Posted on 06/22/2007 8:12:22 AM PDT by Congressman Billybob
This week Duke University reached a “non-disclosed settlement” with the three lacrosse players who were savaged by the District Attorney in Durham, Mike Nifong. He wanted to hoodwink black voters into putting him back in office. That succeeded, but he has now been removed from office, and disbarred.
These three students were also slandered by the Duke administration and by 87 bigoted professors. (88 professors signed a newspaper ad that, in effect, found the students guilty before trial. One of the 88 admitted he was wrong, and apologized.) The apparently-fat settlement released the University and all its assorted minions from further liability to the students and their families.
Is Duke now off the hook? I hope not. I’m doing my part to keep them on the hook.
For those who’ve been out of the country, or under a rock, here’s a quick recap: A year ago, a stripper who’d been hired by members of the Duke lacrosse team claimed that she had been raped at a team party where she and a friend were hired to perform. DA Nifong then held the first of a series of press conferences, saying that there was definitely a rape and he expected to charge some students. He set up a line-up with only Duke players in it and charged three players with rape.
The President of Duke then cancelled the lacrosse season and fired the coach. A group of 88 professors jointly signed a full-page ad in the campus newspaper, the Chronicle, saying that what the students did was part of the climate of racism at Duke, and presuming that the students were guilty.
In time, the stripper’s story changed, her companion denied her version, and DNA evidence showed the stripper’d had sex with several men recently, but not any Duke players. In time, the NC Attorney General took over the case and did his own review. He dismissed the charges, apologized to the students, and started the investigation of Nifong which led to his dismissal and disbarment. From the President and 87 faculty members at Duke, however, there was no retraction, no apology.
Dr. Thomas Sowell is one of the great minds in understanding American society and politics. Anyone unfamiliar with his work and books should go here to see what he has to offer. [http://www.tsowell.com/] I suggest you begin with Sowell’s Basic Economics. His latest column is about Duke, “Unfinished Business,”
That is a scathing indictment of the University. You can find it here: [http://www.townhall.com/columnists/ThomasSowell/] I decided that Sowell’s words should appear in front of the whole Duke community. So, I called the Chronicle, the campus newspaper.
I found out that none of three Duke students I talked with had ever heard of Dr. Sowell. They have black professors who fill their students’ heads with the sort of bigoted claptrap that appeared in the infamous newspaper ad. The students know lesser professors, but not the nation’s best.
I also learned was that it would cost almost a thousand dollars to reprint Dr. Sowell’s column full-page in the Duke newspaper. The last issue of the paper is not only circulated on campus, it is also mailed to the homes of all students. There, the students’ parents, who are paying upwards of $30,000 a year to put their children in the care of this faculty and administration, have a right to see what is happening to their children and their money.
So, I got in touch with my friends. As this is written, it looks like we’ll make the target, and Dr. Sowell’s column will appear in front of, and be read by, almost every member of the Duke community. If that happens, it may be that some people who deserve to be fired, will be fired. It may be that some who stay might learn what it means to seek the truth, rather than biased political advantage, and change their ways.
As Dr. Sowell notes, the correction of the bias in the Duke community is far more important than the millions which the students and their families have received from the coffers of a university that has lost its way. I write as well as I can, but I do not hold a candle to my colleague, Dr. Thomas Sowell. So here are his closing words. I’ll see to it these are read by the people at Duke.
“...be aware of how wide and how deep the moral dry rot goes.
“That such people are teaching students at an elite university is a chilling thought. That they promote a campus atmosphere where political correctness trumps the search for truth is painful.
“That such attitudes and such atmospheres are not peculiar to Duke University, but are common on elite college campuses from coast to coast is a time bomb with the potential to destroy individuals and ultimately undermine the whole society.”
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About the Author: John Armor practiced in the US Supreme Court for 33 years. John_Armor@aya.yale.edu He lives in the 11th District of North Carolina.
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Under JimRob's rules, the only discussion of fund-raising on open threads should be about FreeRepublic itself. Please stay within this rule.
Comment on Duke, on Sowell, on this article to your heart's content. But if you want to talk about you-know-what, please use freepmail only. Okay?
Thank you.
John / Billybob
The intellectual dishonesty of this group of Duke professors is telling.
I am glad my kids did not go to this University, where they would have encountered very well paid idealogues who reach erroneous conclusions based on their warped ideas of social justice.
Ward Churchill would fit in well with this group of bozos with PhDs.
I thought the semester ended awhile ago. What’s up with that?
When you are intellectually vapid it’s hard to be honest or dishonest.
That's the goal John. That's always been the goal.
I'm suprised you didn't know that.
L
Don't be redundant.
I expect Duke alumni to tie up the loose ends by slamming their wallets shut. Leftists bow to the almighty dollar as much as everyone else. For starters, that bozo of a president (Broadhead?) needs to be sent packing.
