Let's stop spreading misinformation, shall we?
I'm no fan of Duke University President Dick Brodhead, as regular readers of this blog know.
But the John Locke Foundation's Right Angle blog is going after him today based on something that is just a flat out lie.
First, they approvingly quote from the ever-worthless John Leo:
As we've documented several times here, Brodhead did not "abruptly" cancel the lacrosse team's season and fire coach Mike Pressler "On hearing the first reports" of the incident.
The resignation of Coach Pressler and the cancellation of the season came after the release of team player Ryan (41) Mcfadyen's notorious email, in which he discussed inviting strippers to his residence and "killing bitches," and "proceeding to cut their skin off" while "cumming in my Duke issue spandex."
The email was dated March 14. It was made public on April 6. Pressler resigned at the same time that the email became public. Nearly three weeks after the first reports of the incident.
We can split hairs over whether Coach Pressler jumped or was pushed. But it's clear that the University was prepared to stand behind him over the rape allegations until the publication of a particularly vile email from one of his players. That was the straw which broke the camel's back.
This case makes everybody look bad without having to make shit up, so why bother?
But the John Locke Foundation's Right Angle blog is going after him today based on something that is just a flat out lie.
First, they approvingly quote from the ever-worthless John Leo:
But here is what Mr. Brodhead did: On hearing the first reports, he abruptly canceled the lacrosse season, suspended the two players named in the case, and fired the lacrosse coach of 16 years, giving him less than a day to get out.
As we've documented several times here, Brodhead did not "abruptly" cancel the lacrosse team's season and fire coach Mike Pressler "On hearing the first reports" of the incident.
The resignation of Coach Pressler and the cancellation of the season came after the release of team player Ryan (41) Mcfadyen's notorious email, in which he discussed inviting strippers to his residence and "killing bitches," and "proceeding to cut their skin off" while "cumming in my Duke issue spandex."
The email was dated March 14. It was made public on April 6. Pressler resigned at the same time that the email became public. Nearly three weeks after the first reports of the incident.
We can split hairs over whether Coach Pressler jumped or was pushed. But it's clear that the University was prepared to stand behind him over the rape allegations until the publication of a particularly vile email from one of his players. That was the straw which broke the camel's back.
This case makes everybody look bad without having to make shit up, so why bother?
Labels: Duke lacrosse, idiots
Since 1949, Durhamites have slept soundly, secure in the knowledge that, in our town, erection can be depended upon. Now, thanks to the power of the internets, we can spread that security all over the world.
3 Comments:
Justifying Broadheads actions because of the most likely illegally obtained private email of Ryan McFadyen is totally ridiculous upon investigation into the facts. 1st of all, McFadyen's email was a poor attempt at humor, albeit very sophmoric humor, directly at a very limited audience who understood it as such. The email was a parody on the book and movie American Psycho, which is required reading in several classes at Duke. The book was frequently used as a basis of jokes among the team. Certainly one player using their 1st amendment rights in a legal and private communication should not be the basis for firing the coach and punishing the whole team. The simple fact is that Broadhead cravenly cowed to the lynch mob and offered up Pressler and the Lacrosse team as an apeasement sacrifice. For a more thorough review of the article and it's context please read the following artilce by Bill Anderson: http://dependableerection.blogspot.com/2007/06/lets-stop-spreading-misinformation.html.
By
lrbinfrisco, at 4:24 PM
I don't how many times i have to say this - try sending an email like that out on your employers email system at any company in the United States.
If someone shows it to your supervisor, i don't care how funny your boss thinks Bret Easton Ellis is, you're going to be out of a job.
It may well be the case tht "Brodhead bowed to the lynch mob," although most articles i've read state that complaints about the lacrosse team's out of control behavior reflecting badly on Duke had been received for a number of years before the party.
In any case, it's a flat out lie to state that Brodhead fired Pressler after hearing the first reports of rape allegations.
You know better, and so does the John Locke Foundation.
And by the way, the last i heard, threatening murder is not protected speech under the First Amendment.
By
Barry, at 4:30 PM
I can settle this right now. I ran the Duke e-mail system for four and a half years. In that time, we had a handful of felony investigations which required the handing over of the contents of an e-mail box, along with all of the backups. In any investigation, a law enforcement agency can compel Duke to hand over electronic documents with a warrant, but for internal Duke matters, no such warrant is necessary. All e-mails on Duke servers are the property of Duke University. The University agrees that it will only look at them under specific conditions, one of which is an internal investigation into felony allegations, but in certain cases, there's nothing private about your @duke.edu address. Notification of this is usually part of either your employee agreement or student package. Duke bends over backwards to keep from imposing on academic freedom (making spam filtering a real bitch, I can promise you), but there's nothing about your University e-mail account that is protected by the first amendment or your reasonable expectation of privacy.
That out of the way, I'd like to honestly and non-sarcastically thank you. I didn't know that the "skin and kill" remark was from American Psycho. Frankly, that explains a lot.
By
Anonymous, at 5:21 PM
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