They Found 88 Problems, and the Dancer Was Just One

The Chronical On-Line (Duke) ^ | 16 March 07 (updated) | Steve Veres

[SkyPilot]

This is their story.

This is the story of professors who tried to listen to their students and sparked a shouting match that overpowered any original statement.

This is the story of how an 832-word advertisement in a student newspaper sparked thousands of vitriolic, misogynist and racist e-mails and became a national media spectacle.

This is the story of how faculty received phone calls in the middle of the night, endured mail fraud and overcame death threats for speaking out.

Many view the "Group of 88"--as the signatories were eventually dubbed by bloggers--as a symbol of the community prejudging the lacrosse team. Of the out-of-touch ideals of academia. Of hate.

They have been accused of damaging the very same campus culture they intended to address, of forcing President Richard Brodhead to cancel the remaining games of the lacrosse season, of spurring District Attorney Mike Nifong to indict.

How did it reach this point?

"When you take a political stance, this is what happens sometimes-people resist that," says Diane Nelson, associate professor of cultural anthropology. "None of us want pity."

"I, for one, did not think through all of the unintended consequences, nor did I believe almost a year later it would be dissected in the Chronicle of Higher Education and the subject of such acrimony," says Lee Baker, another associate professor of cultural of anthropology and chair of the Arts and Sciences Council.

[SkyPilot]

Just who are the "Gang of 88?"

Good question.

If anyone has the full list of the 88 "professors" from Duke who contributed to the lynch mob justice of DA Nifong, please post them here.

I'll start with Diane Nelson, associate professor of cultural anthropology (whatever that means), who was mentioned in the above article.

_{Diane M Nelson, Associated
Associate Professor, Cultural Anthropology}

Today's NY Post has a very small blurb that says the North Carolina special prosecutor is denying news leaks they will soon drop all charges against the three young men in the Duke case.

I am not surprised.

They know that those charges are the only thing stopping a wave of law suits against Durham, Duke University, former DA Nifong, Crystal Magnum (the accuser), Kim Roberts (second dancer), the Durham Police, and so many others.

Today;s NY Post also has an article by John Podhoretz titled DUKE: WHO WON'T PAY

In it, he says the Gang of 88 will be protected and won't be punished.

They should not get off this easy.

[SkyPilot]

Howlin, can you ping your list?

[edcoil]

"Just who are the "Gang of 88?"

They are a hate group that reserves it hate for their fellow Americans and everyone else gets a pass.

[Redbob]

THIS is the story of self-righteousness...

[true_blue_texican]

Is that a girl in that pic? Looks like a drunk-@ss freshman fool (guy that is).

[kalee]

"I, for one, did not think"

Mr Baker should have stopped right there, because that says it all; he and the other 87 didn't think.

[randog]

Sounds like a whole lotta backpedalin' goin' on. That's OK; they can explain it to the Duke board of trustees when the accused drop multi-million dollar lawsuits in their laps.

[Howlin]

DukeLax Ping!!

[HamiltonJay]

I, for one, did not think through all of the unintended consequences

No, You didn't, in fact you didn't THINK at all... you "REACTED" and reacted to what you WANTED and ASSUMED to be true, not what was true, because your world view is so vested in American and White Wealth as the enemy and black as the perpetual victim, that you could not remotely imagine that anything but that could be true.

Liberals are some of the most racist people on the planet, but are completely unable to recognize it about themselves.

[pabianice]

Welcome to the world of 'Feminist Anthropology,' as corrupt and man-hating as any philosophy to drop from modern feminism. One tenet is that all sexual relations between men and women a rape.

[AD from SpringBay]

Those same 88 should be just as quick to write a second letter, one apologizing for their rush to judgement before a trial. They should apologize for overturning the idea of, 'innocent until proven guilty.' Diversity should no longer be a free ticket to override the principals set forth by this nation's founders.

[goodwithagun]

What a crock of s***! Those boys were persecuted because they are white males! Those boys should sue the whole lot. Even if they didn't get a dime from them, the boys should at least make their lives a living hell. Put the 88 though what those boys went through.

Further more, parents of white male Duke student athletes should pull their kids out of that university and enroll them somewhere else. What would that say to the powers that be?

[FlipWilson]

Quote: "Just who are the "Gang of 88?"

They are any college faculty USA.

[FreedomPoster]

I have the pdfs of the original ad, plus the list of the 88, that I downloaded from a duke.edu server last Spring. From the department of African Studies, or some such.

FReepmail me your email, I'd be glad to send them to you, if someone doesn't have them hosted somewhere, and you want them.

Here's the list, cut'n'pasted from that.

