam up.

The DA has said that if he doesn't start getting cooperation, some may be charged with aiding and abetting.

Duke should tell the players (witnesses) to cooperate fully or they will be in danger of losing any scholarships and may be subject to expulsion from the University.......regardless of whether a crime took place or not.

[Republican Party Reptile]

Reverse the races involved (team and the girl). Change the sport to basketball or football, and the school to a mostly black college. And see if the reaction / comments on this thread would mostly be the same? Wanna bet?

[rogue yam]

Those that continue to refuse to cooperate with investigators should be charged with obstruction and of being an accessory after the fact.

You might oughta slow down a bit there, FRiend. So far the evidence that there is any crime for anyone to be an accessory to is pretty thin. And there seems to be a presumption of guilt on the part of some members of the Duke community. If my son was a part of this party, I'd ask him if he was part of any rape or saw any rape. If he said no and no I'd probably advise him to say nothing to anybody and let the police and the D.A. make their case. In a situation like this I'd be worried that some of these guys might get railroaded with major charges over some tiny infraction just so the University and the cops can get the PC nazis off of them.

[hole_n_one]

I suspect that you'd give your son the same advise if the answers were (no and yes) or (yes and yes).

[saleman]

"However, some of the players did admit to underage drinking, so, in actuality, a crime did occur"

Oh, my! Lets hang'em!

"The DA has said that if he doesn't start getting cooperation, some may be charged with aiding and abetting."

So put up or shut up. Charge away asshole. That's why these guys have lawyers.

"Duke should tell the players (witnesses) to cooperate fully or they will be in danger of losing any scholarships and may be subject to expulsion from the University.......regardless of whether a crime took place or not."

Yea, cause your under scholarship you forfeit your constitutional rights.

Look, if someone witnessed a crime then I'm the first one to say come forward. But...no crime has been charged and no one has been indicted and if there is a crime then charge them and prove it in court. And...Do you know any strippers? Well I do. And they're all (all I have ever known) professional con artists. Nothing personal, just an observation.

So you have a stripper, accusing college students, of rape. That's a terrible accusation. And a terrible crime. And I'll 99.8% bet you when all the facts come out this never goes to court. But the whole team and Duke can never get their reputation back.

[scrabblehack]

47 players on the roster? And only 12.6 of them are on scholarship? (http://hsbaseballweb.com/scholarships_by_sport.htm)

Or does the 47 entail both men's and women's lacrosse, in which case 24.6 of them are on scholarship?

I was wondering why the men were allowed 12.6 scholarships and the women only 12 (whereas in every other co-ed sport (the football/wrestling tax), the women have more scholarships). However I see (from uslacrosse.org -- I'm not a fan of the sport) that a men's team has 10 players at a time (4, almost 5 strings deep, if the 47 is men only?) and the women's team has 12 (only just over 2 strings deep if it's men's and women's). 2 strings deep makes a lot more sense.

Now why isn't there women's wrestling? I enjoyed GLOW much more than women's hockey.

[hole_n_one]

So far the evidence that there is any crime for anyone to be an accessory to is pretty thin.

I should really know better and dispense with the legal lingo that I hear on Law and Order.

lol!

[scrabblehack]

Hmmm....39 on UMass's roster (It was the first school I could find that played lacrosse that posted its roster on the web)...that's still almost 4 strings deep. Those Dukies wouldn't have expanded the roster to 47 just to get a black player on it, would they?

[Ninian Dryhope]

"Fifteen of the 47 members of the team have been charged with offenses ranging from underage alcohol possession, violating open container laws, loud noise and public urination,"

Wow, it sounds like they were a bunch of hard core criminals. It is only a small step from playing one's stereo too loud at a party to raping an "exotic" dancer, as everyone knows.

[Ninian Dryhope]

"We understand that the legal system is that you are innocent until proven guilty," said sophomore Kristin High. "But"...we still think that the players should be tarred and feathered, then lynched, just to show everyone how politically correct Duke is, just in case they had any doubts.

[Ninian Dryhope]

"people are nervous and afraid that these people are going to get away with what they did because of a wealthy privilege, or male privilege, or a white privilege."

Mustn't have anyone being afraid. That will never do.

[Ninian Dryhope]

Those that continue to refuse to cooperate with investigators are doing so on the advice of their lawyer. When in the middle of a $hit storm, one should get a good lawyer and follow his advice.

