April Showers Duke University In Shame

Say what you want about the rape allegations being levied at Duke's lacrosse team right now. Maybe you don't believe the girl making the accusations, maybe you think she should've seen it coming, or maybe you feel it's just another case of boys will be boys . . .

I'll hear none of it.

We've reached a point in our society where every time a celebrity or professional athlete does something wrong, he or she gets a load of bad press for it. It's one of the ways in which our up-to-the-second 21st century media operates, but it's also a reflection of the high standard to which we hold our stars.

One would think that the same standard would exist for our collegiate athletes, yet, for the most part, they tend to avoid the major public entanglements that seem to plague our elder sportsters. Clearly, this doesn't make sense. You're supposed to mature as you age and you're supposed to learn from your mistakes . . . If anything, the bad decisions should come when you're younger, if on a much smaller scale. So why does the Duke lacrosse story strike me as so rare and surprising an occurrence?

Probably because this kinda thing usually gets hushed up and covered over a hundred times before it ever makes it to the media's doorstep. You see, the major player Division I athletic institutions in this country (of which Duke University is unquestionably a group member) operate much like Tony Sopranos' crew on HBO: if you speak up or in any way threaten to harm the multi-multi-million dollar bottom line, you're not in enviable situation, to put it plainly. These major player businesses, posing as caring, nurturing sholastic institutions, do a lot more dirty laundry than they are ever credited for, things that are essentially (unspoken) public knowledge, from payments to players to academic fudging to making sure that authorities are "understanding" about certain malcontents' actions . . . This stuff is nothing new to most people, but it doesn't make it much more digestable either.

Ultimately, that background is what makes the Duke lacrosse rape case such an important, albeit horrifying, example of the boundaryless environment in which many of today's major college athletes feel they live.

To quickly recap, an African-American exotic dancer claims she was raped by three players on the Duke lacrosse team at an off-campus party on March 13. No charges have been filed as of this posting date, but sophomore Ryan McFadyen has already been suspended for an email message he wrote shortly after the incident, describing future violent acts he wanted to commit against women. Additionally, authorities say they are pretty confident that a rape occurred and expect to file charges soon.

The school has cancelled the remainder of the lacrosse season and team coach Mike Pressler has resigned, ending a 16-year tenure marked by three Atlantic Coast Conference championships and a trip to last year's national final.

Duke University President Richard Brodhead has been quoted by the Associated Press as calling Pressler's resignation "highly appropriate" but declined to say whether it had been requested by the school itself. Brodhead also promised a "very, very serious self-study" of campus culture and said he will look at the lacrosse team's culture and the school's response to the scandal to uncover any "special history of bad behavior with this team."

Now do you really believe that's going to happen? And even if it does, do you really think the alleged victim is going to benefit from that "self-study"?

Certainly the facts still need to be established in this case, but if they fall in line with what it sounds like happened, a very ugly, very public black cloud has undoubtedly surfaced right over the heart of one of America's most presitigious universities and athletic programs.

My avowed skepticism aside, one can only hope that the aftermath of this incident finally leads to some legitimate changes and improvements in the way these star athletes are taught to view themselves, their schools and other human beings.


-JAB