Not even Coach K could get Duke out of this one...

[Danni]

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/29/sports/2...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.

Residents, students and faculty members have staged at least five protests in the last four days, including one Tuesday night outside the building where Duke's president, Richard H. Brodhead, was holding a news conference. They are upset with the silence of team members and the university's handling of the case.

Mr. Brodhead's announcement that the team's season was being suspended came five days after 46 of 47 members of the Blue Devils lacrosse team provided DNA samples to Durham police investigators. The team's roster includes 26 players from New York, New Jersey and Connecticut high schools. Mr. Brodhead said that he met with the team's captains Tuesday morning and that they apologized for the embarrassment they had caused themselves, their families, the athletic department and the university. They also denied the allegations made by the woman, who said she had been assaulted in a bathroom by three team members.

Michael B. Nifong, the Durham County district attorney, criticized team members for not coming forward.

"The thing that most of us found so abhorrent, and the reason I decided to take it over myself, was the combination gang-like rape activity accompanied by the racial slurs and general racial hostility," Mr. Nifong said Tuesday in a telephone interview.

"There are three people who went into the bathroom with the young lady, and whether the other people there knew what was going on at the time, they do now and have not come forward. I'm disappointed that no one has been enough of a man to come forward. And if they would have spoken up at the time, this may never have happened."

Officials are investigating the incident as first-degree forcible rape, common law robbery, first-degree kidnapping, first-degree sexual offense and felonious strangulation. Mr. Nifong said it was unlikely the investigation would be completed in time in time for Duke to resume its season; the team's last scheduled game is May 7.

A statement attributed to the team's captains — Matt Zash, David Evans, Dan Flannery and Bret Thompson — said the team had cooperated with the police. "We have provided authorities with DNA samples," it said. "The understanding is that the results of the DNA testing will be available sometime next week. The DNA results will demonstrate that these allegations are absolutely false."

Since the March 13 incident became public, the authorities have said members of the team have not cooperated, and protests have arisen in this college town of 210,000 residents because of the alleged violent nature of the attack and its possible racial elements. The News and Observer of Raleigh, N.C., reported that the woman was a mother of two and a student at North Carolina Central University, also in Durham. She was hired with another female dancer to perform at the party.

The Duke lacrosse team has benefited from the sport's surge in popularity in recent years. The team has been ranked as high as No. 2 in the nation this season and lost in the N.C.A.A. championship game to Johns Hopkins last spring. The Blue Devils were expected to contend for another title this season.

Joe Alleva, the Duke athletic director, had decided to forfeit the team's games on Saturday and Tuesday night as a penalty for the party.

The woman told the police that she and another woman went to the house expecting to dance for 5 men at a bachelor party and instead found more than 40, according to The News and Observer. Public records list the house as the residence of Mr. Zash and Mr. Flannery.

She said that almost immediately upon performing, the men started taunting them with racial epithets. The women left shortly thereafter, according to a report of the incident in a search warrant that was granted on March 16. But they were persuaded to return after one of the men apologized.

According to the application for the search warrant, two men pulled the woman into a bathroom after she returned to the house. "Someone closed the door to the bathroom where she was and said, 'Sweetheart you can't leave,' " the report said.

Jason Bissey, a chef who lives near the house, said he saw the woman that night from his porch and told the police that he heard men harassing the women.

The police did not take a DNA sample from the only African-American player on the team because the woman said the three assailants were white, the police said.

Among 30 items seized by the police, according to Mr. Nifong and the search warrant, were five acrylic fingernails, cellphones and $160 in $20 bills that the woman said had been stolen from her.

Some of the players and Robert C. Ekstrand, a lawyer who is representing many of them, did not return telephone calls Tuesday.

John Danowski, the father of a star player for Duke, Matt Danowski, and a longtime coach of Hofstra's lacrosse team, would not comment on particulars of the incident and refused to say if his son was at the party.

The incident has cast an unflattering light on a university that has a track record for success and integrity in athletics rivaled only by its highly regarded academics.

In his statement, Mr. Brodhead addressed the turmoil the allegations brought to the Duke community, but balanced it with a reminder that no one had been charged.

"While we await the results of the investigation, I remind everyone that under our system of law, people are presumed innocent until proven guilty," Mr. Brodhead said in his statement. "One deep value the university is committed to is protecting us all from coercion and assault. An equally central value is that we must not judge each other on the basis of opinion or strong feeling rather than evidence of actual conduct."

Duke officials said they allowed the team members to vacate the house, and on Tuesday, signs reading "Where Are They" and "Outraged Duke Alum," littered its yard.

"How can I be surprised at the outrage?" Mr. Brodhead said. "If the things alleged are verified, they're outrageous."