;-)
Some Post-hole-diggers are smart.
John
My impression from having dealt with special editions of the Yale Daily News (back when ice covered the Earth), is that this one at Duke may be made available to students and parents considering Duke in the fall, and/or it might be in the welcoming materials for freshmen in the fall. Either way, it is an ideal venue to put Dr. Sowell’s column in front of the Duke community.
John / Billybob
**But Senator Sessions is on C-Span LIVE, Senate Floor....talking ilegal immigration
Nice!
The past generations of mindless affirmative action, ethnic pandering, reducing standards and curriculum to the lowest common denominator, ignoring pertinent history or teaching revisionist “history” and refusing to see the lights before their own eyes -— have had a devastating effect on the major pillars of our society, including the entire education system.
In a sane world, desiring to survive — the Duke administration should experience a prompt and thorough house cleaning, starting with the President and the “88”.
Given the circumstance that very few members of faculty expressed outrage at the “88” or reminded others of the simple CONSTITUTIONAL provision of “Innocent until proved Guilty”......the cancer surely extended beyond the President and the “88”, so they should be considered the really low hanging “fruit” to be plucked immediately.....but don't assume all the cancer has been removed.
Now, can someone explain to me how we can homeschool at the University level? A friend has a kid at Tufts, and the boy is afraid to express his views because the Professors will mark his grades down or he’ll be tarred and feathered in front of the class.
The University system (like government schools) is hopelessly corrupt. Conservatives need their own universities.
John / Billybob
“The University system (like government schools) is hopelessly corrupt. Conservatives need their own universities.”
Hillsdale College
www.hillsdale.edu
Beat me to it.
Great idea. It used to be that “88” was shorthand used by NeoNazis. Now it’s used to describe a gang of Nazis on the Duke faculty.
Broadhead? He sounds like a Pinhead.
I think a couple of the worst things to happen to our education system are: tenure and the unions. I was amazed when I found out the school our foreman’s boys were attending had teachers teaching courses without certification.
There are some bastions of sanity in the world of higher educatiion. My youngest kid attends Lehigh. They recently had two live video conferences with students and soldiers in Iraq.
The school newspaper covered it, and the soldiers were complaining about the mainstream media bias constantly.
Another school that I believe is not infected is Pepperdine, in California.
In my own experience, sociology, political “science,” and other departments are the most infected. When you major in the real sciences, there is less PC group think.
Grove City college. Sometime home of Walter Williams.
Without question, yet there is still a frightening amount of it.
Agreed. Some of it is just because when you study chemistry, or physics, or mathematics, political beliefs are (or should be) off-topic.
In my experience that was usually the case; there were a few exceptions who thought that they could somehow inject their political views into the subject.
I went back to grad school after working for about 8 years, in the Real World. Yours truly, having a big mouth and not being intimidated by a Post-hole-Digger degree, called them out.
I still do it today. My political hero is Ronald Reagan, the happy warrior. try to disagree with the leftist doofuses in a pleasant way, possibly with a joke or two. Trouble is, the looney left is generally easily angered if you disagree, and immediately engage in ad hominem attacks on your intellect, motivations, etc. Anything but debate the point.
John / Billybob
Add Grove City College.
When Duke indemnified the gang of 88 in it’s settlement with the innocent young men, Duke effectively gave a very large bonus to each of those 88.
Will Duke be handing out similar cash bonuses to every other Duke employee, if not, can they be forced to do so?
I hope they got a HUGE, HUGE, FAT settlement.
Has the newspaper agreed to run the article if they get the $$? Can’t they simply refuse if they think it’ll give Duke a black eye?
My son went to Hillsdale. Worth every penny. And they taught him to THINK! How unique.
She said that all discussion ads will be vetted by the newspapers’ legal counsel. I said, “You realize how much free publicity, all of it bad, the newspaper will get if it refuses this ad?” She laughed, and said, “I understand what you mean.”
If for no other reason, I think the Chronicle will run the Sowell column because of the embarrassment they will suffer if they don’t run it. Fair enough. The right decision for the wrong reason by the newspaper will suit me fine.
John / Billybob
Cheers, CL
Tell the kid that the best way to avoid the worst teachers is to go to the bookstore and see what books the professor has on his reading list. It’s often a dead givaway.
Ah, yes - but too late to reverse revealing their inherent inability to think quickly and make the correct decision in a critical scenario..
In my former profession in the Marine Corp - that failure would get you killed.....in my corporate profession it would get you fired, indicted, bankrupted or worse.
In the "professor's" profession - it should at least cost him his job...
Parents should not be asked to pay 10s of thousands of dollars per year to have their child's head filled with the thoughts of those who can't think clearly, concisely or ethically....according to the Judeo Christian standards upon which this nation was founded, survived and excelled..
