Posted on 01/10/2007 6:31:28 AM PST by TBBBO
From Diverse Online
Current News Duke Fallout Continues as Top Black Professor Resigns From Race Committee By Christina Asquith Jan 10, 2007, 08:13
The Duke University professor heading a university-appointed committee to investigate race relations on campus in the wake of last spring’s men’s lacrosse scandal has resigned from that committee in protest against the recent decision to invite two of the players back on to campus.
“The decision by the university to readmit the students, especially just before a critical judicial decision on the case, is a clear use of corporate power, and a breach, I think, of ethical citizenship,” says Dr. Karla Holloway, the William R. Kenan Jr., Professor of English and Professor of Law at Duke. “I could no longer work in good faith with this breach of common trust.”
Holloway, who is Black, had agreed to head one of the four committees formed by Duke President Richard H. Brodhead late last spring. She says she’d hoped to improve the racial climate on campus after a Black exotic dancer accused members of Duke’s men’s lacrosse team of rape and racial slurs — prompting a media frenzy and nationwide accusations of racism against the university and its students.
Since that time, though, the prosecutor’s case has all but fallen apart, and public opinion has swung drastically in defense of the lacrosse players. Professors like Holloway — who had condemned the players — are now facing criticism for prematurely assuming the players’ guilt and, ironically, making racist charges against the White players.
In her resignation letter, Holloway criticized the Duke administration for not coming to her defense, as attacks in the form of blogs and letters to the university newspaper have mounted in recent months.
“The public support [the administration] has extended to these students has been absent in regard to faculty who have been under constant and often vicious attack,” she wrote.
University spokespeople did not respond to Diverse’s requests for comment.
Holloway’s resignation is the latest turn in a roller coast ride since last year for those representing Duke’s Black community. By 2006, the Black studies program ought to have been stronger than ever, since the university spent 10 years — from 1993 to 2003 — implementing it’s “Black Faculty Strategic Initiative.” The initiative doubled the number of Black professors, from 44 to 88, and poured millions into funding the Black studies program, which Holloway led for a time.
However, some professors have claimed that the lacrosse scandal shone a spotlight on underlying racism on campus. The accuser was a Black single mother, working her way through college at nearby North Carolina Central University, while the three defendants were all White and from wealthy families. Adding to the racial tension, a neighbor said he overheard the players slinging racial slurs at the dancer.
Initially, many at Duke supported the dancer. Students held candlelight vigils on campus and 88 professors, now known as the “Group of 88” signed an advertisement in the student newspaper calling for the administration to take a stronger stand against the players. The administration “failed to recognize the racial dimensions of this and failed to address it quickly,” wrote Duke political science professor Paula McClain in an article published in the summer of 2006.
Also during the summer, six Black professors left Duke, although most said their departures were unrelated to the scandal. A university spokesman said at the time that 10 more Black professors had been hired for the start of the 2006-2007 academic year, but Holloway claims that number is inflated.
In recent months, the pendulum of public opinion has swung in favor of the lacrosse players as controversy and criticism have dogged district attorney Mike Nifong’s handling of the case. Multiple DNA tests have found no link between the dancer and the players, and it has been revealed that Nifong never met with accuser and hid evidence that would excuse the players. Not long after the charges were filed, many Duke students could be seen wearing blue bracelets with white letters proclaiming “INNOCENT.” In an October editorial, a science professor accused those who had not supported the lacrosse players of abandoning the Duke family.
“The faculty who publicly savaged the character and reputations of specific men’s lacrosse players last spring should be ashamed of themselves. They should be tarred and feathered, ridden out of town on a rail and removed from the academy,” he wrote.
Holloway says she was deeply shocked by that editorial, and the administration’s failure to offer even a note of support to her.
Later in October, however, the board of trustees elevated the Black studies program to a department. While the program already offered undergraduate and graduate degrees, trustees said at the time that the promotion reflected Duke’s “commitment” to its Black students.
Although Nifong dropped the rape charges last month, the kidnapping case against the three players is set to go to court this spring. Many speculate, however, that the case will never make it to court given the seemingly weak evidence. But regardless of what happens in the case, Duke is already feeling some chilling effects from the tide of negative publicity.
Applications have dropped 3.3 percent since the scandal broke, from 19,387 in 2006 to 18,495 in 2007. The university also received 20 percent fewer early decision applications this year compared to last year.
“We must work together to restore the fabric of mutual respect,” said Duke president Brodhead in a recent letter addressed to the Duke community. “One of the things I have most regretted is the way students and faculty have felt themselves disparaged and their views caricatured in ongoing debates.”
© Copyright 2005 by DiverseEducation.com
How was this professor's membership on the committee expected to improve black - white relations?