[Bree]

There has always been racial tension between Duke and the "townies." From what I've heard, the students at Duke choose to segregate themselves, so it's not surprising.

If anything, I hope this will knock the school and its sports program off their pedastal. They act like their [!@#$%^&*] doesn't stink.

[Danni]

One thing that I'm afraid of is that should the allegations be true (I think it is, seeing as how no one on the lacrosse team is even talking to investigators at all and the 911 records are rather consistent), these guys will still get off with a slap on the wrist. Now what would that say if rich white guys, in essence, got away with raping a poor black woman...

[OneLife Fan]

Yikes!!

[DanTheMan]

I heard about this today before I read it here on SON and all I could think was how sad it is that jocks like these from Duke have to force themselves on women then them actually agreeing for sex. It really is pathetic.

[Danni]

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/0405061duke5.html

http://msn.foxsports.com/other/story/5456396

Now, this is downright disgusting. There is no way you can convince me that those guys didn't commit sexual assault.

ETA: I also think that they had intended on victimizing a black woman, and they figured that a black stripper would be the easiest way for them to do it. Honestly, I DO NOT see how that email McFayden sent could be associated with a white woman.

[KBT]

A big WORD to all 3 of ya'll!

[Toups]

Here's the latest developments:

It's not looking good for the D.A. at all. I don't see how these guys will be charged and convicted with the new evidence.

[mitchFan]

Ok, so they want to file charges when the DNA evidence proves otherwise? I think that these "lawyers" need to take a quick trip back to law school. This story sounds like the Kobe Bryant trial all over again IMO. The players are obviously innocent.

[Danni]

The difference between them and Kobe is the big one: the rape kit. The rape kit in Kobe's trial indicated that there were no signs of sexual assault. However, this case indicates that there was one. The DA doesn't need DNA to prove the case. How do you think rape cases got guilty verdicts back when DNA testing wasn't even a mere concept?

All I can say is that if a rape really did occur and those boys are free, you can see what society views the humanity and dignity of a black woman. If she was white, she sure as hell would not be put under attack like the accuser is. Hell, if those players were black, not only would their faces be plastered everywhere, they'd be in prison right now.

[KBT]

I think this is ridiculous, how the race in this case is more important than the alleged rape of a woman. Who cares if the girl is black, I sure as hell don't!? I just hope the facts come out and justice is served one way or another. If the girl lied she should get in huge trouble, and if any of the guys raped this girl they better not get a slap on the wrist.

[dimples]

And that is the bottom line.

[Danni]

Race is a HUGE factor in this case. US society feeds on the notion that the bodies of black women were only to be used as a source of sexual gratification for white men, of course with this going back to slavery. Black women can't say no because we're some majorly oversexed creatures, and we have no claim to our bodies. If I got a dollar for every white guy who has come up to me and said, "I've never fucked a black girl before. I imagine that you're a big freak in the sheets" I'd be rich.

Do you see the media being so quick to demonize Natalee Holloway during her disappearance? Oh, I don't think so. Never mind the fact that she wasn't as innocent as they're making her out to be. Do you think the media was ranting over the fact that she met the guy over the internet, got herself piss drunk, possibly took some drugs and engaged in sexual activity the way they've worked hard to demonize the accuser?

The reality is that if those guys really did it, they will get a slap on the wrist. They're white and they have money. It's the way the system works. It's not designed to help other people.

[Bree]

Unfortunately, this is true. When crimes happen to black women, or any woman who is not from an upper-middle class home, or make their living as strippers and hookers, so many people assume she did something to set off the crime. They forget she is a person, and are quick to make her out to be a sex maniac, a junkie, or just trash. Whereas the media fawns all over white girls from "good" homes and portray them as innocent angels.

It's amazing that so many in society either can't believe or don't want to believe that people of different races do interact sexually, whether it be of consent or not. It doesn't surprise me that young and rich white guys want to "mess around" with girls of a different class and a different color. The same goes for the girls. It doesn't matter whether that person is black, hispanic, Asian, Native American. It happens.

While rape may not have taken place, something happened at that house. You can't overlook the fact one of the players sent an email threatening to kill strippers.

[Danni]

I was watching this show on ESPN with some sports writer, and one was discussing the Duke case. The first thing that he said was that people need to stop rushing to judgement about the players. Why? Because she was a black stripper. He basically said, "Is she all of a sudden a stripper with a heart of gold?" Stripper or not, she's a human being first!

Oh, the second dancer's spoken out about the claim of the accuser being drunk when she arrived. Dancer 2 said that she was not intoxicated, however, once they left the house, she looked like they had given her something. It'd also give a reason as to why the officer said that she appeared to be passed out drunk. Think about how easily accessible it is for those players to get drugs of some sort. Someone's lying, and I think it's the players.