The 10th anniversary of the beginning of the infamous Duke lacrosse scandal is upon us, causing Duke University’s student newspaper, the Chronicle, to publish several articles reviewing the mother of all university fiascos.
Coincidentally, the paper ran an article condemning Duke University vice president Tallman Trask, who was recently involved in an altercation on campus with a black, female contract parking attendant in 2014. He allegedly allowed his auto to roll into the attendant and uttered racial slurs while departing the scene. More about that in a minute.
The Chronicle interviewed four of the Duke 88, faculty members who signed and paid for a full page ad condemning the student lacrosse players, and Richard Brodhead, Duke president then – and now — granted an extensive interview that discusses his feelings concerning his refusal to support the three lacrosse players, or even remain neutral, when they were falsely charged with sexual assault.
One of the four of the Duke 88 crowd interviewed stated “an apology is out of the question,” even after the accused lacrosse players were exonerated and received an official apology from the Durham police. The ad, after all, the 88 say, was not directed against the boys; it was an effort to persuade students “to reflect on the issues of sexual assault and race” and to reach out to students “who did not feel comfortable” at Duke. These disingenuous statements, in fact, brazen lies, are boiler-plate radical scholar modus operandi. Purposefully toying with the lives and reputations of flesh and blood people under the platitude of “we care about the students” is phony. The newspaper ad run by the Duke 88 was published specifically to strike a blow against the lacrosse players, the rich, white elite enemy in the ongoing class war radicals maintain is ever-present.
Richard Brodhead’s comments for the 10th anniversary Chronicle recap avoid the reality. His instant condemnation of the lacrosse players is arguably the one act that assured the boys would be tried and convicted in the media, by the public, and by the faculty. Brodhead’s office cut off the lacrosse players’ access to their school and to fair treatment under the law. Had Duke performed its ethical and legal responsibility to stand behind its own students — treating the boys as innocent until proved guilty — the mentally unstable Durham district attorney, the parasitic media worldwide, and sanctimonious campus hyenas would have confronted the formidable fortress of Duke’s stature, which would have cushioned some of the blows so unfairly inflicted on the lacrosse players and their families.
Just in time for the 10th anniversary of Duke’s humiliation in the lacrosse scandal, the Tallman Trask incident was made public, obviously another skirmish in the class war as it involved a rich white university executive and black female. Yet concerning the incident, Duke president Richard Brodhead issued this release: “Dr. Trask has been an extraordinary servant of this university for over 20 years, and no one who works with him closely would find it believable that he would use such language.”
I could not help but wonder why Brodhead did not say the same sort of thing about the Duke lacrosse players in 2006 as he did in 2016 about an incident involving a white male Duke employee and a black female. He threw his own students under the bus in 2006 without even attempting to ascertain the facts. Yet he immediately defends his highly paid colleague in the Duke administration.
While the damages paid out to the boys for harming their reputations cost Duke an estimated $18 million (only a portion of the other payments Duke doled out) the boys and their families will likely suffer emotional trauma the rest of their lives. I spoke with the father of one of the lacrosse players in the thick of the nightmare. As a father of boys myself, I will never forget the pain beneath his carefully chosen words.
The lacrosse players have moved on, but neither the teachers who signed on, or who ape the Duke 88 today, nor Richard Brodhead have apologized for their crimes against the innocent students. On Sunday March 13, ESPN is broadcasting an edition of “30 on 30″ dedicated to the Duke Lacrosse scandal on the tenth anniversary of arguably the biggest mistake ever committed by any college or university in American history.
And, lest we forget, today Tallman Trask is being protected by President Brodhead, but the lacrosse players under his care were crucified on a cross of radical scholarship run amuck.