Posted by
Paul Wamack on Tuesday, October 02, 2007 7:53:44 PM
Sometime during the weekend, I saw a news article. It seems the president of Duke University made some sort of speech, some public pronouncement that the University had not properly communicated its support to the Lacrosse team during the rape scandal of 2006-2007.
I couldn't possibly disagree with him more!! I think the University was extremely clear in its communication regarding its support of their team and these players. Unfortunately, that support was registered in negative numbers -- but their communication of their opinion was extremely clear. They suspended the accused students, fired the coach, cancelled the rest of the Lacrosse season and a large number of the faculty took out a full page ad to make their biases and condemnation as public as they possibly could. There is nothing unclear about their position. I don't know what more they could have done to make their position clear.
Unhappily for them, once the facts of the case played out, their blind hatred of these accused students was not borne out by any evidence. I don't think that means that their hatred has gone away. I'll happily bet the farm that there are faculty members who still believe the accuser and the district attorney, despite everything that has come out about both, that they still prefer to believe the original story and all the rest of what has been said is a great whitewash cover-up by rich white boys, a small part of a greater conspiracy of racial inequities and injustices in our country -- which, of course, is always wrong. If only I could find someone to take that bet!
But I understand what the president of Duke University is trying to do. It's the Jimmy Carter Gambit. After all, it was Jimmy Carter who first set the current trend to come out and apologize for everything under the sun. It's supposed to alleviate someone's guilt, I suppose, but it generally makes the speaker look weak and disgusting. He wants to apologize that his university has made fools of themselves publicly, and the best way he can think to do that is to begin rewriting the history of the events. He says he reminded everyone that the accused should be presumed innocent until proven guilty ... while I don't remember him saying anything like that, the university suspended the students all the same. If my parents taught me that actions speak louder than words, than I guess it doesn't matter what I remember him saying, only that I remember the university suspending the students, firing the coach and blasting these boys in the newspaper.
I'm getting real tired of how apologies are supposed to make everything all right. They don't. I remember when Bill Clinton apologized for slavery -- even though he never owned any slaves -- and it hasn't made a whit of difference in the public discourse, except to make himself look silly by apologizing for something he had nothing whatsoever to do with. I don't think he ever owned any slaves. But I supposed I could be mistaken on that point. His apology did not change the history of this country, and folks that want to remain angry over events that took place centuries ago are still angry.
In the case of the University president, he did have a hand in the disaster, and perhaps an apology is in order. But for him to think that "unclear communications" is any substitute for "I'm sorry" is pitiful. I read the coach got some sort of a cash settlement, and that is something by way of an apology to him. But I would much rather see the faculty, all the ones who signed that hate document in the newspaper, make some sort of public apology, admit some sort of faulty reasoning, eat some sort of humble pie for their outrageous behavior. Of course, that isn't going to happen.