She needs to resign from the faculty for being an ahole. It certainly would not miss her or any of her type.
...
Since that time, though, the prosecutor’s case has all but fallen apart, and public opinion has swung drastically in defense of the lacrosse players. Professors like Holloway — who had condemned the players — are now facing criticism for prematurely assuming the players’ guilt and, ironically, making racist charges against the White players.
What a great person to put in charge of a committee to "heal" race relations. Can we put the Grand Master of the KKK on another committee?
If she is so incensed, she should resign her position at the University, not just the committee. Won't happen though.
Why is it that blacks can never be racists? I see this as a blatant case of racism.
in the guts of the article, it's not clear whether she just resigned from the committee or resigned from Duke.
If she feels that strongly, then she should resign from Duke.
If she just resigned from the committee, she's a hypocrite.
Yowza yowza yowza - for 'Black Studies' professors, white is always guitly - evidence need not apply.
I guess she was Head of the White Guilt Steamroller Department
Hell no, she's got her tenure to think of.
Also see the editorial in today's Duke Chronicle at: http://www.dukechronicle.com/media/storage/paper884/news/2007/01/10/Editorial/Nifong.Make.The.Right.Move-2616541.shtml?norewrite200701100939&sourcedomain=www.dukechronicle.com
Nifong: Make the right move
Posted: 1/10/07
The lacrosse debacle came to a new peak in December, as Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong dropped rape charges against the three indicted members of the 2005-2006 men's lacrosse team Dec. 22.
The case seemed to have been falling apart in Nifong's hands in the preceding months for myriad reasons: two negative DNA tests, evidence from the defense indicating that at least one of the accused was not even at the party at the time of the alleged rape, skepticism about the legality of the lineup in which the accused stood, and a North Carolina State Bar investigation of the district attorney's actions.
Then, the alleged victim reneged on her original testimony, saying she actually wasn't sure a rape had occurred.
And with that, the rape charges were gone.
Two charges still stand: kidnapping and sexual offense. We have yet to see whether or not these will be found to hold any truth. But there is one other aspect of the case that now must go, and that's Nifong.
It is now clear-glaringly clear-that the district attorney had made egregious errors in his handling of the case.
Worse, it seems that he made some of these errors consciously. Not only did he brazenly condemn the lacrosse players as "hooligans" in the media and proclaim their guilt even before DNA tests or any other thorough investigation had been conducted, but also, as the testimony of Dr. Brian Meehan in early December showed, Nifong also took steps to keep exculpatory evidence from the defense.
McCarthy-esque overzealousness in the public spotlight evolved into what many now perceive as intentional malice.
The bottom line, however, is that whether a matter of intention, perception or misstep, what Nifong did is inexcusable. From his early accusatory remarks to his handling of DNA tests and the lineup, he has made mistake after mistake, tripping down the ugly path of this case.
In the process, Nifong has fed the fire of an already chaotic media circus and cast a dark shadow over Durham, at least in the national eye.
Now, he must step away from the case-and be forced to do so if he refuses. It is clear that he cannot be objective, that he cannot be a fair asset in the legal process.
For the sake of all parties involved-the accused, the accusers, Duke and Durham-It is time for the case to be placed in someone else's hands, someone the public can trust.
If there is truth in the remaining charges and whatever evidence Nifong has can prove it, the case will stand up in court under the eye of a new prosecutor. If this is not the case, we will soon see that Nifong may have performed more poorly than we even now think.
But outcomes have yet to be determined. The crucial move now is that of taking Nifong away from Duke lacrosse, out of the fray. Only then can this case move forward in an honest light.
Mr. Nifong, have you no decency? If you do, take the first good stand you have thus far in the case, and pass it on to a party more objective, fair and just than yourself.
I'll bet the "good" professor would have had no problem with the University giving Tawana Brawley a tenured position with the University racist committee.
Well your whining resignation should certainly increased the support for you.
To me the only faculty that deserves support is the coach who resigned. What in the world would engender public support to any other faculty member. But I guess she is just jealous or something. Sound like a "me, me, me" liberal whiner.
REVERSE RACISM!.....oops! Forgot! Blacks can't be racists!.......
Typical cut-n-run collectivist.
Sounds good. At least they won't have to fire her.
Why would anyone pick a racist to run a committee to address racism anyway?
Excuse me??? Fine, let the whiny baby take her prejudices and leave. The campus will be better off.
Lemme guess--she was a member of the "Duke 88" who basically called the students guilty before the police investigated, failed former lacrosse players (wrongly), and whose full-page advertisement calling for their removal from the university is now down the memory hole.
Yeah. Got it.
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