The Duke provost has finally broken his silence to speak on behalf of the victims in the university’s LAX scandal. Interestingly though, the victim he is supporting through his open letter is not the young woman who alleged that that a horrible crime had been committed upon her person. Nor are his victims the lacrosse players, who, it seems increasingly clear with the ever-changing accusations, the DA’s recusal, the crime lab’s impeachment and the disgrace of the constabulary, were not just falsely accused, but criminally misused by the North Carolina justice system. These are the principal actors in the drama, but surprisingly they are not even mentioned in his victimization missive.
No.
His victim class is the now infamous “Group of 88,” a self-selected body of university professors who responded to the moment’s heat not by shedding light but rather by throwing logs on the fire, saying some deeply stupid things along the way, for which they have been roundly – and rightly – criticized. Per Provost Lange:
(S)ome of our faculty, primarily African-American but not only so, have been under repeated attacks in personal emails and in blogs. The primary precipitant – in the sense that the content offended those writing the blogs or sending the emails – was the advertisement signed by 88 of Duke’s faculty and printed in the Duke Chronicle. Subsequently, the connection to the advertisement often has become attenuated and the ad has become rhetorically transformed into and manipulated as a symbol of all that was thought to be extreme and bad about Duke faculty, and, in some cases, universities more generally. At the same time, the emails and blogs attacking what people wrote or said have sometimes been replaced by personal attacks, some of them directed at the faculty member’s scholarship or intellectual credentials, some viciously personal, still others openly threatening or racist.
Which is exactly the problem when people – bloggers, emailers or university professors – absent the field of rational discourse and give rein to their baser instincts by issuing ad hominem attacks. There was an embarrassment of riches to exploit in the muddle-headed, politically correct boneheadedness incorporate in the Group of 88′s “Listening Letter,” and their equally inane non-apology follow-up. There was ample space, by extension, to pry into the quality of their academic thought and antecedents.
But somewhere along the way someone, or some many – fools will always be with us – crossed the line and personalized their attacks on the professoriate along racial lines. They sought to promote the ludicrous idea – pace Lashawn Barber – that such soft thinking as was represented by the Group of 88 was somehow racially inherent. Which is as sand-poundingly stupid – and greatly more self-defeating – than anything foisted on academia by a perpetually aggrieved class of victimization pimps.
This permits the Provost to flash the race card and change the subject: Now the university – which could have done with more rather than less speech on the underlying issues surrounding race, violence, sexism, the presumption of innocence, due process and the rule of law – can escape the necessary introspection and consequential self-criticism.
Neat trick.
Without bad mouthing anyone, I will not recommend that any of my school age relatives consider Duke.
I’m sure this has floated in the minds of at least 5000 of my fellow 45 year olds, who have youngsters ready for college.
How sad for Duke. There will be a few smaller classes in the near future. Does this mean there will be discounted tuitions to entice students?
The Duke Debacle will no doubt leave a deep scar on future endowments and donations to the university. If I were wealthy and considering donating $$$, I would be looking elsewhere now. Any university leader cannot long ignore this fact of academic existence in the 21st century.
It is not at all surprising that the “perpetually aggrieved class of victimization pimps” display such unmitigated bias, given how effectively the liberal left has grasped control of the education system in our country.
You know, when I read the Duke 88 Manifesto I didn’t even think about their race. I just thought they were a bunch of typical professorial pinheads….
Although this sad incident happened at Duke, it probably could have occured with much the same outcome at just about every university in the country given the same location domographics.
re the Provost- This tactic may help him NOT to be torpedoed by the faculty like Larry Summers at Harvard, but it doesn’t make him, the 88 or the university immune to civil lawsuit. Yes, Mr. Provost y’all standby to lose a lot o’bucks…
b2
Perhaps you and I read a different blog entry by Ms. Barber, but I didn’t see her doing anything like what you attribute to him. In fact, it would be strange for an African American woman to do what you claim.
However, it does seem that such muddle-headed thinking and “I’m a victim, pay me GD it!” thinking is attracted to and is generated by the two departments whose majority signed on in the lynching of the evil white men:Women’s Studies and AA Studies.
Follow the money. Whither it cometh, whither it goeth. In the future, it likely goeth away.
If I was in the Duke development office, I’d be sending out resumes to serious schools and fund-raising organizations that appreciated their staff. Smart, capable people of any race or gender know they don’t have to be held hostage by fanatics and nitwits of any race or gender.
The perfect justice of tenure is that Duke is now stuck with these 88 idiots forever. The civil lawsuits will be a serious drain on the university’s resources. Since the 88 like attention, they’ll probably find new causes to pontificate on, and new ways to go on biting the hand that feeds them.
prowlerguy, it is clear tha my intention was poorly executed. Ms. Barber’s body of work stands in stark contrast to that of Group of 88. My juxtaposition of her entry within the text was meant to highlight the fact that not everyone within the African American community subscribes to the politics of victimization.
From B2 in #3 above: “…I just thought they were a bunch of typical professorial pinheads…”
Truer words haven’t been spoken about the tenured members of academia in a long time. While I don’t mean to brush this entire population with a broad stroke…it seems to fit the majority.
I hope the families of the young men sue Duke, the DA, the crime lab and the local police BLIND. There isn’t any amount of money that can give them back what they’ve lost; for so many a charge of guilty in the media will be a black mark upon their lives for years to come. And the entire process has certainly given them an “education” they likely would have preferred to miss. But a message needs to be sent – loud and clear and expensive – to those involved.
Can you say BASKETBALL?The Blue Devils will buy themselves a few 6’9″ shoot the eyes out of the basket phenoms and bingo, everybody(presently under the age of 15)will want to go to Duke again.
Wow, what a mess!
I have avoided commenting on this until now because I never felt like I knew the whole story – while obviously a big story below the 49th parellel, it seems to be pretty well below the radar up here. And yeah, I know, I’m slow but I finally got the time to follow and read all the links tonight.
So again, wow, what a mess! From the point of view of the legal system, it sounds pretty pathetic and disasterous… at least the way its played out. But I wouldn’t doubt for a minute that there weren’t also a whole lot of ad hominem (likely including racist) attacks going on too – the profs at Duke may well have been stupid (there’s just something about the hallowed halls of academia, isn’t there? Like they lose all touch with reality) but given the comments its all too easy to find in online forums, I can imagine what some of those blogs and emails might have looked like. And it seems like some people were just never taught that two wrongs don’t make a right.
One more thought I had, reading the Barber link, she may have personal experience with Duke (I freely admit that I don’t) but I wondered how she could so categorically state that its all about only “perceived” racism at Duke. How does she know for sure whether that one comment was referring to black or white (or both) men? Just saying she comes across as a little biased (the other way) herself.
The sexual assault may or may not have happened – yeah, I’m leaning pretty heavily towards not, or at least not by the defendants named. It certainly ain’t going to stand up in court anyway. But that in itself goes no further in proving that racism doesn’t exist at Duke (or anywhere else for that matter) than it does in proving that racism does exit.
I think all we know for sure is that they appear to have a pretty pathetic prosecutor’s office (when will you guys figure it out – don’t make them elected officials!) down that way, a complainant with extremely questionable credibility (although to be fair does anyone know whether or not she has been receiving/reacting to some form of external pressure – just asking) and faculty who appear to have some “issues”, as in knowing when to speak and when not to, and who may well (or may not) be constructing their own version of reality.
Like I said – a real mess! And I know, there’s a pretty good chance no one will actually even read this now, being just a little below the fold, but at least I got to say what was on my mind.