Duke Lacrosse: Alumni Weekend Edition

The Duke lacrosse situation has settled into the realm of the ongoing scandal, as opposed to being constantly breaking news. With last week's indictments and arrests, the waiting game begins. The extremists on each side -- those comparing the alleged victim to Tawanna Brawley and those calling for the heads of all of the lacrosse players -- have been shown to be spewing gasbags of vitriol, and those who preached letting the process play itself out seem vindicated. The newest information is that the latest, more sophisticated round of DNA test results may not be available until May 15 or so.

Duke held alumni reunions the last few days, and the Thunderstick, loyal Blue Devil that he is, was there. Here are his impressions:

My first hand account of the lax thing--I thought it would be a bigger deal on campus--maybe it's just reaching that point where it's been hanging around for a while now and people are gearing up for finals and such and it's just starting to die as a daily story there. When I got to Duke on Friday afternoon, I picked up my registration packet and there was a one-page sheet in there about how to handle the media if you are asked. It wasn't a "this is what we want you to say sheet"--the major points were only that there would be media on campus, that you aren't required to talk to them if you are approached but that if you do talk, you should assume that your comments will be aired so make sure that you think about what you say before you say it and that it comes across as what you want to say--nothing like "this is what you should say--Duke is doing...", just a reminder that you don't have to talk if you don't want to and think before you talk because you never know where it will be picked up. Nothing about the school's position was included except that if you wanted info on it, they gave the web address. On campus, it wasn't really an issue. I didn't see any reporters (although a front page story on usatoday.com today about how alumni are reacting to the lax case illustrates they were there [The story to which he refers is here.]). My general feel from alumni and friends that I talked to down there was essentially that most alumni feel the same way--they are concerned about the school--most of them, me included, feel that the school has sent a strong message concerning the behavior of athletes by killing this lax season just for their behavior up to that point and for having a party with underage drinking and strippers and while a lot of people feel bad for those at the party that are innocent, but are none the less losing their season and the kids that didn't do anything that now will likely have to transfer to play again or worse the seniors who are innocent but are having their job offers rescinded. But what we all hope is that this message is communicated loudly, not only to athletes but all students that while you may not do anything illegal or immoral, you have to know that guilt by association is a very real thing and to make sure you stay out of situations where you can get nailed by this. I'm sure there were plenty of 21+ year olds at that party that said "I'm drinking, I'm not giving any alcohol to anyone and I'm going to watch a stripper which is fine since I am over 21" and they did just that, but the bottom line is that you go to a party with strippers, aggressive kids and drunkenness and there's the chance of bad things happening whether you take place in them or not and rather than say "it's too bad for these kids that didn't do anything wrong to lose their jobs" most people think that the message being sent is "yeah, it's too bad, but this is what happens when you don't remove yourself from potentially being a the wrong place at the wrong time." Bottom line is that I think the alumni are largely happy with the way school is handling things--some people don't like certain aspects, but there's no way to please everyone in a situation like this--they'd like to see the message about wrong place/wrong time being sent a little stronger and that most importantly everyone hopes that, despite how bad a situation this is, it's also an opportunity that doesn't come along very often--it's a chance to better relationships with the community and to lay down hard and fast policies as to how students and student-athletes will behave and everyone hopes the school doesn't let that pass them by.

This story won't be going anywhere soon, and now that it has settled down a bit, it seems likely that reason may prevail to some extent. That said, when the results come down, Duke and Durham may well be in the national limelight again for reasons far removed from the university's status as one of the elite intitutions of higher learning in the United States.