After all, isn't one of the most important aspects of getting an education to learn right from wrong and motivation to alway act morally and ethically?
Professors should NOT be exempt from the consequences of their actions - and most particularly not on someone else's dime... In my court -- the original 88 all go, along with anyone who gave them moral, financial or lynch mob support....
I am no longer a compassionate conservative......
News flash: they've already undermined society badly. The university system is radically liberal. In almost all courses of study, non-liberals don't make it through.
Science, engineering, and business aren't as bad, but almost every other area of college study is designed to root out conservatives and demoralize them into finding another course of study or fail them out. The only other option is to put up with 4+ years of liberal claptrap and spew it yourself, then go into a profession where your colleagues are all raving liberal lunatics. You'd wind up spending your whole life being a closet conservative or be astrocized and fired by liberals who claim to be all about equality, non-bias, and fairness. How many conservatives are willing to go through that? Darn few, I'd wager.
John / Billybob
Thanks CBB. Great stuff as always.
And therein lies the fuse that will ultimately ignite the bomb which will blow this society apart.....
To survive, societies MUST hold persons in positions of public trust, responsibility, law enforcement or fiduciary responsibilities to standards which do not ignore or forgive violations of those standards.
Forgiving the transgressions of the "88" and their many clones on University faculties across the nation, as well as the criminal or moronic congress critters in Washington - has gone a long war toward burdening the Republic with an exhausting and debilitating "load"....
My fear is the "load" has been sufficient to bend our spine to the stage where we shall soon be crippled...
The enemy within will be our downfall, and we will be good little PC numb nuts and permit it...
Thanks CBB....your efforts are appreciated....unfortunately, I doubt Duke will learn any lessons from this whole affair....they’re too rich and too insulated.....to bring about change in the academy we must start with legislative committees that control the budgets of state schools....this will not be easily done....the schools have very, very strong ties to state legislatures....believe me, they know where their bread is buttered....here’s a film that’s trying to make a difference in the academic culture wars:
http://www.indoctrinate-u.com/intro/
.....and finally, I doubt the 3 boys got much money from Duke....the school’s trustees would know that no way a black jury from Durham would give them squat....it would have been a very ugly racially charged trial....didn’t you all see how the head of the Durham NAACP got in that boy’s mother’s face until she left the court room in tears...that’s the way the black “leaders” operate....bluff ole whitey down...
In the nation's schools and college campuses, students are always presumed guilty--often on someone elses' lies--and severely punished. Even if proved not guilty in a court of law or if charges were dismissed altogether due to lack of evidence or "story changes" later on, they are still expelled or otherwise put out of an education...and they don't get their money back either. And this is if they are lucky to be proven innocent!
The only reason why these boys won wasn't because they were innocent, or even that they were white. They won because they had the resources to fight back. Most people don't, and some students have no choice but to plea-bargain--often to something they didn't even do--because they don't have any money and the public defender urges the plea. This is how a monster like Nifong could get away with his crap for so long. No doubt, there are a lot of innocent people he prosecuted rejoicing that he is being disbarred, and the fact that Duke University has backpedalled and is settling out of court is very telling.
The whole thing is a racket, and some school administrators are not only ignorant, they are the meanest people on the face of the earth who enjoy hurting people who they know can't fight back--and they are in cahoots with the prosecutors and the judges. This is what the system really is.
Liberty and Justice for All? I think not.
There is Liberty University, Regent University, and Patrick Henry College, to name a few.
The settlement apparently included any/all liability for the 88 super clowns and the details are kept secret as part of the deal, so you assume it was fat. Merely covering legal expenses for the three families would have run to several million.
Left twisting in the wind are any liabilities Duke might still have wrt the other forty some lax players not indicted, lawsuits against the city of Durham, its police department and DA's office, the state of North Carolina, and or MSM organs and people like Wendy Murphy.
It's happened before.
Tell him to hold tight while he’s in school, and if he’s in a major that isn’t mush, he can show himself when he hits grad school and beyond. Undergrad is trying to weather the propaganda.
Can the Former Coach and other players sue?
It's late June.
The vast majority of Duke students, including Chronicle staffers, have gone home for the summer. You probably reached an ad sales rep, the simmer intern acting as a secretary for the faculty advisor, and maybe an editor. Maybe. I know when I was a college newspaper editor, we were mostly dormant from mid-May until early August.
You talked to three college kids who did no know-- or recognize at that moment -- Sowell's name. That is what it is, I wouldn't read too much into it.
I’ll remember to look into Hillsdale for my own children.
Good for you!
So, it would be an uphill argument to construct a right of action among the other lacrosse players, and I doubt that any of them will sue Duke.
John / Billybob
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