OPINION & EDITORIAL
Duke scandal multifaceted
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Also by Cynthia Martens:
- America maintains unhealthy obsession with body image (February 10, 2006)
- Genocide not limited to Holocaust (January 27, 2006)
- Undergraduate fears of commencement unjustified (February 3, 2006)
- Outbursts in class unacceptable (April 7, 2005)
- Teacher evaluations not always effective (February 17, 2006)
Related Stories:
- Duke case exposes media's flaws, unfair legal system (January 18, 2007)
- Paper's account of alleged rape unfair (February 22, 2007)
- Drinking culture tolerates abuse (February 23, 2007)
- Alderman's assault comment insensitive (March 6, 2007)
- Sexual violence not just female issue (April 6, 2006)
by Cynthia Martens
Friday, April 21, 2006
Everyone loves a good sex scandal, so when a woman at Duke University accused several members of the elite Blue Devils men's lacrosse team of sexual assault, television wasted no time on cashing in.
Two sophomore members of the Duke lacrosse team were arrested Tuesday for the alleged sexual assault and kidnapping of an exotic dancer at an off-campus lacrosse party in March, and investigators are trying to confirm the identity of a third attacker.
The accusations of rape have resulted in the suspension of two players from the university, the canceling of the lacrosse season, the resignation of the head coach and the transfer of a majority of lacrosse recruits to other schools.
The rape scandal has left a muddled pile of facts. Lawyers for the defense have suggested that the plaintiff was drunk and injured before the party, and, in fact, one of the first police officers to see the woman after the party described her as "just passed-out drunk," according to the Associated Press.
Yet the woman's medical exam record does not indicate that she was drunk; it only says that her injuries and behavior were consistent with having been sexually assaulted. Adding to the confusion, a DNA test cleared all the suspects.
New York Times columnist David Brooks recently compared Duke's lacrosse scandal to the debauchery and questionable moral standards described in Tom Wolfe's notorious I Am Charlotte Simmons (which takes place on a campus unsubtly reminiscent of Duke).
I read Mr. Wolfe's novel, and while I admit that his fast-paced tales of sweaty sex, beer pong, basketball and drunken fraternity formals kept my attention, I also found the book rife with stereotypes.
All the book's athletes were jerks with no real passion outside sports and hooking up with women (except one basketball star who, thanks to the book's heroine, Charlotte, took an interest in Socrates). All sorority girls were gorgeous, vapid, sexually experienced and filthy rich. Campus life in general revolved around getting drunk and getting laid. As Charlotte weaved her way through college and discovered moral ambiguity, all the other students were one-dimensional paper dolls that dazzled and shocked her.
One issue Mr. Wolfe harps on in much of his work is how obsessed people are with social status, and there's real sting to some of his descriptions of social cliques.
Similarly, most of the coverage of the lacrosse scandal has painted the issue as one of social class and race. The New York Times was careful to note that one lacrosse player's father is a "prominent Wall Street executive" on the board of Newcastle Investment Corporation and that both accused players "grew up in million-dollar homes in affluent communities and attended all-boys Roman Catholic schools."
Duke's student newspaper, The Chronicle, stated that one of the accused and his father "pulled away in a tan Ford Explorer with New Jersey license plates."
The woman who has accused the men of rape, meanwhile, is a 27-year-old, African-American mother of two working her way through a different college by stripping. She claimed that three white men attacked her and that she was 100 percent positive she had identified two of them.
While their friends have been quick to defend the characters of the lacrosse players, several incidents are enough to give us pause. One of the men was previously arrested and charged with assault when he punched a man who begged him to stop calling him gay and derogatory names. Another team member (now banished from campus) reportedly sent a group e-mail promising another party at which all the women invited would be killed and skinned.
Going by these incidents, it's hard to think of these men as "nice guys."
That student athletes at many schools are privileged and that some have a false sense of entitlement is not news. But can we really attribute the chauvinistic behavior of a few lacrosse players to their prep-school backgrounds? Are student athletes especially vulnerable to rape accusations? If this scandal didn't happen to involve lacrosse players, would it make the news?
Unfortunately, sexual assault is a reality on most college campuses, and not always in a locker-room context. There's no question that sexual assault should be taken seriously, and victims should feel safe in reporting rape. But maybe the Duke lacrosse scandal is more representative of the dangers of drunken group mentality, or of how the behaviors of a few unpleasant individuals can slap a whole group with a negative stereotype, than of elitism or racism.
Cynthia Martens (cmartens@badgerherald.com) is a senior majoring in Italian and European Studies.
Anonymous (April 21, 2006 @ 5:52pm):
Rape is one of the hazards of the workplace if you're an exotic dancer. Yes, what these young men ALLEGEDLY did is wrong (I have serious doubts that they actually raped her), but this woman acts like an innocent victim. She's not. She's a stripper. There are plenty of other ways to pay your way through college that don't involve taking off your clothes. Not to mention, she is a MOTHER. What kind of morals does stripping teach her children?
"One of the men was previously arrested and charged with assault when he punched a man who begged him to stop calling him gay and derogatory names."
And this in and of itself makes someone a bad person? Just about everyone has gotten drunk and punched someone before, this guy just happened to get caught.
