Students Serving Duke

Some Duke people think the best way to serve the University is to “move on.” Many of them, including The Chronicle’s editorial board, insist President Brodhead “must remain” the University’s head.

But don’t ask Brodhead questions about Duke’s disgraceful enablement of the trashing and attempted frame-up of some of its students. For example, did Duke really tell the players not to tell their parents what was happening?

And don’t ask Brodhead about the University’s decision to hire sex workers to put on a show with strippers which Duke’s Vice President for Student Affairs Larry Moneta said was really about promoting “healthy lifestyles.” (wink-wink)

Then there are the students who make up Duke Students for an Ethical Duke who called attention to the sex show with its strippers and asked why the Women’s Center and other organizations were sponsoring the strippers.

DSED’s performed many important services for the University and people in the Duke community and elsewhere often described as “seeking truth and justice.”

I’m confident at some future time Duke will have a President and trustees who’ll be willing to answer questions about their actions.

I’m also confident such a President and trustees will look back at a very difficult time in the University’s life and acknowledge that during that time, DSED stood up for Duke.

I visited DSED’s Web site today and found a post titled:

Cooper Lawsuit Takes Dead Aim at Brodhead

It begins:

"The only wall of silence erected in this tragedy was Brodhead's."

Charles Cooper, lawyer for the 38 lacrosse players now collectively suing Duke University, held a press conference today to announce the filing of their lawsuit against both Duke and Durham. They have created a website, www.dukelawsuit.com, to keep individuals informed about the status of the suit.

We will begin another series breaking down this 225 page lawsuit shortly, in addition to finishing up the Lawsuit Breakdown series on the Ekstrand Lawsuit.

There seem to already be clear differences between the two lawsuits. Ekstrand seems to have adopted a somewhat more aggressive strategy early on while Cooper seems to be approaching the suit a more cautiously.

It will be interesting to see how these potentially complementary approaches play out. It is interesting that most of the significant facts alleged in each lawsuit are the same, corroborating each suit. ...

The rest of the post is here. If you haven't already done so, be sure to read it and the comments.

Thank you, DSED.