Duke Student exposes Duke's Double Standard

Congratulations needs to go to Duke Students for an Ethical Duke President Ken Larrey. It was his work that brought the Duke Sex Worker's "Art" Show to the attention of the national news. It is used as an example in the civil complaint to point out the double standard that was applied to the 2006 Lacrosse Team by a Hypocritical Duke Administration.

236. At the March 25 meeting, as Burness later acknowledged, the assembled officials decided that they "needed to send a signal that [they] took seriously what happened in the house." (Emphasis added.) Many of these administrators had been aware of the allegations for many days; this newfound "need[] to send a signal" had only arisen in light of the recent torrent of negative publicity. The truth or falsity of the allegations was immaterial to this decision. Brodhead and his top advisors decided to cancel the next two lacrosse games. Later that day, 90 minutes before the Georgetown game was to begin, and after the Georgetown team was fully suited up and ready to play, Athletic Director Joe Alleva notified Coach Pressler of Brodhead's decision to cancel the next two games as punishment for the underage drinking at the party (which the players had admitted). Alleva assured Coach Pressler and the team (falsely, as it turned out) that there would be no further punishment of the lacrosse team unless criminal charges were brought.

237. Duke claimed that the punishment was not for the rape allegations, but rather was for the underage drinking and hiring exotic dancers at the March 13 party, which the administrators falsely characterized as a "a team-sanctioned event." The reasons given for this punishment were plainly pretextual. In fact, as the Duke officials knew, the March 13 party was not a "team-sanctioned event," and underage drinking and the hiring of exotic dancers were common features of student parties at Duke and at colleges throughout the country. Other Duke athletic teams, including the men's basketball and baseball teams, had engaged in off-campus underage drinking and had hired exotic dancers at their parties, without similar punishment. In fact, at least 20 other Duke athletic teams, fraternities, and sororities had held such parties, with exotic dancers, during the 2005-2006 school year alone. Moreover, Duke officials had been aware, long before the day of the Georgetown game, that underage drinking and exotic dancing had occurred at the party, yet they awaited until the last minute (after the Georgetown team had traveled to Durham and was actually suited up to play) before canceling the game.

238. The purpose and effect of the punishment of the lacrosse team was to distance and insulate Duke and its administrators from the controversy and its negative publicity by sending a public signal that Duke sympathized with the accuser, credited the rape allegations, and condemned the lacrosse players.

239. Duke recently provided a vivid illustration of the double standard that Duke applied to the lacrosse team and its coach when a group of University organizations and programs sponsored, with University approval and funds, an event on campus called the "Sex Workers Art Show." The performance occurred at the Reynolds Theater in February 2008 and featured semi-nude "sex workers" in a series of vignettes, including a dominatrix who simulated masturbation while whipping a dog collar-clad "slave" kneeling beside her, an exotic dancer extracting a string of dollar bills from her rectum, a transvestite displaying an "anal sparkler show" from his rectum, and similar vulgar perversions. Duke Lawsuit

LieStopper's wants to warn about Double Secret Probation for Duke students who expose Duke's little secrets.

See video tape of the "Art" performance that Duke VP Moneta called educational.