Posted on 06/20/2007 2:53:32 AM PDT by Lonesome in Massachussets
Duke deal shields faculty
Some spoke out after rape claims
Anne Blythe and Eric Ferreri, Staff Writers DURHAM - Duke University's settlement with exonerated lacrosse players gives legal protection to faculty members, some of whom have been under siege for speaking out in the wake of the gang-rape allegations. Neither side would disclose the terms of the agreement, announced Monday, but Duke's faculty chairman, Paul Haagen, informed professors that one provision is that all faculty members have been released from liability related to the lacrosse case.
That news sparked another round of vitriolic messages from e-mailers and bloggers still exercised over a student newspaper ad signed in the spring of 2006 by 88 Duke professors, who decried a campus culture of racism and sexism.
As Duke shut the door on lawsuits by the players in the lacrosse case, the Durham County sheriff on Tuesday slammed shut District Attorney Mike Nifong's access to the courthouse where he has worked 29 years. Orlando Hudson, the county's chief resident Superior Court judge, entered an order suspending Nifong with pay.
Sheriff Worth Hill went to Nifong's house Tuesday morning, after a courtesy call to let him know he was on his way, and confiscated the district attorney's keys and access card to the courthouse. Arrangements will be made so Nifong can collect his personal belongings from an office he has occupied since April 2005.
Nifong was found guilty last week of ethics violations and professional misconduct in his handling of the lacrosse case by an N.C. State Bar disciplinary panel. The panel ruled that he should be disbarred. The disbarment does not take effect until 30 days after a written order is entered, and that could be several weeks.
Nifong on Monday submitted resignation letters to Hudson and Gov. Mike Easley, laying out a timetable that caused dismay among his critics. Nifong said he would step down July 13 -- not soon enough for people who worried that Nifong's being in office would do more damage to a court system struggling to restore its image.
In Nifong's absence, assistant district attorneys are handling the office's caseload.
"Everything is running smoothly," said Candy Clark, the district attorney's administrative assistant.
Once there is a vacancy, Easley must appoint a replacement. Easley began talking with potential candidates and others Tuesday about who Nifong's successor should be.
"He wants to do that as soon as he can," said Seth Effron, a spokesman for the governor. "Some of the limitations are based on what the law says."
In his order, Judge Hudson said Nifong's conduct in the Duke lacrosse case was "prejudicial to the administration of justice" and had brought disrepute to the District Attorney's Office.
Efforts to reach Nifong failed.
Duke's reasoning
Duke, too, is struggling to restore its image, and that, legal experts say, is one reason the university would settle such a case.
"This was an unprecedented situation, the likes of which we believe will not recur, and it was dealt with accordingly," said John Burness, Duke's chief spokesman. "The settlement covers all matters related to the situation to date involving Duke and its employees, including members of the Duke faculty."
The money came from a legal fund, not an endowment, Burness said, but he would not disclose how much money was in the fund.
Duke trustees, who approved the settlement, either declined to discuss it or could not be reached for comment.
The agreement with the families and the players is the third settlement stemming from the lacrosse case. The university settled with Mike Pressler, the head lacrosse coach forced to resign last spring at the height of the accusations against the players. Recently, the university also settled with Kyle Dowd, a former lacrosse player who complained of receiving a bad grade because of his association with the team.
Paula McClain, a political science professor who on July 1 becomes chairwoman of Duke's Academic Council, said Tuesday that she hopes the settlement allows the university to move forward. Removing faculty members from any liability likely just made good sense, said McClain, who was not part of the legal discussions.
"I don't know if any faculty really felt any liability," she said. "But in a very litigious society, anyone can sue for anything."
In March 2006, lacrosse players hired two escort service dancers for a spring break party that ended with one of the dancers making allegations of gang-rape.
The accusations triggered an uproar in Durham and on the Duke campus.
Word of the settlement apparently sparked an increase in the number of furious e-mail messages that McClain and some of her colleagues have received since endorsing an ad placed in the student newspaper, The Chronicle. The ad featured anonymous quotes from students who described a campus culture of racism and sexism, decrying "what happened to this young woman."
