The Duke “Group of 88” activists are at it again.
Yesterday, the elite group of now 87 professors put out another defiant statement concerning the Duke non-rape case and their reaction to this non-rape.
Durham-In Wonderland has wonderful recap of the latest developments in this non-rape case.
Here is a bit of the letter that was released yesterday:
In the spring of 2006, the Duke community was rocked by terrible news. We heard that a woman hired to perform at a party thrown by our lacrosse team had accused members of the team of raping her. Neighbors, we were told, heard racial epithets called out at the woman as she departed the party. The criminal proceedings and the media frenzy which followed are perhaps beginning to wind down. For us at Duke, the issues raised by the incident, and by our community’s responses to it, are not.
In April, a group of Duke faculty members published an advertisement in The Chronicle. The ad, titled “What does a Social Disaster Sound Like?” was mostly a compilation of statements made by Duke students in response to the incident and its immediate aftermath. This ad has figured in many discussions of the event and of the University’s response. It has been broadly, and often intentionally, misread. We urge everyone to read the original ad, available at http://listening.nfshost.com/listening.htm. We have. Some of us were among the ad’s signers.
The ad has been read as a comment on the alleged rape, the team party, or the specific students accused. Worse, it has been read as rendering a judgment in the case. We understand the ad instead as a call to action on important, longstanding issues on and around our campus, an attempt to channel the attention generated by the incident to addressing these. We reject all attempts to try the case outside the courts, and stand firmly by the principle of the presumption of innocence.
Got that?
The profs say they weren’t really “rendering a judgment in the case.”
But, this is what they said in their original letter:
These students are shouting and whispering about what happened to this young woman and to themselves.
You don’t have to be an English professor to see that they were passing judgement on the lacrosse players.
Maybe these English profs need a little English refresher course?
One, professer signed on to the letter again even though she is being sued for her behavior after the non-rape allegations came out in the spring.
Kim Curtis is charged with “outrageous and unethical conduct” towards a student. The lacrosse team member, Kyle Dowd, and his family want $60,000 in damages.
It’s not clear how her latest actions will help her case.
Previously:
Send Home the Race Baiters, The Stripper Lied
Black Panthers Head to Duke, Demand to Talk with Lacrosse Players
Black Panthers at Duke Demand Guilty Verdict & Nothing Less!
A Duke Lacrosse Player Speaks Out
DNA Tests Come Back Clears Indicted Duke Players, Again
Indicted Duke Lacrosse Team Captain Speaks Out
Former Duke Lacrosse Player Sues University!
Another Duke Professor Plays Judge, Jury & Fool
