Thursday, March 01, 2007

The H-S Keeps to the Party Line

In one of the least surprising events of recent weeks, today's Herald-Sun features a glowing editorial on the Campus Culture Initiative:
It bravely addresses the disparity between Duke's lofty ideals and the day-to-day reality . . . It's an excellent place for a discussion to begin . . . We hope the ensuing discussion on these recommendations will be as bold as the report itself.
Does the CCI have any critics? Not according to the H-S. In an 18-paragraph editorial, it mentions none. Not the skewed membership, or the peculiarities of the Group of 88 Enrollment Initiative, or the decision to ignore the negative aspects of campus culture (such as the faculty's rush to judgment) to which CCI members contributed.

This decision, of course, is unsurprising. Like the potbangers and the Group of 88 (except for Arlie Petters), the H-S editorial page acts as if it is intellectually frozen in time on or about April 6, unable or unwilling to process anything that occurred after that date. The rest of the world, however, has moved on.

28 comments:

Anonymous said...

Just a bait and switch to keep Durhams' eyes off of Nifong's response to the bar complaint yesterday. Wouldn't want the taxpayers to consider the long term implications of the D.A.'s misdeeds.

Anonymous said...

No doubt, this is more of the "prize-winning" coverage from the Hurled-Scum. After reading John Stevenson's fawning piece today on Mikey's lies, I figure that the Hurled-Scum could not sink lower. But I guess it has.

Anonymous said...

It still amazes me that Duke's hometown newspaper would disrespect the university which is the lifeblood of the town, now that big tobacco is gone. Is it a reflection of the town or just the group of citizens which buys the paper?

Anonymous said...

It is amazing that the Duke Chronicle, a student newspaper, can run a balanced article on Nifong's response, including critical analysis from a Duke Law Professor, while the city newspaper, the Herald-Sun, runs a one-sided, adoring puff piece.

The supposed "professionals" at the Herald-Sun could learn a lot from the student journalists at the Duke Chronicle.

Anonymous said...

Oh, to return to the days when "integrity" and "news media" appearing in conjunction did not ring alarm bells. Or maybe I was just young and naive.

Of course journalism schools are not immune from the infernal rot; they are, in fact, fertile soil for Left-extremist views. And the more esteemed a journalist's early employers, the farther Left and agenda-driven they are likely to be. Perhaps it's surprise at the product of these conditions that is naive.

Gary Packwood said...

Forget about it...

This is the first of many attempts we will see to push the case involve Dave, Colin and Reade into the background ...so that WE forget about it and ...they will be forgotten.

Never give up.

Anonymous said...

The Herald Sun editorial is completely devoid of analysis.

The CCI proposal about athletics makes no sense. If the school is serious about recruiting men's basketball players with on average the same academic profile as the rest of the student body, it would mean giving up their perenial role as a top twenty basketball school. It is not clear that, such restrictions would allow them to be competitive in division III.

The academic standards expected of basketball players for the University of Chicago is lower than the standards for the general student body. Similar dual standards exist at every elite academic institution that competes seriously in athletics at any level. Most of the top schools in the country accept students with average SAT scores well above 1400.

While an athlete with good grades and a 1250 SAT may be able to do fine at any school if he or she is a serious student, there is no way they would be admitted without the promise that they will play sports for the school that admits them.

The CCI needs to be taken to task for making a proposal that is not implementable. If they had wanted to deemphasize athletics, they should have had the courage to say so. A serious recommendation that Duke become a division III athletic school or abandon varsity sports would not be popular but it would at least make sense.

The proposal of the CCI is a total fantasy. If a school wants to be competitive in division I basketball it has to admit students on the basis of basketball talent. There are not many McDonald's all Americans with 1500 SATs and 4.0 GPAs.

More galling is the absence of any acknowledgment that the precipitating event for this report, the lacrosse case, was a complete travesty. The case did not reveal a culture of rampant racism and sexual violence. But rather it revealed an ideologically motivated sub-community that had no respect for such rule of law items as presumption of innocence, due process, and the sharing of relevant evidence.

