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.

[Parmy]

"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."


There are two kinds of thinkers in the world. Linear thinkers and spherical thinkers. Linear thinkers don't think of the unintended consequences.

[SkyPilot]

Interesting factoid from the list you posted on that blog. Get a load of this.....

_______________________________________________________________________________

Anonymous said... The interesting part about this list is that there are a few people whose name appear in it who have being accused of rape or sexual harrassment. Alberto Moreiras, has a huge file with the university. it is surpring that with all the evidence against him, he would sign such a petition. He is a liar, fraud, and evil individual. the owner of this list should investigate the history of some of these professors. the dirt is wide and deep.

by a former duke student.

11:36 PM
oh, by the way Alberto Moreiras was caught having a gay affair with one of the Deans at Duke University...they would do cocaine and invite various students to their homes and hotels. having been caught he was summarily shipped off to Aberdeen University in egland to make it look like he had another job offer. these are the kinds of people who signed that petition. wow!!!

Alberto Moreiras
Department of Romance Studies

E-mail: moreiras@duke.edu
Phone: (919) 668-1950
Fax: (919) 684-8749
Office: 135 Franklin Center Box 90412

[BikerJoe]

Also, what in the world is "Romance Studies"?

Another completely useless course that growing Federal subsidies (through tuition loans) have helped fund.

Cut out the student loans and you'll see the universities cut back to useful studies.

As Ronaldus Maximus said: "Starve the Beast!"

[cubstoseries07]

Partner to me means a gay relationship when talking romanticaly.

My husband was my boyfriend and then my fiancee before he became my husband. He was also my friend friend before he became a boyfriend (we were friends for years before things blossomed). Actually we are starting a business so I think he then becomes my partner.

But my 2 brothers are going in with us so they are also my partners. And not being muslim we aren't into that sort of thing!

[cubstoseries07]

ITS PAT!

Honestly if you had put the picture up and said Identify male or female how many would have not been sure?

I've seen pro athletes that look more like women then her.

[CondorFlight]

It ain't over yet, and experience gives us no reason to be confident that North Carolina will do the right thing.

Make your voice heard.

Petition for Justice in the Duke Lacrosse case :

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

(Some cases are so important that innocence can't be allowed to be a defense.)

[econjack]

This is why I've never been a big fan of tenure. If the school wants to get rid of you, they can make your life miserable enough that you'll go quietly on your own.

[freespirited]

After the blogosphere picked up on the ad, professors each received hundreds of anonymous mass e-mails, most of which were racist, misogynistic and deeply personal profanity-laced diatribes. E-mail campaigns were targeted at specific, mostly African-American individuals, who received thousands of "ugly" e-mails.

Don't you love the way this is reported as fact? I'll believe it when I see the "hundreds of anonymous emails" that fit the description. No doubt the recipients will claim that these were so vile, they deleted them.

The professors do not really understand the outpouring of anger. One cited a conspiracy. Another cited the misinterpretation in the media. They all hope the hatred will subside, for Duke's and their own sakes.

I think this is DukeGroupSpeak for "We hope the boys and their parents don't sue our butts off."

[the Real fifi]

I hope these people are personally sued by the defendants. If the University officials had any brains they wouldn't have hired them in the first place, would have reined them in when they started up. Now they are going to pay big time for their cowardice and stupidity.

[RecallMoran]

"Although the party occurred March 13, the community first heard that three members of the lacrosse team allegedly raped, choked and sodimized a black stripper when District Attorney Mike Nifong forced 46 of the 47 lacrosse players to submit to photographs and provide DNA evidence March 23rd.

Four protests ensued during the next 48 hours, each attracting hundreds of students, professors and community members. Demonstrators at one rally, which was intended to be a "wake-up call" to raise awareness about sexual assault, held signs saying "You can't rape and run" and chanted, "It's Sunday morning, time to confess.""

WHERE DOES THE HATE COME FROM????? YOU leftists.
These guys didn't do ANYTHING except have a party with a stripper which is, by the way, not illegal. Violating civil rights through false accusations, harassment, etc. is. It had nothing to do with race. I guess that's where they go when they're just plain wrong and hateful. The nerve to complain about vitriolic emails--they published an ad with intent to harm. The two aren't even comparable.

[B-Chan]

She looks like Ugly Lesbo Sailor Moon.

[sauropod]

People like Diane Nelson should lose their tenure and be fired.

[SirJohnBarleycorn]

"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."

She is admitting here it was a political act on the part of the professors. That is the problem here. This lynch mob of professors is using their positions of trust and influence as teachers to advance their political agenda and to indoctrinate into their own anti-American ideology those whose education is entrusted to them.

How outrageous after the attempted lynching of these young men for these professors to now cast THEMSELVES as the victims. Of course they want pity, so as to escape what should be the just consequences of their actions.

[Verginius Rufus]

Actually, Aberdeen is in Scotland, not England. They should have shipped him to Aberdeen, SD, where Northern State University is located...but he might not have found that as welcoming as a British university.

"Romance Studies" at Duke seems to include French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian language and literature courses.

[Gatún(CraigIsaMangoTreeLawyer)]

For what does "ASS" stand...I mean "AAAS?"...Never mind.

[ishabibble]

Dr. Josef Mengele, the Nazi Angel of Death who oversaw the medical and biological experiments at Auschwitz and Dachau, was not a medical doctor. He was an anthropologist who had a twin fetish. He'd inflict all sorts of torture on one twin and watch the other to see if he/she was affected.

I am not the least bit surprised by your comments, and moreover, I believe that the study of anthropology is many times perverted to support these crimes.

[Erasmus]

Belt-fed.

[Melchior]

What do you mean I am wrong, "of course"?? Tel Aviv U. is a little Berkeley, and Harvard is a little Oregon.

[gcruse]

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

Smash and grab always has consequences. What good did this band-wagoning lyncher think would result except for his/her being perceived as highminded tenure-trash?

[Erasmus]

When I asked what they were doing, I was told they were simulating giving spiritual "rebirth to the Egyptian goddess Isis."

Well, isn't that special!

I guess it depends on what the meaning of Isis.