Rooting against Duke
April 1, 2010
Duke University made it to the Final Four of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament this year but I’ll be rooting against them.
Frankly, I think everybody should be rooting against them.
They’ll be playing West Virginia Saturday evening for the chance to reach the championship game and ordinarily I’d be for Duke. I’ve always figured that Coach Krzyzewski is one of the few honorable men involved with big-time college sports and I like seeing good guys win. Since Krzyzewski is the public face of the university, my opinion of Duke followed right along behind my opinion of him. I thought highly of Duke. I was a closet “Dukie.”
But that changed this week when yet another example of Duke University’s tentative relationship with ethics and morals was revealed. They’ve got serious problems at that place and they’ve soured me on Duke so much I’ll be yelling “Go Mountaineers!” at the TV this weekend… at least until the Mountaineers run up against Michigan State, at which point I’ll be forced to remember where I’m from (and where Robert Byrd is from) and alter my fealty accordingly.
My Dukie status was already strained back in 2006 during the Duke lacrosse team rape case, when the university cowered before the mobs of race mongers and feminists who were publicly vilifying three unfortunate young men who were falsely accused of rape. While they twisted in the wind, their college hopes and dreams shattered, wondering if they would be sent to prison, I couldn’t help noticing that Krzyzewski was silent. University faculty took out a full-page ad in the Duke Chronicle attacking the boys; the university itself violated their rights, fired their coach, and cancelled their season; and all the while, Coach Krzyzewski, the most influential man on campus, sat back and watched.
You would think the university could have mustered up some loyalty to its own students. You would think that Krzyzewski could have mustered up some righteous indignation at the way they were being treated—especially since they were athletes and he’s a coach. And you would think that afterward, when all the facts were in and the charges against the boys were dismissed, both the university and Krzyzewski would have been abject in their apologies.
Hell, I think the faculty members who took out that lynch-mob ad in the newspaper should have been fired, each and every one of them. And there were 88 faculty members who signed the damn thing. That would have been a great start toward making an apology.
Nevertheless, somehow I remained a closet Dukie. I figured the rape case was an exception, even good people can lose sight of what’s right, and surely they must have learned their lesson. Maybe the race mongers and feminist Nazis weren’t fired but they surely knew they were on a short leash from now on…
Last year there was another rape case, only this one was actually rape, and it was about as bad as bad gets. A gay professor named Frank Lombard was sexually abusing his two young adopted sons, streaming live video of the sex acts over the internet, and even offering the boys to other men for sex. Seems Professor Frank had specifically targeted black boys for adoption so that he could sexually abuse them. He targeted black boys because they were “easier to get.”
If ever there was a reason for the faculty in the African American Studies department to rise up in outrage and place a newspaper ad vilifying a scumbag, this was it, right? Black toddlers being targeted for sexual abuse! 80% of the African American Studies faculty signed the ad against the middle-class white lacrosse players who were falsely accused of rape by a drug-addict stripper with various personality disorders, but nobody felt so inclined when it came to a gay child abuser who was a fellow member of the Duke faculty.
Not a peep from the feminists in Women’s Studies, either, although 72% of them signed the ad against the lacrosse team.
My secret life as a Dukie was getting difficult to justify in my own mind. The whole campus seemed to be overrun with creeps and moral nincompoops.
But there I was, last weekend, still rooting for Coach Krzyzewski and the Blue Devils as they played their way into the Final Four. Duke and Michigan State both made it so I was a happy clam Sunday night…
Then Monday morning I read about the Duke Students for Life (DSFL) affair. Seems the DSFL had a March 18 reservation for space at the Women’s Center to give a talk about motherhood but the feminist Nazis at the Women’s Center told them at the last minute that they couldn’t use the facility. Why? Well, because their pro-life agenda was in ideological conflict with the views of the people at the Women’s Center. They were afraid of being “traumatized” by the talk about motherhood. Seriously, that’s what they said.
