Thanks for finally getting off the shnide, Brodhead
Duke University President Richard Brodhead apologized Saturday for much of the university’s actions during the lacrosse case.
Brodhead made his first public remarks on the case since the charges against the players were dropped. He spoke at a law school conference, "The Court of Public Opinion," focusing on the ethical obligations of the media, legal system and colleges during high-profile criminal cases.
"Having become one of America’s principal forms of shared public life, these cases highlight crucial problems of our culture – problems of achieving justice in a media-saturated society, problems of fundamental fairness to individuals, and problems in the way the American public is informed and misinformed about the world we live in," he said.
No, Rick, they actually highlight the liberal predilication to blame white males, particularly if they are rich-or appear rich-for a crime when a "minority" is involved, and to find them guilty until proven innocent. Unless they are an avowed and known liberal, of course. Consider the Jena 6 case, where 6 blacks beat a white boy unconcious, and even stomped him. Yet, the accused are held up as paragons of virtue, and the white who got the snot knocked out of him is defamed.
Brodhead announced that Duke administrators will review its procedures on how to react "when students are tied to serious criminal charges." The university will also host a national conference for educators to discuss best practices for such instances.
Only in Liberal World do we need to review procedures, and hold a conference, on how to act responsibly. It is very simple: innocent till proven guilty. Put it in bold letters, large font, maybe in red, on large sheets of paper, and hand it out to at least 88 of the employees. Then again, considering the actions of the university, Brodhead, and others, maybe they do need a set of guidelines to inform them how to act like responsible, rational, adults in a nation built on the concept of Law.
Eighty-eight Duke professors and staff also endorsed a full-page advertisement in the student newspaper, which some say they feel were convicting the lacrosse players before anyone was charged.
Brodhead took responsibility for Duke’s actions and statements, but distanced himself and the institution from the behavior of individual faculty members.
Brodhead said "ill-advised" and divisive statements by some faculty were not "expressions of the university as a whole."
Yet, you were not out there denouncing them, nor did many others from Duke denounce them.
Brodhead said "the deepest lesson" he learned during the case: "The scariest thing, to me, is that actual human lives were at the mercy of so much instant moral certainty, before the facts had been established."
He cited "the danger of prejudgment" and urged people to remember the case "as a call to caution in a world where certainty and judgment come too far quickly."
Well, maybe he did learn something after all. Hopefully, the people who immediately took the side of the accuser, despite overwhelming evidence against her story, learned something, too. But, I doubt it.
… what about the Duke faculty that signed a petition condemning these three innocent students? I heard there were over 62 signatures? Sounds like a libel and slander and systemic/institutional discrimmination law suit(s) to me!