Anderson on Duke's liability

Duke University's President Richard H. Brodhead seemed nervous on 60 Minutes.Maybe he was worried Leslie Stahl would ask him why he refused to meet on Mar. 25 with the parents of the lacrosse players whose sons had just given DNA samples and were under investigation as suspected gang-rapists. Or maybe Brodhead had just read an advance copy of professor and pundit Bill Anderson's latest column. Excerpts:

Even though the criminal case against the three Duke lacrosse players has not yet been deep-sixed, the lawsuits against Duke University have begun.[...]

To gain a picture of what the Duke University lacrosse players experienced last spring as they walked through a literal gauntlet on their way to class, envision the following things:

Students holding signs declaring: "Castrate";

Speakers at regular rallies calling for their expulsion;

Students screaming slogans at them;

The New Black Panthers came to Durham and said they were going to the Duke University dorms where lacrosse players lived in order to get "confessions" from them. [...]

Duke University ... has a contractual obligation to its students, and that includes keeping them from being physically and verbally harassed by faculty and students. Assume that the objects of this wrath are homosexuals, and they are met with signs that mock them and have anti-gay slurs, or call for their sexual organs to be cut off. Furthermore, assume that the protest is not against homosexuality in general, but rather aimed specifically at certain males on campus who are gay.

The liability that Duke would face in the previously-mentioned example is the same liability the university undoubtedly faces now.[...]

Bill has a lot more to say. As always, he uses facts and careful reasoning to reach sound conclusions.

His full column is here and well worth reading.