Never mind that the Women’s Center mission statement says:
Like I said, they’ve got serious problems with ethics and morals at Duke University. The problems seem to be centered in the leftwing radical faculty, seem to be enabled by the university’s feeble and cowardly administrators, and, most disappointing of all, the public face of the university, Mike Krzyzewski, can’t be bothered to stand up and voice an opinion about any of it.
As Edmund Burke said, “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.”
I am no longer a Dukie. Go Mountaineers.
From Reno, Nevada, USA
Frankly, I think everybody should be rooting against them.
They’ll be playing West Virginia Saturday evening for the chance to reach the championship game and ordinarily I’d be for Duke. I’ve always figured that Coach Krzyzewski is one of the few honorable men involved with big-time college sports and I like seeing good guys win. Since Krzyzewski is the public face of the university, my opinion of Duke followed right along behind my opinion of him. I thought highly of Duke. I was a closet “Dukie.”
But that changed this week when yet another example of Duke University’s tentative relationship with ethics and morals was revealed. They’ve got serious problems at that place and they’ve soured me on Duke so much I’ll be yelling “Go Mountaineers!” at the TV this weekend… at least until the Mountaineers run up against Michigan State, at which point I’ll be forced to remember where I’m from (and where Robert Byrd is from) and alter my fealty accordingly.
My Dukie status was already strained back in 2006 during the Duke lacrosse team rape case, when the university cowered before the mobs of race mongers and feminists who were publicly vilifying three unfortunate young men who were falsely accused of rape. While they twisted in the wind, their college hopes and dreams shattered, wondering if they would be sent to prison, I couldn’t help noticing that Krzyzewski was silent. University faculty took out a full-page ad in the Duke Chronicle attacking the boys; the university itself violated their rights, fired their coach, and cancelled their season; and all the while, Coach Krzyzewski, the most influential man on campus, sat back and watched.
You would think the university could have mustered up some loyalty to its own students. You would think that Krzyzewski could have mustered up some righteous indignation at the way they were being treated—especially since they were athletes and he’s a coach. And you would think that afterward, when all the facts were in and the charges against the boys were dismissed, both the university and Krzyzewski would have been abject in their apologies.
Hell, I think the faculty members who took out that lynch-mob ad in the newspaper should have been fired, each and every one of them. And there were 88 faculty members who signed the damn thing. That would have been a great start toward making an apology.
Nevertheless, somehow I remained a closet Dukie. I figured the rape case was an exception, even good people can lose sight of what’s right, and surely they must have learned their lesson. Maybe the race mongers and feminist Nazis weren’t fired but they surely knew they were on a short leash from now on…
Last year there was another rape case, only this one was actually rape, and it was about as bad as bad gets. A gay professor named Frank Lombard was sexually abusing his two young adopted sons, streaming live video of the sex acts over the internet, and even offering the boys to other men for sex. Seems Professor Frank had specifically targeted black boys for adoption so that he could sexually abuse them. He targeted black boys because they were “easier to get.”
If ever there was a reason for the faculty in the African American Studies department to rise up in outrage and place a newspaper ad vilifying a scumbag, this was it, right? Black toddlers being targeted for sexual abuse! 80% of the African American Studies faculty signed the ad against the middle-class white lacrosse players who were falsely accused of rape by a drug-addict stripper with various personality disorders, but nobody felt so inclined when it came to a gay child abuser who was a fellow member of the Duke faculty.
Not a peep from the feminists in Women’s Studies, either, although 72% of them signed the ad against the lacrosse team.
My secret life as a Dukie was getting difficult to justify in my own mind. The whole campus seemed to be overrun with creeps and moral nincompoops.
But there I was, last weekend, still rooting for Coach Krzyzewski and the Blue Devils as they played their way into the Final Four. Duke and Michigan State both made it so I was a happy clam Sunday night…
Then Monday morning I read about the Duke Students for Life (DSFL) affair. Seems the DSFL had a March 18 reservation for space at the Women’s Center to give a talk about motherhood but the feminist Nazis at the Women’s Center told them at the last minute that they couldn’t use the facility. Why? Well, because their pro-life agenda was in ideological conflict with the views of the people at the Women’s Center. They were afraid of being “traumatized” by the talk about motherhood. Seriously, that’s what they said.