Abe, Stan (Art, Art History, and Visual Studies)
Albers, Benjamin (University Writing Program)
Allison, Anne (Cultural Anthropology)
Aravamudan, Srinivas (English)
Baker, Houston (English and AAAS)
Baker, Lee (Cultural Anthropology)
Beckwith, Sarah (English)
Berliner, Paul (Music)
Christina Beaule (University Writing Program)
Blackmore, Connie (AAAS)
Jessica Boa (Religion & University Writing Program)
Boatwright, Mary T. (Classical Studies)
Boero, Silvia (Romance Studies)
Bonilla-Silva, Eduardo (Sociology)
Brim, Matthew (University Writing Program)
Chafe, William (History)
Ching, Leo (Asian & African Languages and Literatures)
Coles, Rom (Political Science)
Cooke, Miriam (Asian & African Languages and Literatures)
Crichlow, Michaeline (AAAS)
Curtis, Kim (Political Science)
Damasceno, Leslie (Romance Studies)
Davidson, Cathy (English)
Deutsch, Sally (History)
Dorfman, Ariel (Literature & Latin American Stds.)
Edwards, Laura (History)
Farred, Grant (Literature)
Fellini, Luciana (Romance Studies)
Fulkerson, Mary McClintock (Divinity School)
Gabara, Esther (Romance Studies)
Gavins, Raymond (History)
Greer, Meg (Romance Studies)
Glymph, Thavolia (History)
Hardt, Michael (Literature)
Harris, Joseph (University Writing Program)
Holloway, Karla (English)
Holsey, Bayo (AAAS)
Hovsepian, Mary (Sociology)
James, Sherman (Public Policy)
Kaplan, Alice (Literature)
Khalsa, Keval Kaur (Dance Program)
Khanna, Ranjana (English)
King, Ashley (Romance Studies)
Koonz, Claudia (History)
Lasch, Peter (Art, Art History, and Visual Studies & Latino/a Studies)
Lee, Dan A. (Math)
Leighten, Pat (Art, Art History, and Visual Studies)
Lentricchia, Frank (Literature)
Light, Caroline (Inst. for Crit. U.S. Stds.)
Litle, Marcy (Comparative Area Studies)
Litzinger, Ralph (Cultural Anthropology)
Longino, Michele (Romance Studies)
Lubiano, Wahneema (AAAS and Literature)
Maffitt, Kenneth(History)
Mahn, Jason (University Writing Program)
Makhulu, Anne-Maria (AAAS)
Mason, Lisa (Surgical Unit-2100)
McClain, Paula (Political Science)
Meintjes, Louise (Music)
Mignolo, Walter (Literature and Romance Studies)
Moreiras, Alberto (Romance Studies)
Neal, Mark Anthony (AAAS)
Nelson, Diane (Cultural Anthropology)
Olcott, Jolie (History)
Parades, Liliana (Romance Studies)
Payne, Charles (AAAS and History)
Pierce-Baker, Charlotte (Women’s Studies)
Pebles-Wilkins, Wilma
Petters, Arlie (Math)
Plesser, Ronen (Physics)
Radway, Jan (Literature)
Rankin, Tom (Center for Documentary Studies)
Rego, Marcia (University Writing Program)
Reisinger, Deborah S. (Romance Studies)
Rosenberg, Alex (Philosophy)
Rudy, Kathy (Women’s Studies)
Schachter, Marc (English)
Shannon, Laurie (English)
Sigal, Pete (History)
Silverblatt, Irene (Cultural Anthropology)
Somerset, Fiona (English)
Stein, Rebecca (Cultural Anthropology)
Thorne, Susan (History)
Viego, Antonio (Literature)
Vilaros, Teresa (Romance Studies)
Wald, Priscilla (English)
Wallace, Maurice (English and AAAS)
Wong, David (Philosophy)

[GOPJ]

Liberals look in the mirror and see the "lynch mob mentality" they supposedly stand against.

Hypocrites exposed ... what a hoot.

[goodwithagun]

I had to take a women's poetry class in college. I did not want to, but it was the only class that fit into my schedule and I just wanted to graduate. This woman(?) reminds me of the professor. I was criticized by her for referring to the man I was dating as my "boyfriend." She corrected me by saying, "Don't you mean your partner?" My reply was that he was not my partner, we did not have any legal agreements with each other. I married the man a couple years later. Sometimes we jokingly refer to each other as a partner just to make fun of the professor, and other twits like her.

[bboop]

That 'woman' -- and I use the word loosely -- I sure wouldn't pay to teach my kid. "We didn't think of the consequences." DUH. Some lame excuse. I'd love to see real justice in this.

[FlipWilson]

Quote: "Sounds like a whole lotta backpedalin' goin' on. That's OK; they can explain it to the Duke board of trustees when the accused drop multi-million dollar lawsuits in their laps."

I hope that they win and drain the Duke endowment to nothingness. For far too long colleges and universities have allowed faculty free reign in the name of "academic freedom." Academic freedom is all fine and dandy when you live in the bubble of campus. But when the endowment gets hit, it is a real world (where the rest of us live) event. Perhaps Duke will be an example to other Universities and they will start to re-think academic tenure.

[Fresh Wind]

Here's the list:

http://crystalmess.blogspot.com/2006/09/dear-cowards.html

[Sue Perkick]

What the.......