Still, these are Duke students and it is a shame that students at one of the best schools in the nation could act this way. Just goes to show that athletes at top Division I universities are vastly academically inferior and more immature than their non-athletic counterparts.
Anonymous (April 22, 2006 @ 1:55am):
"What kind of morals does stripping teach her children?"
While I agree that I'm not sure a rape actually occurred, the above quote is a dumb point. What she's teaching her kids is that mom is willing to do a job that can be rather nasty to help put food on the table. It's called sacrifice.
Anonymous (April 22, 2006 @ 11:10am):
I would just remind you that sometimes law enforcement and the media get it wrong. Does the name Richard Jewell ring a bell? 10 years ago the media had charged, tried and convicted him of deliberately planting a bomb that he then "discovered" just before it blew up at Atlanta's Olympic Park.
He didn't have a picket fence background, he was trying to get his life together. The media skewered him for living with his mother, for holding multiple part time jobs trying to break into law enforcement, and for having (aghast) Disney videos at home.
Turns out it was that Eric Rudolf planted the bomb. But Richard Jewell and his family were humilited worldwide by the media for a few months before this all came out.
A couple of clarifications: there have been no official announcements of recruits transferring elsewhere, or of players transferring elsewhere. Everyone is taking a "wait and see" attitude.
Regarding the woman's medical exam record -- did they test for alcohol or other stimulents? Because I haven't seen any reports indicating either way.
The stereotypes on both sides bother me. Just because someone is a stripper doesn't mean it is not possible she was raped.
Just because someone grew up in a wealthy home, or went to a prep school, doesn't mean he is a rapist.
Just because someone goes to Duke University doesn't mean he/she is (a) wealthy, (b) white, or (c) racist.
Reports have come out regarding the 2nd dancer, stating that she was yelling anti-caucasian stereotypes back at the players, and this "tit for tat" of racial slurs escalated the insults.
If the accuser is accusing these 3 men with 100% confidence in her identification, but records for Digital Camera time stamps, DNA, ATM, Cell phone and cab service dispatch do not match up, the prosecutor is going to have a tough time proving this case beyond a reasonable doubt.
I would remind you that people are still innocent until found guilty. That includes Finnerty's charge of assault in DC, the 15 charges against the team for minor-in-possession, etc.
Heck, in my dorm 10 years ago, I think the statistics were about the same. About 33% of the kids were charged with a minor infraction of some sort. That doesn't mean they were found guilty.
But it also means 19 year old kids do stupid things, make mistakes, learn from them, and grow up. My point? A minor-in-possession charge (not conviction) does not equate a rapist.
Regarding the famous email - this was clearly paraphrasing the Easton-Ellis book "American Psycho" which was turned into a movie. Personally I couldn't stomach either work of "art". But our 1st amendment rights apply. Newsweek published a fuller account of the email thread, the reply emails clearly indicate they were all paraphrasing the book/movie. Sick, dark, twisted humor, but not illegal.
If I quote or paraphrase Vladimir Nabokov's "Lolita" without properly footnoting it in an email between friends -- and someone else reads it -- does that me a paedophile?
Knowing he had an upcoming election, he should have had a neighboring county prosecutor investigate, in order to avoid the conflicts of interest.
Anonymous (April 22, 2006 @ 11:16am):
The evidence so far indicates that she didn't want to spend a night in the drunk tank so she lied about being attacked.
Now she gets free tuition and the men she's accused are ruined.
I hope she goes to jail for filing a false police report.
Anonymous (April 22, 2006 @ 4:32pm):
"she was yelling anti-caucasian stereotypes"
You're forgetting that ONLY white people can be racist or utter hate speech. Blacks can do no wrong in this regard.
Anonymous (April 23, 2006 @ 4:31am):
Correct me if I am wrong, but I am pretty sure that no one who is commenting here was actually at the house that night. I mean really....all the girls in Madison that dress slutty on halloween (the large majority) can pretty much expect to be raped...its part of the environment I suppose. Grow up.
Anonymous (April 23, 2006 @ 11:06am):
However the Duke lacrosse rape case turns out, one lesson that absolutely will not be learned is this: You can severely reduce your chances of having a false accusation of rape leveled against you if you don't hire strange women to come to your house and take their clothes off for money.
Also, you can severely reduce your chances of being raped if you do not go to strange men's houses and take your clothes off for money. ...
http://www.anncoulter.com/cgi-local/printer_friendly.cgi?article=109
Anonymous (April 23, 2006 @ 5:39pm):
While, facially, Ann Coulter's statement there makes sense, as usually it is full of holes. Ms. Coulter has never been a lower class or lower middle class woman who is trying to get a college degree while raising children. She has been a wealthy WASP from the nicest parts of Connecticut who has essentially had everything in her life handed to her (yes, even the acceptance to Michigan Law School). She has no concept of this sequence of events: I am trying to get a college degree to better my life and the lives of my children by getting a college degree. However, I still have to make money, so my children can eat, have clothes, go to doctors, etc. What job can I do where I can make a lot of money without having all that much time? By the way, odd hours would help as well, because there's no chance of me having a class or tests then, and my kids would be asleep so I wouldn't miss time with them.
Well, if you're a lower class woman in that situation, there are very few occupations that come to mind. Most of them involve taking your clothes off.
