Tuesday, April 24, 2007

A Question for Duke Trustees

You all know the old parlor game where we each get to pick one historical figure to have lunch with and say what one question we’d ask the figure during lunch.

I want to play a version of that game with you.

I get to have lunch with Duke University’s board of trustees.

I tell the trustees at the start of lunch that my question is a very simple one they should all be able to answer.

But I also tell them the question needs some “teeing up” which shouldn’t take me more than four or five minutes.

“But not to worry,” I assure them. “I’m just going to recite some facts we can all agree on. Those facts are the basis of my question.”

Then I begin:

I say that President Brodhead didn’t meet with the Duke lacrosse parents who were on campus March 25, 2006, the day Duke cancelled the game with Georgetown; nor did he meet with them the next day. Brodhead’s never said why he didn’t.

I interrupt myself at this point to remind the trustees that I only just said, and will only say, what are indisputable facts.

I add: “I promise I’ll keep it short.”

Then I continue:

After listening to a tape of “the first 911 call” President Brodhead issued a full, written, unconditional apology to the caller and her friend in which he said: “I am sorry the woman and her friend were subjected to such abuse.”

After we all listened to the threats of “Justice will be done, Rapist” and “Dead man walking” shouted at Reade Seligmann at the Durham County Courthouse last May 18, Brodhead said nothing.

The faculty said nothing.

You, the trustees, said nothing.

Even The Chronicle said nothing.

The “Vigilante” poster was distributed and posted on campus. Brodhead never said anything critical of those who produced and distributed the poster targeting the white lacrosse players

Last spring the members of the Women’s lacrosse team were subjected to cruel, sexist attacks in many national newspapers for doing nothing more than saying the truth: “Innocent.” No senior Duke administrator spoke up on the women’s behalf.

More than a year after the Group of 88’s “listening statement” appeared as a full-page ad in The Chronicle, no one will acknowledge who paid for the ad and whether or not payment was made using University funds.

Fifteen academic departments and programs are listed as signing on to the “listening statement.” But many faculty in those departments and programs say they have no idea how their departments and programs came to be listed.

No one at Duke has so far told them how it happened.

Brodhead has made no public comment expressing any concern regarding who paid for the ad, whether University funds were used, or how the departments and programs came to be listed.

Brodhead frequently assures alumni groups the University is “in very good hands.”

Now, trustees, to my question: You and President Brodhead keep sending “the Duke community” promotional materials and emails telling us that everything is just fine at Duke.

Are you trying to turn us all into Dupies?

I’m listening.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

John,

You consistently harp on the "Justice will be done, rapist" comments as though they were the worst thing that happened in this case and the fact that The Chronicle never mentioned it. Neither of those assumptions is true.


"Prior to the statement, court officers quieted a man in the company of members of the New Black Panther Party. At the end of the hearing, the man shouted, "dead man walking," in the direction of Seligmann."

http://media.www.dukechronicle.com/media/storage/paper884/news/2006/05/18/News/Seligmann.Appears.In.Court-2012243.shtml

Anonymous said...

No - thats not true - I watched the entire courtv covering of the proceeding. "The Dead Man Walking" was said in the beginning before the Judge arrived at the bench, No one interviened - It is not the worst thing I have ever heard, but right up there with the top ten.

JWM said...

Dear Anon @ 8:43,

I do consistently, as you put it, "harp" on what you call "comments" (really threats) shouted at Reade Seligmann.

I've never said the threats, including "Justice will be done, Rapist," shouted at Seligmann as he walked with his parents and his attorney, the late Kirk Osborn, to the Durham County Courthouse on May 18, were in any way "the worst thing that happened in this case."

They’re not. If you can show me where I said such a thing, I’ll correct it and apologize.

I also never said the threats shouted at Seligmann inside the courtroom ("Dead man walking") were by any means “the worst thing that happened in this case.”

They’re not. Again, if you can show me where I said such a thing, I’ll correct it and apologize.

If you can't find where I've said such things, what will you do?

You note: "Prior to the statement, court officers quieted a man in the company of members of the New Black Panther Party. At the end of the hearing, the man shouted, "dead man walking," in the direction of Seligmann."

You helpfully provide a URL to the above quoted sentences.
http://media.www.dukechronicle.com/media/storage/paper884/news/2006/05/18/News/Seligmann.Appears.In.Court-2012243.shtml

Thank you for providing the link.

I read those sentences the day they appeared in The Chronicle, May 18, 2006 under Andrew Yaffe’s byline.

Can't we agree that reporting on a story is different from a newspaper's speaking out or remaining editorially silent as The Chronicle has first, regarding May 18 and the threats to Seligmann; and then second, President Brodhead, the faculty and the trustees' decisions to say nothing critical of those threatening Seligmann and nothing supportive of Seligmann, his parents and Kirk Osborn?

Last spring The Raleigh News & Observer told readers about the lacrosse team’s “a wall of solidarity,” “the victim,” and the night the N&O said with no qualification whatsoever ended in “sexual violence.”

I hope we agree that all of that is what the N&O calls “news reporting.”

The same is true of its publication of a large size photo of the “Vigilante” poster after Duke had said doing so would endanger the white members of the Men’s lacrosse team.

All of that is reporting.

But the other day The Chronicle editorialized and recommended buying the N&O. The Chronicle was then speaking out.

About the threats to Reade Seligmann, has The Chronicle ever expressed any criticism of those making them? Or any support for Seligmann and his family?

I hope you respond. If I’m wrong on any fact I’ve just cited, please correct me.

Anon @ 10;17,

I've never seen the Court TV tape of the events.

Is there any chance Court TV would replay it?

All the accounts I've heard and read agree on the "Dead man walking" death threats and no account said anything was done to the hatemongers.

But on other matters, the accounts differ.

Thank you both for commenting.

John

Anonymous said...

Given the tragedy at VA/Tech and the fact that Duke is also a "gun free zone" I am wondering if the Duke Administration has considered what might have been the implications if the NBP's had carried out their "shotgun march" thread?

-AC

Anonymous said...

Great question! Brodhead's failure to amend his response to the fraudulent 911 calls has long annoyed me, and you expose why.

You could skip the preamble, start with the 911 call, and off half the "nothings" at it would still be great.

People debate whether or not Brodhead should apologize. But he already has!