Never mind that the Women’s Center mission statement says:
“We ascribe to a broadly defined, fluctuating and inclusive feminist ideology that welcomes discordant viewpoints from varied experiences.”Never mind that. Inclusiveness like that is apparently fine until somebody wants to talk about the horrors and depravities of being a mother instead of having an abortion. They can’t have that.
Like I said, they’ve got serious problems with ethics and morals at Duke University. The problems seem to be centered in the leftwing radical faculty, seem to be enabled by the university’s feeble and cowardly administrators, and, most disappointing of all, the public face of the university, Mike Krzyzewski, can’t be bothered to stand up and voice an opinion about any of it.
As Edmund Burke said, “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.”
I am no longer a Dukie. Go Mountaineers.
From Reno, Nevada, USA
Followup:
May 13, 2010
The morality-confused liberals at Duke are at it again. It’s almost unbelievable. Who’s running that place? This time Duke is in the news because the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) is challenging a brand new “sexual misconduct policy” written by the very same Duke Women’s Center which is the subject of the column above. The new policy assumes coercion exists whenever there is a “perceived power differential.” (Seriously, what kind of person sits around thinking up this crap?) The policy specifically singles out IQ as a factor that creates a power differential. I guess the best thing you can do if you’re a genius is never have sex again so you don’t open yourself up to charges of rape.
“The higher the IQ, the more manipulative they are, the more cunning they are... imagine the sex offenders we have here at Duke—cream of the crop,” said the director of the center.
You probably think I’m exaggerating but I’m not. You can read about the whole ridiculous business here, at the FIRE website.
I have a simple idea for how Duke can begin to rehabilitate its reputation: close the frikkin’ women's center! They seem to be at the center of every embarrassing moment.
May 13, 2010
The morality-confused liberals at Duke are at it again. It’s almost unbelievable. Who’s running that place? This time Duke is in the news because the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) is challenging a brand new “sexual misconduct policy” written by the very same Duke Women’s Center which is the subject of the column above. The new policy assumes coercion exists whenever there is a “perceived power differential.” (Seriously, what kind of person sits around thinking up this crap?) The policy specifically singles out IQ as a factor that creates a power differential. I guess the best thing you can do if you’re a genius is never have sex again so you don’t open yourself up to charges of rape.
“The higher the IQ, the more manipulative they are, the more cunning they are... imagine the sex offenders we have here at Duke—cream of the crop,” said the director of the center.
You probably think I’m exaggerating but I’m not. You can read about the whole ridiculous business here, at the FIRE website.
I have a simple idea for how Duke can begin to rehabilitate its reputation: close the frikkin’ women's center! They seem to be at the center of every embarrassing moment.
