Duke to forfeit games to Georgetown and Mount St. Mary's

[Al DeFlorio]

And we worked hard for our win.

http://www.insidelacrosse.com/page.cfm?pagerid=2&news=fdetail&storyid=117594

[jhib]

Just saw that, too.  Can't exactly help us down the road, can it?

[jaybert]

regardless...i'm impressed that of the duke administration's response.  granted...if this were their basketball team, who knows if it would be the same.

[nyc94]

Shouldn't they just cancel the season?  UVM canceled their hockey season over hazing.

[billhoward]

Not to take away from Cornell's 11-7 win, but if the entire team was asked to give DNA samples -- and they all agreed? based on their being on the lax team or based on their having been identified as being at the site? can DNA samples be required from such a broad group of possible suspects? -- this was probably weighing pretty heavily on Duke's minds.

[edit]Again, not to make light of an apparently serious crime, but this broadly race-based stuff doesn't belong in a paper ...

http://www.heraldsun.com/durham/4-716791.html The woman told police that three white men assaulted her. Spokesman Cpl. David Addison said police are not releasing information about the other woman at the house because she is part of their ongoing investigation.

... A generation ago, reporters learned that it was wrong, wrong, wrong to say a liquor store was held up by two armed black men. It's okay to say it was held up by two black males 20 or 22 years old, about 5-foot-10 wearing yellow parkas, one with a heavily pockmarked face. The second description at least has the potential of narrowing down the suspect list. The first just demonizes based on race.

[02]

[quote Jason L]regardless...i'm impressed that of the duke administration's response.  granted...if this were their basketball team, who knows if it would be the same.[/quote]

Don't be impressed.  They had to do that or it would have looked even worse.  You don't see them cancelling the season or forfeiting all games until the issue is clarified.  And if the squeakball team had done this we would not have heard about it.  Coach K is too smart and powerful.

[nyc94]

The article doesn't mention if the DNA samples were voluntary or court ordered.  I also don't think it mentioned if the 46 players represents the entire roster orr if there were others besides lax players present.

[jms]

http://www.newsobserver.com/122/story/421494.html

says "ordered"

[billhoward]

[quote jms]http://www.newsobserver.com/122/story/421494.html

says "ordered"[/quote]

[quote News Observer]
>>> Such a broad DNA sampling early in an investigation is unusual, several local lawyers said.

The assault allegedly happened in a house shared by three members of the men's lacrosse team, Duke officials said.

All but one member of the team reported to the Durham police crime lab downtown at 4 p.m. Thursday to be photographed and "to provide identifying information," said John Burness, Duke University senior vice president for public affairs. The team member who did not report was not ordered to the screening, Burness said without explaining why.[/quote]

Sad day for college sports especially at an outstanding university. There are probably a lot of university presidents asking/telling their ADs, "It couldn't happen here ... could it?"

[Al DeFlorio]

http://insidelacrosse.com/page.cfm?pagerid=2&news=fdetail&storyid=118405

[Hillel Hoffmann]

Duke's season has now been postponed "pending clearer resolution of the legal situation."

http://www.goduke.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=4200&ATCLID=251530

[RichH]

[quote Hillel Hoffmann]Duke's season has now been postponed "pending clearer resolution of the legal situation."

http://www.goduke.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=4200&ATCLID=251530[/quote]

Now hitting the AP wire.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060329/ap_on_sp_co_ne/duke_lacrosse_investigation_9

[billhoward]

Duke lacrosse saga on Page 1 of the Wednesday 3/29 New York Times. Suspended or cancelled season was pretty clearly what this was headed to since virtually all of the team was reported at the party. Some good may come from all this if colleges, without getting back in to the in loco parentis business, are firmer in pressing for decent behavior from students, starting with the ones who represent them. This may escalate to a wider examination of sports -- "we'd expect it of the Miami football team but Duke lacrosse?" -- because of the themes of perceived privilege, and many of the players coming from the metro NY area, which means the people at the NY Times or SI or Newsweek who follow this are from the same towns.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/29/sports/29duke.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Rape Allegation Against Athletes Is Roiling Duke

By VIV BERNSTEIN and JOE DRAPE
Published: March 29, 2006
DURHAM, N.C., March 28 — Duke University suspended the season of its nationally ranked men's lacrosse team Tuesday while the authorities investigated allegations that a woman from a nearby college who had agreed to dance at a private party attended by many team members had been sexually assaulted.
   The incident on March 13, which occurred at an off-campus house owned by the university, has brought into sharp relief long-simmering tensions between the private university and the city. The woman is black, most of the team members are white and law-enforcement officials say they are investigating allegations that racial epithets were shouted at the woman. ...

[ugarte]

[quote billhoward]... A generation ago, reporters learned that it was wrong, wrong, wrong to say a liquor store was held up by two armed black men. It's okay to say it was held up by two black males 20 or 22 years old, about 5-foot-10 wearing yellow parkas, one with a heavily pockmarked face. The second description at least has the potential of narrowing down the suspect list. The first just demonizes based on race.[/quote]There now appear to be two reasons why the race of the attackers was relevant. (1) There is a black player on the Duke lax team that isn't a suspect and did not have to provide a DNA sample. (2) There is apparently a hate crime aspect to the investigation.

[Robb]

[quote nyc94]The article doesn't mention if the DNA samples were voluntary or court ordered.  I also don't think it mentioned if the 46 players represents the entire roster orr if there were others besides lax players present.[/quote]
Nope - there are 47 on the roster.  The only one who wasn't tested is black, and the rapists were white.

Race is a legitimate identifying characteristic.  I can't understand the thinking (Bill) that we should be willfully blind to the most obvious distinguishing characteristic in the name of PC.  What's next - can't say that the perpetrator of a crime was old or fat or male or female?  Sheesh.