http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19264396/ This case was particularly unsettling to a father of a male college student as I am. It's the ol....."there but for the grace of God go I" refrain.. It's law enforcement getting out of hand and running a PR campaign rather than serving it's citizens. The employer is the people of the state and when those people are being set up and taken advantage of it's despicable.
Gee pandering to the black community for their votes and raising the issue of class envy. Where have I seen those tactics before?
For me, there are two parts to this unfortunate story. Putting the horse before the cart, I do not see the 3 students as completely sympathetic victims. They put themselves in that position with their conduct. Unfortunately, the consequences went far beyond what they should have been, but I cannot forget that the nature of the party and the irresponsible conduct in question begged trouble in the first place. IMO this is what has been lost in the total picture. Having said that, I deeply sympathize with them in terms of those aspects of the consequences which were egregiously wrong, and I applaud the disbarment of the irresponsible prosecutor. Regarding the suspension of the team's season, if I recall correctly, they had been warned by the administration that continuation of their "wild party" conduct would result in serious consequences, yet they continued the very conduct they had been warned against, intentionally disregarding the administration's admonitions. This stifles my feelings of sympathy toward the team. Nevertheless, I have no problem with the reinstatement of eligibility primarily because of the false accusations which ultimately triggered the administration's decision. Because of that, it never will be known if the administration otherwise would have made good on its warnings.
While they obviously were not guilty of rape they were not choirboys either. It's my understanding that one of them had an assualt charge against him already and that their conduct as a group was deplorable.
Not choir boys to be sure....but not rapists. Rowdy that night...yes. Promiscuous with strippers yes.......but not criminals whose althletic careers should have been destroyed and who should not have had to endure the personal accusations and steely glances from the Duke women for over a year afterward.
While all the attention lately has been on the Prosecutor in the case, almost forgotten is the gutless, intolerant behaviour of the Duke faculty who made up the Group of 88. Here's a link to an article that beautifully sums up their biased views http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2007/01/too_smart_by_half.html You can't find their statement that was posted on the African American studies website. It's been removed. Guess that adequately makes up for their little indiscretion doesn't it?