Posted on 04/12/2007 11:19:22 AM PDT by Reaganesque
And if that weren't enough, last January, some of the 88 defended themselves with an open letter to the Duke community. Here it is:
An Open Letter to the Duke Community
In the spring of 2006, the Duke community was rocked by terrible news. We heard that a woman hired to perform at a party thrown by our lacrosse team had accused members of the team of raping her. Neighbors, we were told, heard racial epithets called out at the woman as she departed the party. The criminal proceedings and the media frenzy which followed are perhaps beginning to wind down. For us at Duke, the issues raised by the incident, and by our community's responses to it, are not.
In April, a group of Duke faculty members published an advertisement in The Chronicle. The ad, titled "What does a Social Disaster Sound Like?" was mostly a compilation of statements made by Duke students in response to the incident and its immediate aftermath. This ad has figured in many discussions of the event and of the University's response. It has been broadly, and often intentionally, misread. We urge everyone to read the original ad, available at http://listening.nfshost.com/listening.htm. We have. Some of us were among the ad's signers.
The ad has been read as a comment on the alleged rape, the team party, or the specific students accused. Worse, it has been read as rendering a judgment in the case. We understand the ad instead as a call to action on important, longstanding issues on and around our campus, an attempt to channel the attention generated by the incident to addressing these. We reject all attempts to try the case outside the courts, and stand firmly by the principle of the presumption of innocence.
As a statement about campus culture, the ad deplores a "Social Disaster," as described in the student statements, which feature racism, segregation, isolation, and sexism as ongoing problems before the scandal broke, exacerbated by the heightened tensions in its immediate aftermath. The disaster is the atmosphere that allows sexism, racism, and sexual violence to be so prevalent on campus. The ad's statement that the problem "won't end with what the police say or the court decides" is as clearly true now as it was then. Whatever its conclusions, the legal process will not resolve these problems.
The ad thanked "the students speaking individually and...the protesters making collective noise." We do not endorse every demonstration that took place at the time. We appreciate the efforts of those who used the attention the incident generated to raise issues of discrimination and violence.
There have been public calls to the authors to retract the ad or apologize for it, as well as calls for action against them and attacks on their character. We reject all of these. We think the ad's authors were right to give voice to the students quoted, whose suffering is real. We also acknowledge the pain that has been generated by what we believe is a misperception that the authors of the ad prejudged the rape case.
We stand by the claim that issues of race and sexual violence on campus are real, and we join the ad's call to all of us at Duke to do something about this. We hope that the Duke community will emerge from this tragedy as a better place for all of us to live, study, and work.
So, once again, liberals caught in a lie resort to the old "we were deliberately misquoted" and "well, it illustrates a bigger truth" arguments. Truly, being Liberal means never having to say you're sorry.
FYI, the original ad had been posted on the webpage for the African-American Studies Department at Duke. Once it started to receive attention, however, they pulled it. The above image is from Google.
so where’s the Mea Culpa ad, apologizing to the fully vindicated 3 white dudes ? Guess it’ll be in tomorrow’s paper?
It'll happen the day after Duke gets the living hell sued out of them by the Lacrosse players, with these 88 idiots listed as co-defendants in the class action lawsuit!
And what do the PUKE left-wing anti-American professors want? They want the three males locked up so they can slobber on each other and do their pervert things.
Admitting a mistake, taking responsibility for your actions takes maturity, takes bravery, takes honesty. Three things no liberal has.
You will never hear a liberal admit a mistake because they are cowardly, immature, immoral bags of mostly water.
And besides, liberals are never wrong. We are just too stupid to understand their true meaning /sarcasm>
When you post these, will you please put DUKELAX in the keywords? Thanks.
The gang of 88 need to be IMUSed.
Oooops. Not "what allegedly happened," but "what happened." As in a rape by Duke LAX players. Calling any lawyers -- is that enough basis for a defamation suit? Hey, gang of 88: Get out your checkbooks. I expect that you'll be needing them...
... or admitting ever being wrong.
The “professors” acted like a pack of rabid dogs. Their pack mentality disregarded all the principles of our legal system, educated, contemplative deliberation and an atmosphere of open discussion we need in our higher institutions of learning. What is even worse, these sorry SOBs still defend their bigotry in spite of the fact that they are supposed to be educators in an institute of higher education where indoctrination and promotion of liberal politics seems to be the only purpose.
Our colleges have become “reeducation camps”.
I do not normally condone lawsuits, but in this case, I hope they set a record in damages and take the 88 for everything that isn’t nailed down.
I’m with you and do not normally condone lawsuits...in this case, I hope they set a record in damages and take the 88 Duke Lib Profs, the Duke President and Board, the City of Durham Police, the Crime Lab crook, the Accuser, the NYTimes and other MSM liars and the State of NC for a heap o’ $$s....and Nifong too!
Onward soldiers!
The problem with the ad is that it assumes that something happened to the young stripper. Nothing happened to her, she lied. The apology from the 88 profs should feature what they have done to the Duke community with their hate mongering and victim pimping.
The best thing that could happen to Duke would be an end to all multi culti post modern classes that teach hate and low expectations to minorities, instead of self reliance, dignity and high expectations. I took a look at the Duke African American studies web site and what I found is a preponderance of courses that emphasize the hip-hop culture, including a course in hip-hop journalism. The ethnic studies courses are worthless except as tickets to affirmative action slots in graduate schools. That’s the whole reason for the existence of these majors.
"We’re turning up the volume in a moment when some of the most vulnerable among us are being asked to quiet down while we wait. To the students speaking individually and to the protestors making collective noise, thank you for not waiting and for making yourselves heard."..and making total fools of yourselves.
Well, the Gang of 88 proved that, for the falsely accused white students, that statement is certainly true.
The white students could have added "we are taught and presumed to be guilty without trial by racist professors".
What does a social disaster sound like? From ranting Civil Rights leaders who still support a “victim” who is a proven liar to unapologetic college professors who made rash judgements based on the skin colors of the people involved - it sounds like paranoid ranting to me...
The pussification of America continues.
What does a Social Socialist Disaster Sound Like? Why, it sounds a whole lot like the Duke 88.
Take the stuff that's nailed down too.
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