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
This is a school where the kids take PC classes in such dubious subjects as "gender." Why would any parent pay to send their child to such a place?
Don’t let the door slap you in the *** on your way out female dog!
Since that time, though, the prosecutor’s case has all but fallen apart,
WHAT CASE?
a neighbor said he overheard the players slinging racial slurs at the dancer.
Yeah! Right! Even if true all Americans, including white ones, have their speech protected by the “1st Amendment”
The administration “failed to recognize the racial dimensions of this and failed to address it quickly,”
Nooo….. the administration failed to allow themselves to be bullied by a small group of black racists hell bent on standing the Constitution and “Innocent until proven guilty” on it’s head. Much to the chagrin of many of these racists pigs in the black community we DO NOT live under a dictator or under Napoleonic law.
My hat is off to this administration for at least having the patience to not fully support this skank.
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.
No child I know wants to go to a University that suspends it’s students without a cause. It costs a lot of money to go to a University like Duke and to be forced to sit out because some drugged up, racist, gold digging whore claims they committed a crime against her is ludicrous. While I commend the administration for not jumping on Holloway’s bandwagon I criticize them for not supporting the athletes while the presumption of innocence should have applied.
Honestly folks. I’ve used this case as an example of why my children should refrain from defiling themselves by partaking in such licentiousness. Had the young men in question not attended the party they wouldn’t have opened themselves up to be accused.
JMHO
"Not all sharecroppers were black."
In a time when lots of people didn't have work, sharecroppers got to eat. It was a necessity for some, because welfare had not then been invented.
I know, but the word, "sharecropper", seems to have evolved to exclude whites..........
The wife of the President of the University of Missouri System and an Assistant B'ball coache's wife, all of which are Black, were caught in a phone conversation recorded with an inmate B'ball player referring to white people as "Crackers." The recorded conversation was released by the local jail to the newspaper which published portions. What was done -- nothing. The President and his wife continued to reside in the university mansion and he was given no less than a 9% raise one year when faculty were given 2%. The President claimed he had no ability to subdue his strong-willed wife and that he did not share her opinions. This was a great relief to hear from the leader of the highest academic post in state and is wholly consistent with his position paying a 425K salary.
"If she was serious, she should resign her faculty position, not just her seat on this ad hoc committee."
Agreed. She's taking lessons in "how NOT to resign" from Nifong.
3.3%? Not much, considering the lynch mob mentality of the administration, much of the faculty and the local DA. Some folks who can afford it may not want to lay out $40k a year and risk total financial ruin at the hands of the mob.
I can certainly see why Broadhead is a university president! He's a master of the kind of oleaginous verbiage that plays both sides against the middle. He created these dysfunctional committees and encouraged the demonizing of the lacrosse team. Now he has the nerve to talk about restoring "the fabric of mutual respect."
It blows the mind, doesn't it?
Applications may be down only 3.3 percent but I suspect the GPA and SAT are down even more. There are a lot of kids hoping to get into Duke who wouldn't have had a chance a year ago.
In America ,PROFESSOR, you are INNOCENT until proven guilty. The boys shouldnt have been expelled in the first place !!!!
The 20% decline in early-admission applications may be more indicative because an acceptance would be binding on the early-admission applicant. The overall fall in demand for Duke may be masked by the smaller decrease in regular applications, which do not reflect the strength of the applicant's desire to go to Duke (#1 or #7??) or by the overall growth in regular applications nationwide. Also, does anyone know if the quality (e.g. SAT scores) of the Duke applicant pool has changed?
This whole damn thing was just a typical demokkkrat doing what they do, using blacks to get elected. Thats ALL nifong was doing.
I just emailed this to Dr. Holloway.
"I see by your resignation that you have morally and character-wise joined the ranks of Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, and a host of low lifes who have become examples of that which is most vile in the latest wave of black victims. You are not looking to be equals in society, you are out to game the system. You are a double hitter; a black female! I'll bet that more than once you flashed you race/gender card expecting "special" treatment. Are you folks so stupid that you don’t see that you are reinforcing your own stereotypes when you are claiming that you need special help in order to be equal?!
You will never be "equal" to a white male as long as you claim that you need paternal favors from that same white male to be equal with him in societal competition. You are far guiltier of racism than the Duke boys since you were supposed to work to temper racism. You would make Martin Luther Sick. “… content of character … color of their skin”.
A (self perceived) victim cannot be a healer. You are a fraud."
To the two accused players, include this person in your forthcoming law suit against Duke University.
I'm sure she would be part of the, guilty before proven innocent party!
They would be an 'expert' on it, wouldn't they?
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