Duke’s Starn’s Latest Round

Duke University Professor of Cultural Anthropology Orin Starn made his first appearance on the JinC main page when he misrepresented remarks by Duke’s Men’s basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski concerning the racial aspects of the Duke lacrosse case.

I emailed Starn and asked about to correct his misrepresentation. In a rambling response in which he added defense attorney Joseph Cheshire to his “target list,” Starn denied misrepresenting Coach K.

So I emailed Starn again, this time including an explication of exactly how, by eliminating certain key words and phases and conflating two separate thoughts the coach had expressed, Starn created what I told him it was hard to believe was anything other than a deliberately false statement which he presented to unsuspecting readers as Coach K’s remarks.

I invited Starn to reply to the explication; and promised to publish his reply in full. He never responded. You can read our email exchanges here.

In the past year, Starn has emerged as a loud, angry and irresponsible critic of Duke athletics in general and the lacrosse players in particular.

As evidence of the players’ innocence has accumulated Starn’s become, if anything, louder, angrier and more irresponsible. See, for example, KC Johnson’s post: “The Arrogance of Starn.”

Now for Starn’s latest ---

From Duke News an announcement of an “academic conference”:

[…] The event, called “Tiger Woods ©: American Empire, Global Golf and the Making of a Megacelebrity,” will be held from 1:30 to 5 p.m. Friday, March 23, in Room 240 of Duke University’s John Hope Franklin Center, 2204 Erwin Road. It is free and open to the public.

Panelists include Selena Roberts, New York Times sports columnist; Edward Wanambwa, editor of African American Golf Digest; Bruce Selcraig, investigative sports journalist; and Anna Grzebien and Jennifer Pandolfi, members of Duke’s NCAA championship golf team. […]

Also on the panel are Duke faculty members Orin Starn, a cultural anthropologist and a conference organizer; Grant Farred, a literature professor; and Rachael Miyung Joo, a visiting professor of cultural anthropology. […]

Starn, who’s taken a leave of absence from Duke to reinvent himself as a “sports cultural anthropologist” and write a book about golf from a cultural perspective, is listed as the conference contact person.

No doubt Starn had a lot to do with picking the panelists.

What does it tell us when from among all the sports writers in America, Starn and others at Duke invited Selena Roberts to join the panel?

Last Spring Roberts was one of those who most viciously and falsely attacked the lacrosse players.

Pundit Stuart Taylor, among the first to call attention to Nifong's frame-up and the contributions of its enablers, has said:

Selena Roberts helped set the tone [for The Times’ treatment of the case as a fable of evil, rich white men running amok and abusing poor black women] in a March 31 commentary seething with hatred for "a group of privileged players of fine pedigree entangled in a night that threatens to belie their social standing as human beings."

All but presuming guilt, Roberts parroted false prosecution claims that all team members had observed a "code of silence." (A correction ran six days later). She likened them to "drug dealers and gang members engaged in an anti-snitch campaign."

Roberts has never apologized for her slimes.

On March 23 Starn will no doubt tell Roberts and conference participants at Duke’s John Hope Franklin Center how “happy” and “honored” he is to have Roberts with him and on the panel.

About that I think you can believe Starn.