April 6, 2010 - Frankly, I'm over the whole discussion of who does or doesn't support my team, why or why not. GO DUKE. GO DUKE. GO DUKE. 2010 National Champions. :) - Blueflower, Tennessee
April 3, 2010 - BTW, just to show you how out of sorts your rationale for not supporting the Duke basketball team and Coach K is, should people stop supporting your blog simply because you didn't boldly stand up to Coach K (let alone admit you were a "closet" Dukie) until the eve of their Final 4 appearance, *4 years* after the Duke lacrosse rape accusations first surfaced and one year after the other rape case? - Sister Toldjah, North Carolina
April 3, 2010 - Wrong. His place was standing up for the kids he was coaching. Him taking what would have been a "controversial" stand at the time would have drawn the students he was coaching into the crossfire, and they didn't deserve that. Coach K did what most people at Duke didn't do at the time and that was stay neutral until all the facts were in - which is what people like us were saying everyone should be doing. Most folks at Duke jumped on the "guilty" bandwagon without any hesitation. He made no judgments against the accused and said more than you quoted him as saying. I provided two links for you to show you how he handled what happened during the Lacrosse drama. Sorry, but you're just wrong about this JP and don't want to backtrack. - Sister Toldjah, North Carolina
April 2, 2010 - Who gives a shit, its just college basketball. Did you even go to college? - J. Nowak, by Blackberry
April 2, 2010 - With all due respect, you are out of your mind! Why punish the basketball team and Coach K for the stupidity of left wing radicals at Duke? In fact, he did speak out about the Duke Lacrosse team case: Early on. The first few months he stayed neutral while the facts played out, primarily because he didn't want his comments to be used as a distraction against the basketball team. Then later. It's even been rumored around here that Coach K is a conservative (something I think is true, if you read this.) Please don't take out what the radical left wing does at Duke on a fine basketball organization and inspirational coach, JP! - Sister Toldjah, North Carolina
April 2, 2010 - Great commentary! I don't agree that Coach K should apologize to the world for what happened to the lacrosse team - he's not the Director of Athletics - just as i don't think that Tiger owes me an apology. But I will agree that a little support from Coach K for due process [from] a fellow athletic department [member] would have gone a long way to discourage some of the more egregious behavior on the part of the university faculty and staff. He is one of their "gods", after all. That being said, I've been rooting against Duke since the 1992 East Regional Final game when Christian Laettner stomped on a Kentucky player who was on the ground. The way he did it was dismissive, and showed his disdain for an inferior player on an inferior team. I thought it rated ejection, but Krzyzewski defended the act as "heat of the moment" in the post-game press conference. And that did it for me with respect to Duke basketball. - Jamey, Canada
April 2, 2010 - About the time the laxers were going through their travails, there was a real rape at Duke. A Duke student was raped by a non-student at a fraternity house. The vic was white, the perp was black, and it was a black fraternity house. All those horrid things the feminists keep lamenting that happen to rape victims???? Nada. potbangers??? faculty statements??? university statements??? feminists paying attention??? - Richard A., Michigan
April 2, 2010 - I'm not a sports fan and didn't know all this stuff about Duke (obviously I'm living in a vacuum of some kind) but I applaud your decision to write this column about them and to take a stand - one someone there should be taking. Obviously Duke has been sliding into the pit for sometime and have finally reached bottom!! And, by the way, I really enjoy your observations. - Jane, Indiana
April 2, 2010 - Rooting against Duke? Oh hell yeah! - Don Surber, West Virginia
April 1, 2010 - Agreed! - V. Rone, North Carolina
J.P. replies: Congratulations. I have to admit, in spite of my opinion of Duke's problems on campus, I kept finding myself rooting for them in the final. Don't tell anybody, okay?
April 3, 2010 - BTW, just to show you how out of sorts your rationale for not supporting the Duke basketball team and Coach K is, should people stop supporting your blog simply because you didn't boldly stand up to Coach K (let alone admit you were a "closet" Dukie) until the eve of their Final 4 appearance, *4 years* after the Duke lacrosse rape accusations first surfaced and one year after the other rape case? - Sister Toldjah, North Carolina
J.P. replies: Turning your question around: should I be required to support Duke for the rest of my life because I didn't recognize the moral depravity of the university earlier? Look, I appreciate your passion, and even sympathize with it because I think Krzyzewski is a good guy just like you do. Thing is, the very fact of what he represents means he has a responsibility to step up to the plate and make a stand for what is right. AND DO IT WHEN IT MATTERS, not a year later. I never said he needed to declare the lacrosse team innocent. I'm saying he should have condemned the newspaper ad by the faculty, condemned the conduct of Michael Nifong, condemned the rush to judgement by the whole community, and condemned his own boss, the president of the university, who (among other things) sent in Duke lawyers to pretend they represented the boys when in fact they were representing the university. (A dastardy knife-in-the-back move that resulted in a lawsuit against the university.) Just think what it would have meant to everybody involved to see Krzyzewski make a stand.
