Racism, lacrosse and Duke
By Brian Witter
It's definitely not the best time to be a Duke fan. Other than the fact that Krzyzewski's Blue Devils failed to beat LSU in the Sweet Sixteen a couple weeks ago, the Duke men's lacrosse team is embroiled in even more turmoil.
Early last week, a young woman claimed that she and another female were hired to perform as exotic dancers at a private party on March 13. The woman told Durham police that she was forced into a bathroom and was beaten, choked and raped by three men. It is alleged that the attackers were members of the Duke lacrosse team, as it was their party.
Currently, the team has been suspended from play and has already forfeited games. There could be more to the story than just rape, however. The dancer who claims she was sexually assaulted is African-American. 46 of Duke's 47 lacrosse players are Caucasian. The woman asserts that all of her assailants were white. Durham is a working-class metropolitan area split demographically about 50/50 between black and white. For years, the Duke campus has been nicknamed "The Plantation" and racial tension has reached its boiling point between the town's population and the university's affluent students, who pay tuition nearly equal to that of Durham's annual median income.
There have been protests against students by Durham's citizens and even death threats. The fear is that the black woman will be disregarded while the predominantly white team gets off scot-free. DNA tests have been performed on the lacrosse players and while the results of those tests are pending, there are many questions left to answer. The woman went to the hospital the next morning with injuries consistent with a sexual assault, so there is corroborating evidence that something occurred. Yet, so far, the team is banding together and not saying anything.
A simple suspension of the entire team is not nearly severe enough. Duke is one of the most prestigious universities in the land and they should hold their students, athletes or not, to the same standard. Either cooperate fully with police or be expelled. "Innocent until proven guilty" is a legal standard, not the school standard. The university would be well within its bounds to expel the players for not cooperating fully.
The team's idea of sticking together and not talking about what happened might convey some sort of unity to a demented person, but to someone more rational, the Duke men's lacrosse team comes off more like a gang of villains.
Contact Brian Witter at (408) 551-1918 or bwitter@scu.edu.