The ad did not mention the lacrosse team, but it was viewed by some as a condemnation of the players. It became a popular target of bloggers, a symbol of political correctness run amok.
The messages -- and the occasional fax -- range from critical to downright racist and threatening. McClain, who is black, reports the worst of them to campus police.
McClain rarely responds to the e-mail messages. "I'm not going to be intimidated into modulating speech," she said.
(Staff writers Benjamin Niolet and Joseph Neff contributed to this report.)
Staff writer Anne Blythe can be reached at 932-8741 or anne.blythe@newsobserver.com. Staff writers Benjamin Niolet and Joseph Neff contributed to this report.
I was busy digging up the info while you were posting.
Hmmm... just checking Wikipedia, it doesn’t have an entry yet for the Duke “Gang of 88”. Maybe that will become a little weekend project.
the problem is this is NOT ATIPICAL.
This happens every single day in universities and prosecutorial offices.
(consider the Palm Beach Bar Complaint over thelimbaugh case, same identical media manipulations and no result)
also this prosecutor is just the poster child for charging anything in order to pressure a plea bargain. Force the defendant to choose between cost of defense to just getting back to what is left of their life.
and used against them as an admission.
These professors were on a very serious hook.
They had no accademic first amendment protection.
This is not about duke protecting professors, this is about duke protecting duke.
The appology ad might not be admissible by the plaintiff but if the defendant introduces it in trial, the plaintiff can use it to show an admission of liability.
These professors will not be emboldened but this settlement and need for duke to get them off the hook is damning on their careers outside of the ivory tower.
If a crime is a crime it is a crime, I say...
With Pay!
And the 88 dirtbags walk free??
Cordio
Wadda I hafta do? Scarify myself?
Any legal types on this morning?
This makes no sense to me. Duke didn't officially direct the 88 faculty members to do what they did. How could Duke legally cover for them? Is it just a matter of choice, that Duke can do so just because they chose to?
“It is the only way out of this mess.”
Evidently not.
It’s just as well the faculty was shielded....no way a white kid could win in a Durham court....they don’t call it “brown town” for nothing....no way a black jury would award those boys a cent....they still believe a rape happened and the white estblishment covered it up.
.....and BTW those guys might have come from prosperous families but they were there on SCHOLARSHIPS!!!....that means they worked their asses off to get that good...it had nothing to do with family circumstances....nobody says a black kid who plays for Coach K is “privledged” because he plays at Duke....the kid spent years practicing/playing to get to that level....he’s an elite athlete.
When you say things like this you make conservatives appear both ignorant and stupid. Romance studies means romance languages and literature, i.e. french, spanish, portuguese, italian, romanian, and various dialects thereof. It is a serious academic subject and you do your cause and ours no good by sneering.
>>As Duke shut the door on lawsuits by the players in the lacrosse case...<<
This is a very poorly written article!
I was unaware that a university had the legal authority to prevent citizens from filing law suits against other private individuals. That IS what the above statement alleges.
I agree hate crimes are complete crap!
“I was unaware that a university had the legal authority to prevent citizens from filing law suits against other private individuals. That IS what the above statement alleges.”
If the university makes a shield integral to the settlement, and you sign on the bottom line, then they are simply holding you to the terms of the contract, which you signed.
Article makes the vile Paula McClain sound like the victim here...... she IS one of the “Duke 88” who poured gasoline on the fire, and now she’s gotten herself promoted to a very senior spot in the ranks of Duke faculty. Not only are the Duke 88 not going to suffer the slightest punishment, but at least one of their number is rising high in the ranks of Duke’s faculty. What a fetid PC cesspool Duke is.....
That is perfectly correct usage.
Modulate can mean “tone down”.
>>If the university makes a shield integral to the settlement, and you sign on the bottom line, then they are simply holding you to the terms of the contract, which you signed.<<
Yes, yes... It simply galled me that the article was unable to make it abundantly clear that the falsely accused students had reached a mutual agreement with the university. This talk of “shutting the door” is graphic, but misleading.
Well Pardon me for my ignorance.
I am also sorry you are humorless.
I see now how serious the study of the so called Romance languages is. I can see where they are an absolute necessity to getting a good paying job.
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