[AFPhys]

I am very offended about the stonewalling of the Duke players. Don't get me wrong: I really DO like Duke in general. It was called to my attention that Duke has pulled their roster off their web site. I spent a while working on getting the roster from somewhere on the web. They seem to have worked really hard to get rid of all Google's caches, etc... but I finally found their roster! Here it is!

 Team Page:
2006 Roster
#	Pos.	Name..........	Yr.	Hometown	G	A	P
40	a	matt danowski	jr	farmingdale, ny	12	14	26
25	a	zack greer	so	whitby, ontar	17	7	24
12	a	dan flannery	sr	garden city, ny	11	12	23
10	m	matt zash	sr	massapequa, ny	14	6	20
15	m	kyle dowd	sr	e northport, ny	16	
2	18
1	m	peter lamade	jr	chevy chase, md	4	3	7
22	m	ned crotty	fr	new vernon, nj	4	3	7
24	m	bret thompson	sr	chevy chase, md	4	3	7
7	a	gibbs fogarty	fr	chevy chase, md	3	2	5
18	m	brad ross	so	darnestown, md	3	2	5
19	a	josh coveleski	so	dover, del	4	1	5
2	a	chris loftus	so	syosset, ny	2	1	3
5	m	kj sauer	sr	east rockaway, ny	1	2	3
13	a	collin finnerty	so	garden city, ny	2	1	3
11	m	fred krom	jr	summit, nj	2	0	2
20	m	steve schoeffel	fr	charlottesville, va	1	1	2
29	m	mike catalino	fr	webster, ny	1	1	2
3	d	chris tkac	fr	gaithersburg, md	0	1	1
4	g	dan loftus	jr	syosset, ny	0	1	1
14	m	john walsh	jr	bethesda, md	0	1	1
27	m	michael young	so	manhasset, ny	1	0	1
45	m	reade seligmann	so	essex fells, nj	1	0	1
77	d	nick o'hara	jr	orachard park, ny	0	1	1
6	d	david evans	sr	bethesda, md	0	0	0
8	m	ed douglas	sr	baltimore, md	0	0	0
9	m	michael ward	jr	setauket, ny	0	0	0
17	d	tom clute	fr	potomac, md	0	0	0
21	m	matt wilson	jr	durham, nc	0	0	0
23	d	erik henkelman	sr	swathmore, pa	0	0	0
26	m	ben koesterer	so	cazenovia, ny	0	0	0
28	m	dan oppedisano	jr	garden city, nj	0	0	0
30	g	rob schroeder	so	summit, nj	0	0	0
31	m	bo carrington	so	charlottesville, va	0	0	0
32	m	sam payton	fr	cos cob, conn	0	0	0
34	d	kevin mayer	so	great falls, va	0	0	0
36	a	adam langley	so	glenview, il	0	0	0
37	d	casey carroll	jr	baldwin, ny	0	0	0
38	m	breck archer	jr	sea cliff, ny	0	0	0
41	d	ryan mcfadyen	so	mendham, nj	0	0	0
42	d	glenn nick	sr	garden city, ny	0	0	0
43	d	william wolcott	sr	dallas, texas	0	0	0
44	d	tony mcdevitt	jr	philadelphia, pa	0	0	0
46	d	kevin coleman	sr	ridgewood, nj	0	0	0
47	d	dan theodoridis	fr	norwalk, conn	0	0	0
48	m	rob wellington	so	dallas, texas	0	0	0
50	g	devon sherwood	fr	freeport, ny	0	0	0

[wrathof59]

Len, if you are ever accused, you say nothing, absolutely nothing

[SkiHatGuy]

"Police said three players who live at the house where the party took place spoke with investigators and voluntarily provided samples March 16. A scheduled meeting between detectives and the rest of the team was later canceled by the players' attorney, and District Attorney Mike Nifong said Wednesday the players still refuse to speak with investigators."

The DA's grandstanding has made this so. The players are following the advice of their attorneys. Why cooperate with a DA that is using you as a sacrificial lamb to get re-elected? The DNA will come back next week. We'll know more then.

[saleman]

An "I told you so" Ping!

[airborne]

"We understand that the legal system is that you are innocent until proven guilty," said sophomore Kristin High. "But people are nervous and afraid that these people are going to get away with what they did because of a wealthy privilege, or male privilege, or a white privilege."

Innocent until proven white!

[Ken H]

How did the crow taste?

[ken21]

it reminds me of the 1950s when i was a child and the structural racism in the american south.

now, today, it's reversed.

same south, new racism against whites.