Some tidbits from the Duke University Ad Hoc Review Committee's Report:
1. The members of the Duke Lacrosse team have been academically and athletically responsible students. In general, faculty who have had lacrosse players in their classes have not experienced disciplinary problems with the players. Over the last five years, however, many lacrosse players increasingly have been socially irresponsible consumers of alcohol. Their extensive record of repetitive misconduct should have alarmed administrators responsible for student discipline.
b. Social behavior
Paradoxically, in contrast to their exemplary academic and athletic performance, a large number of the members of the team have been socially irresponsible when under the influence of alcohol. They have repeatedly violated the law against underage drinking. They have drunk alcohol excessively. They have disturbed their neighbors with loud music and noise, both on-campus and off-campus. They have publicly urinated both on-campus and off. They have shown disrespect for property. Both the number of team members implicated in this behavior and the number of alcohol-related incidents involving them have been excessive compared to other Duke athletic teams. Nevertheless, their conduct has not been different in character than the conduct of the typical Duke student who abuses alcohol. Their reported conduct has not involved fighting, sexual assault or harassment, or racist behavior. 15 Moreover, even the people who have complained about their alcohol-related misconduct often add that the students are respectful and appear genuinely remorseful when they are not drinking...
The most common conduct for which disciplinary citations were issued involved drinking games in which several players living in the same residential hall participated. In addition, many of the incidents of misconduct occurred during periods when players did not have academic or athletic obligations, such as the period at the start of the school year after upperclass housing opened but before classes began, on weekends, during school breaks, and in May, after the academic year had ended when the players lived in unsupervised residential housing to complete the team's season.
http://www.dukenews.duke.edu/mmedia/features/lacrosse_incident/lacrossereport.htmlThe gist is that some younger members of the Duke lacrosse team tended to act inappropriately after drinking...I'm shocked!!! 18 and 19 year old kids playing drinking games and acting foolishly? What's next, are you going to tell me that that teenagers are bad drivers??? I'm sorry but I just don't see how any of these supposed "infractions" warrant any kind of punishment on the scale of canceling an entire season. From Duke's own alcohol policy:
Underage Possession/Consumption
Students under 21 years of age are not permitted to purchase, possess, or consume alcoholic beverages. Being under the influence of any amount of alcohol while underage is considered a violation of this provision.
For individuals as well as groups, prohibited behavior includes:
* Underage Possession/Consumption
* Unsafe/Irresponsible Behavior
* Violation of Community Expectations.
Sanctions for violations of any of these prohibited behaviors may include, but are not limited to, one or more of the following: educational initiatives, restitution to the community, fines, revocation of housing and/or on-campus driving privileges, referral to a substance abuse specialist, treatment through a professional agency such as the Duke Addictions Program, formal warning, disciplinary probation, suspension, or expulsion from the university. Parents of students under the age of 21 will be notified of alcohol-related disciplinary violations when a student’s health or safety has been/is at risk.
http://judicial.studentaffairs.duke.edu/policies/policy_list/alcohol.html
Maybe the NCAA is bailing out the moronic administration of Duke or maybe they are trying to do right by these kids, regardless of the reason I think they are doing the right thing.
