Last Updated: 04-10-06 at 9:44AM
Elton Brand says he never felt racism at Duke. Neither did fellow black players Carlos Boozer or Daniel Ewing. And it wasn't just because they were stars on the wildly popular and successful basketball team.
"There are a lot of multicultural people at Duke, and everybody felt that way, not just the athletes," Brand said.
Allegations that three white members of the lacrosse team raped and racially insulted a black stripper hired to dance at a March 13 party have stunned the campus and the Durham community, sparking days of protests and rallies. Last week, Duke canceled the remainder of the lacrosse season and accepted the resignation of the team's coach.
The move came hours after the release of an e-mail sent by a team member that President Richard H. Brodhead called "sickening and repulsive." That night, Brodhead initiated a series of internal investigations into Duke's response to the allegations and into whether the school has fostered a culture of intolerance and elitism.
"My fiancee, Shahara, also went to Duke and she had friends there of all different races," said Brand, who now plays professionally for the Los Angeles Clippers. "She loved it there, too, and she didn't have a problem with racism, so this seems out of character."
More details of what happened might emerge soon. The results of DNA tests of 46 of the lacrosse team's 47 players _ since the alleged victim said her attackers were white, the team's lone black member was not tested _ could be completed any day. Prosecutors have yet to charge anyone in the case, but have said charges could be filed as early as this week.
"I've seen a couple things on TV about it," said Boozer, who now plays for the Utah Jazz. "When I was there, and it wasn't too long ago, the white students got along with us great. Everybody took care of each other on campus."
Among the issues the Brodhead's investigative panels will examine is the alleged use of racist language by members of the lacrosse team. Durham's population is equally divided between blacks and whites, but only 11 percent of Duke's 6,200 undergraduates are black _ although that figure has about doubled in the past two decades.
"From my experience, no, I didn't experience any racism," said Ewing, a rookie with the Clippers. "Everything was pretty good for me at Duke."
Monique Currie, who also is black and a star for coach Gail Goestenkors' women's basketball team, returned to Duke for a fifth season, leading the Blue Devils to the NCAA title game. Even an overtime loss to Maryland couldn't spoil Currie's memories of her years at Duke.
"The reporters asked me after the game, do I regret coming back, because we didn't win a national championship," she told a crowd of about 350 people at rally for the team. "I wouldn't rather be in another place, and I'm just still extremely happy I was able to come back and spend another year with all of you great people and all of my teammates.
"I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world."
Shavlik Randolph, a former player for the Blue Devils who is white, said he didn't really know any of the lacrosse players when he was in school. A native of Raleigh, N.C., about 30 miles from the Duke campus, he now plays for the Philadelphia 76ers and has kept in touch with friends still on campus.
Randolph was as surprised as anyone by the allegations.
"Every team has their wild guys who get rambunctious and crazy," he said. "I would have never expected anything like this to emerge. I think people are still trying to figure out exactly what happened."
It's certainly the talk of the lacrosse world. Larry Feldman, who played at Penn from 1960-64, is president of LaxPower.com, a Web site devoted to the sport, from the high school level to college.
A message forum on his site has gotten more than 1,000 posts on the situation at Duke, and they've been viewed by more than 20,000 people.
"The sport never gets much publicity, and now the sport is getting more publicity than it's gotten in 25 years," Feldman said. "And it's not going to help the sport."
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AP Sports Writers Jon Krawczynski in Minneapolis and Dan Gelston in Philadelphia contributed to this report, as did AP freelance writer Joe Resnick in Los Angeles.
By Greta Van Susteren
We have been covering the allegation that members of the Duke University lacrosse team sexually assaulted a woman that they had hired to dance at their party. In case I forget to say it each night or run out of time when we cover the story, let me say it here:
1) The mere fact that an allegation of rape is made is not proof that a crime or rape was committed.
2) We should now refer to the woman as an accuser and not a victim since we don't yet know if her complaint is a true one or not; if she is lying in her allegation, she is not a victim (the people she falsely accuses are the victims.) If she is truthful about the assault, she is the victim, but it is premature for us to make that determination.
3) Injuries are often a significant sign that the sex was not consensual, but it is not always proof beyond a reasonable doubt; there may be other explanations for injuries. The injuries could have been inflicted later by someone else, self-inflicted, inflicted at another time, etc. Also, the location of the injuries of the body might have some bearing on the investigation.
4) The absence of injuries is NOT proof rape did not occur. Rape is sex against one's will and often women will submit to the act and not fight it to avoid being physically hurt beyond the rape.
5) A prompt report of rape can be significant, but a late report or no report is not evidence a rape did not occur. Many women don't report rape due to shame or take a long time to report it since they are embarrassed and need to decide whether to report it or not. The crime of rape is the most underreported violent crime.
7) In this case if DNA/semen is present, that will identify who had sex with her. It will not determine if the crime of rape has occurred. Obviously with consensual sex without a condom there is semen present.
The bottom line is this: Each case's facts must be carefully examined. You must also look at the facts from many different directions not just through your own eyes with your own biases. We all have biases, but you have to put on the breaks, step back and look at the information available carefully so as not to reach the wrong opinion. I have no idea if rape occurred or not. You should not "know" yet either, since there is so little information.
Now for some e-mails. Incidentally, most of my e-mails still are about Natalee Holloway's disappearance:
It's "only" 11% when you compare it to Durham, which is ridiculous. Duke is a national school, the national black population is 13%. 11% is pretty close to that, and better than a lot of other schools. That's not even going into the number of Asians, around 20% or Hispanics, around 6%. So-called lily white Duke is less than two-thirds white. How many whites go to NCCU while Durham is half white?
I went to Duke with some of the athletes, and the racial climate was fine. People got around well for the most part, certainly not any less than in other colleges.
Tex, in your searching today on this story, have you seen anything about the flier the police are handing out that say that that there WAS a rape, as in stated it as fact?
They're evidently going door to door with something that says "Accuser WAS raped..." and the defense attorneys said last night that they can't do that.......have you seen anything about it? I only heard it on TV and haven't seen it in print; I'm thinking the TV is usually a day or so ahead of the story.
Couldn'tve happened to a better school. Go Terps!