Duke lacrosse: A small step toward fairness (Post 1)

Readers’ Note: This is a 1, 2, 3 post.

The post reports on an action I took regarding an aspect of Duke University's handling of the "lacrosse story," really a vicious hoax; Duke's response to my action; and my response to Duke.

My initial action was an email to Duke's Senior Vice President for Public Affairs and Government Relations, John F. Burness. That email is Item 1.

If, when you start reading Item 1, you find yourself saying, “I remember this now,” skip right on to Items 2 and 3.

Items 2 and 3 are easily understood once you know the contents of Item 1.

John
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Item 1: Email to Mr. Burness on 8/16.

Dear Mr. Burness:

I blog as John in Carolina and hold two degrees from the university. I've posted often on what's called "the Duke lacrosse case" (actually an extremely harmful hoax), typically on the biased and inflammatory media coverage, especially that of the Raleigh News & Observer.

At the DU website I just entered "duke lacrosse" in the search box.
Below are the first two "hits." Both took me to a main page - Duke .>>> News & Communications - which link to statements, articles, etc.

I've two questions I hope you'll answer:

1) Why was the head: Duke University Duke Lacrosse: Information on Sexual Assault... used in the first place?

2) Why does the university continue to use it now ?

Thank you for your attention to my questions.

Sincerely,

John
www.johnincarolina.com

Duke University | Duke Lacrosse: Information on Sexual Assault ...
... the year winner whose teams won eight conference championships at Hofstra University, was announced as the new head coach of the Duke's men's lacrosse team at ...
http://www.dukenews.duke.edu/mmedia/features/lacrosse_incident/?WT.cg_n=Lacrosse%20Group - 19k - 2006-08-15 - Cached

Duke University | Duke Lacrosse: Information on Sexual Assault ...
... the year winner whose teams won eight conference championships at Hofstra University, was announced as the new head coach of the Duke's men's lacrosse team at ...
http://www.dukenews.duke.edu/mmedia/features/lacrosse_incident/ - 19k - 2006-08-15 - Cached
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Item 2: A response on 8/18 from Mr. David Jarmul on behalf of Mr. Burness.

John (or should I say "John in Carolina"?),

Hi from David Jarmul in Duke's Office of News and Communications. John Burness asked me to respond to your message, which I was glad to receive since it pointed out something that needed attention. You were right about what popped up if someone searched on the words "Duke lacrosse" on the Duke search engine.

The words that appeared after the colon, i.e., "Information on Sexual Assault," were part of a longer phrase that comprised the "title tag" in the page's underlying code. However, as you saw, the rest of the phrase got cut off on the search result.

The title tag was written in the days immediately after this incident became public, when the focus was squarely on the alleged sexual assault. We've now updated it to read: "Duke Lacrosse: Information on the March 13 Incident and Related Events."

Thanks again for alerting us to this.

-- David
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Item 3: My response on 8/19 to Mr. Jarmul.

Dear David:

I don’t doubt that what’s been done in response to my inquiry represents a good-faith effort by the university. Thank you for that.

However, there is much more in this area that needs correcting.

As of 6:00 p.m. EDT, Saturday, Aug. 19, a search of Duke’s website using the entry words “Duke lacrosse” yeilded hits as troubling as the ones that prompted my initial email to Mr. Burness.

The following is the 10th hit :

Duke University | Information on Sexual Assault Charges Against ...
... also received numerous unsolicited emails and letters from many generations of Duke alumni and from parents and friends of Duke lacrosse players expressing ...
http://www.dukenews.duke.edu/mmedia/features/lacrosse_incident/lacrossereport.html - 76k - 2006-07-31 - Cached

A click on that hit's Information on Sexual Assault Charges Against took me to a copy of the Coleman Report.

Information on Sexual Assault Charges Against and The Coleman Report?

That's the sort of linkage sensible people would expect Mike Nifong, Raleigh N&O reporters and the faculty's Group of 88 to make.

But how did the university make such a linkage?

And why, David, is Duke still making that linkage?

The following is the 12th hit:

Duke University | Information on Sexual Assault Charges Against ...
... Senior Vice President John F. Burness issues statement on the indictment of Duke lacrosse captain David Evans by the Durham Grand Jury. Click here for more. ...
http://www.dukenews.duke.edu/mmedia/features/lacrosse_incident/timeline.html - 18k - 2006-07-31 - Cached

A click on that Information on Sexual Assault Charges Against head took me to a page where the most recent in a series of announcements was President Brodhead’s June 5 announcement that the Men’s lacrosse team was being reinstated.

Why does that page have the head: Information on Sexual Assault Charges Against?

How did that happen given President Brodhead’s repeated assurances to the Duke community and the broader community that he and the university have taken great care to be scrupulously fair to the lacrosse players?

I didn’t go past the 12th hit.

But I suspect that in the remaining 3,038 hits the “Duke lacrosse” search yielded, there are very likely many more hits of the kind that fly in the face of President Brodhead's assurances.

How can that situation be changed?

To restate as regards your response to my initial inquiry: I don’t doubt good-faith was involved.

I look forward to hearing from you.

I’ve posted my initial email to Mr. Burness, your response, and this email in a new post.

I’ll send you a link to that post by separate email. I've titled it: "Duke lacrosse: A small step toward fairness (Post 1).

Sincerely,

John
www.johnincarolina.com