Duke lacrosse: KC Johnson does the MSM’s job

A really great post on the Gang of 88’s listening ad:

The Group of 88: Non-Endorsement "Endorsements"

Several points demand attention in this latest batch of revelations.

1. It is more evidence of just how agenda-driven the Gang of 88 was. Not only were they willing to hijack the lacrosse case to serve their ends, they were also willing to lie and mislead about their departments’s support for that hijacking.

2. Hoax supporters have made a lot of hay out of the “fact” that the lax players used fake names at the party. This dubious assertion (based as it is on Precious’s word alone) was repeatedly thrown out to show that the players were up to no good from the beginning of the party.

Now, though, the tables are turned. The tenured potbangers who condemned the lacrosse team have a dirty little secret of their own. The brave listening statement not only used unverifiable quotes, it also came complete with fake endorsements.

3. No member of the Gang of 88 has broken ranks to condemn the dishonesty that KC has uncovered.

4. Duke senior vice president for public affairs John Burness justified the cancellation of the 2006 season because the party was a “team-sanctioned event.” For that reason, Duke had to act decisively because the events reflected badly on Duke. If one accepts this line of reasoning, it is all the more puzzling that Duke has been so circumspect about the Gang of 88 and their actions.

Duke has tried to minimize its connection to the ad and emphasizes that professors are free to speak their mind. But KC’s reporting makes this rationalization completely untenable. The Gang did their best to make the ad appear to be a university sanctioned statement. Moreover, to create this illusion they lied, dissembled, and violated normal academic procedures.

Surely, this calls for a clear statement from President Brodhead and, perhaps, some actions against the dishonest professors who claimed departmental endorsement for their agitprop.

5. I doubt that Duke will do any such thing. Through out this travesty they have treated the Gang of 88 with kid gloves. Early on they were solicitous and sought to placate them. When the hoax unraveled Duke tried to minimize the harm the Gang did and insisted that the professors were misjudged and mischaracterized.

If only they had done the same for their students. The lax players, however, were given no such benefit of the doubt. When they were condemnedcollectivelyas privileged, lawbreaking, violent, racist misogynists, only a handful of officials spoke up. Even then, no one tried to defend the party. No one made excuses such as this offered by the chairman of the Classical Studies Department on behalf of a tenured potbanger:

The department did not vote to endorse the ad. An individual faculty member gave the “go ahead,” and at least one member of the department was upset that this had happened without departmental consent. The action was well-intentioned, if in retrospect it may appear mistaken; it needs to be understood in the context of the immediate, highly emotional reactions to the first reports of the incident.

“In retrospect may appear mistaken”, “understood in the context”, “well-intentioned”. No one at Duke dared use language like this about a bunch of 18-22 year olds who held a spring break party. But they expect us to accept it when it is applied to middle-aged college professors who had days to weigh their actions.