April 3, 2010 - Wrong. His place was standing up for the kids he was coaching. Him taking what would have been a "controversial" stand at the time would have drawn the students he was coaching into the crossfire, and they didn't deserve that. Coach K did what most people at Duke didn't do at the time and that was stay neutral until all the facts were in - which is what people like us were saying everyone should be doing. Most folks at Duke jumped on the "guilty" bandwagon without any hesitation. He made no judgments against the accused and said more than you quoted him as saying. I provided two links for you to show you how he handled what happened during the Lacrosse drama. Sorry, but you're just wrong about this JP and don't want to backtrack. - Sister Toldjah, North Carolina
J.P. replies: You gave me two quotes, yes, but the second one was from a year after the incident, when the charges were being dismissed and falling apart, and Nifong was off the case and fighting for his law license. Is that relevant to how Krzyzewski behaved when it mattered? The lynch mob has been stopped, their momentum has been turned, and as they run away Krzyzewski steps out of hiding and shouts, "Yeah, that's right, run away you cowards!"
April 2, 2010 - Who gives a shit, its just college basketball. Did you even go to college? - J. Nowak, by Blackberry
April 2, 2010 - With all due respect, you are out of your mind! Why punish the basketball team and Coach K for the stupidity of left wing radicals at Duke? In fact, he did speak out about the Duke Lacrosse team case: Early on. The first few months he stayed neutral while the facts played out, primarily because he didn't want his comments to be used as a distraction against the basketball team. Then later. It's even been rumored around here that Coach K is a conservative (something I think is true, if you read this.) Please don't take out what the radical left wing does at Duke on a fine basketball organization and inspirational coach, JP! - Sister Toldjah, North Carolina
J.P. replies: I'm not trying to punish anybody. I'm not trying to say the players or Coach K are bad people. But like it or not athletic teams represent something, in this case Duke University. Just like I could never root for the Olympic basketball teams from the U.S.S.R. because of what they represented, I can no longer root for Duke. It has nothing to do with whether the athletes from the U.S.S.R. and Duke were (are) good human beings. I'm sure you didn't root for the U.S.S.R. basketball teams either. (C'mon, be fair, admit it... you hated the commie bastards, didn't you?) As for Coach K, I still think he's a good guy – just a good guy with feet of clay. According to your first link, he claims he didn't say anything for the first three months because "I think it’s important for me to remember my place." I'm sorry, but that's lame. Young men were being mistreated by the institution which employs him, and for which he is the heart, soul, and public face. His "place" was standing up for justice and fairness.
April 2, 2010 - Great commentary! I don't agree that Coach K should apologize to the world for what happened to the lacrosse team - he's not the Director of Athletics - just as i don't think that Tiger owes me an apology. But I will agree that a little support from Coach K for due process [from] a fellow athletic department [member] would have gone a long way to discourage some of the more egregious behavior on the part of the university faculty and staff. He is one of their "gods", after all. That being said, I've been rooting against Duke since the 1992 East Regional Final game when Christian Laettner stomped on a Kentucky player who was on the ground. The way he did it was dismissive, and showed his disdain for an inferior player on an inferior team. I thought it rated ejection, but Krzyzewski defended the act as "heat of the moment" in the post-game press conference. And that did it for me with respect to Duke basketball. - Jamey, Canada
April 2, 2010 - About the time the laxers were going through their travails, there was a real rape at Duke. A Duke student was raped by a non-student at a fraternity house. The vic was white, the perp was black, and it was a black fraternity house. All those horrid things the feminists keep lamenting that happen to rape victims???? Nada. potbangers??? faculty statements??? university statements??? feminists paying attention??? - Richard A., Michigan
April 2, 2010 - I'm not a sports fan and didn't know all this stuff about Duke (obviously I'm living in a vacuum of some kind) but I applaud your decision to write this column about them and to take a stand - one someone there should be taking. Obviously Duke has been sliding into the pit for sometime and have finally reached bottom!! And, by the way, I really enjoy your observations. - Jane, Indiana
April 2, 2010 - Rooting against Duke? Oh hell yeah! - Don Surber, West Virginia
April 1, 2010 - Agreed! - V. Rone, North Carolina
