Ashley Herzog rehashes a number of the issues in the sexual assault accusation against Duke University lacrosse players, a case in which the charges were recently dropped. She speaks of hateful assumptions that white male athletes are violent racists who take pleasure in gang-raping helpless women.
I don't know about that, but I do know there are a few elements of the case that Ms. Herzog either does not mention or treats with strange casualness. Much of the coverage of the case established the hard-partying habits of the lacrosse team. They hired two strippers for a party, which doesn't seem to bother Ms. Herzog at all. Allegedly, they specified that at least one stripper be white. Numerous articles I have read quote neighbors of these innocent boys as having heard racist comments shouted at the black stripper when she initially left the party. There was also a much-quoted e-mail of one team member the day after the party: tommrow night
after tonights show ive decided to have some strippers over to edens 2c. all are welcome.. however there will be no nudity. i plan on killing the bitches as soon as the walk in and proceding to cut their skin off while cumming in my duke issue spandex.. (Yes, yes, I know this is from American Psycho; so what?) Finally, there is an article in Rolling Stone (available on the Web) that describes the hook-up scene at Duke and the sexual success of the lacrosse players, whose eager conquests have been generally referred to as lacrosstitutes.
I will grant Ms. Herzog that the rush to judgment by the Duke faculty, and the abuses of the district attorney are troubling; will she grant that the culture at Duke and the items mentioned above are also troubling? She is afraid that these young men will always be tarnished by the rape accusation. With champions like Ms. Herzog, I think that is unlikely. Perhaps her next project could be to help our college men and women with issues of self-respect, respect for others and healthy sexuality. From the looks of things, this will keep her occupied for some time.
Lisa Carson is a professor in the department of Classics and World Religions.
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