If the case revealed anything about the culture of Duke, it is that an officially pampered group of faculty is encouraged to make ignorant anti-white, anti-male and anti-athlete statements about their students. It also revealed a campus that was largely silent while three of their students were railroaded by a local DA who violated state regulations in its line-up procedures, conspired to deny the defense attorneys access to important exculpatory evidence and indicted someone who had incontrovertible evidence that he couldn't have been at the scene of the alleged crime.

The case revealed a group of activists that not only ignored the presumption of innocence in their rush to parade outside the house of the accused with a sign saying castrate, but have shown no remorse whatsoever after it has become clear that the accusations were a fake.

It finally has revealed that at least one local newspaper is moonlighting as a public relations firm for the local DA and the Duke office of Public Relations.

Anonymous said...

The Herald Sun editorial is completely devoid of analysis.

The CCI proposal about athletics makes no sense. If the school is serious about recruiting men's basketball players with on average the same academic profile as the rest of the student body, it would mean giving up their perenial role as a top twenty basketball school. It is not clear that, such restrictions would allow them to be competitive in division III.

The academic standards expected of basketball players for the University of Chicago is lower than the standards for the general student body. Similar dual standards exist at every elite academic institution that competes seriously in athletics at any level. Most of the top schools in the country accept students with average SAT scores well above 1400.

While an athlete with good grades and a 1250 SAT may be able to do fine at any school if he or she is a serious student, there is no way they would be admitted without the promise that they will play sports for the school that admits them.

The CCI needs to be taken to task for making a proposal that is not implementable. If they had wanted to deemphasize athletics, they should have had the courage to say so. A serious recommendation that Duke become a division III athletic school or abandon varsity sports would not be popular but it would at least make sense.

The proposal of the CCI is a total fantasy. If a school wants to be competitive in division I basketball it has to admit students on the basis of basketball talent. There are not many McDonald's all Americans with 1500 SATs and 4.0 GPAs.

More galling is the absence of any acknowledgment that the precipitating event for this report, the lacrosse case, was a complete travesty. The case did not reveal a culture of rampant racism and sexual violence. But rather it revealed an ideologically motivated sub-community that had no respect for such rule of law items as presumption of innocence, due process, and the sharing of relevant evidence.

If the case revealed anything about the culture of Duke, it is that an officially pampered group of faculty is encouraged to make ignorant anti-white, anti-male and anti-athlete statements about their students. It also revealed a campus that was largely silent while three of their students were railroaded by a local DA who violated state regulations in its line-up procedures, conspired to deny the defense attorneys access to important exculpatory evidence and indicted someone who had incontrovertible evidence that he couldn't have been at the scene of the alleged crime.

The case revealed a group of activists that not only ignored the presumption of innocence in their rush to parade outside the house of the accused with a sign saying castrate, but have shown no remorse whatsoever after it has become clear that the accusations were a fake.

It finally has revealed that at least one local newspaper is moonlighting as a public relations firm for the local DA and the Duke office of Public Relations.

Gary Packwood said...

Glowing Editorial

KC, why is your Blog listed as the sorce URL for the editorial

URL for this article: http://durhamwonderland.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

I just can't get over how illogical (and dishonest) Nifong is. Or else he's just a complete moron.

His defense is that even if what he did was wrong, he didn't mean any harm by it, so why blame him?

I wonder if the DA's office would let a murder suspect argue that he didn't really mean to kill the guy, he just was just trying to put a bullet in his head. And it wasn't the bullet that killed the guy, it was all his blood flowing out onto the pavement. And, really, if the victim had just gotten himself to a hospital in a timely fashion (and of course it's not the shooter's JOB to do that), well then the victim might well be alive today. So why is everyone so upset with the shooter?

Anonymous said...

The Herald Sun editorial is completely devoid of analysis.

The CCI proposal about athletics makes no sense. If the school is serious about recruiting men's basketball players with on average the same academic profile as the rest of the student body, it would mean giving up their perenial role as a top twenty basketball school. It is not clear that, such restrictions would allow them to be competitive in division III.

The academic standards expected of basketball players for the University of Chicago is lower than the standards for the general student body. Similar dual standards exist at every elite academic institution that competes seriously in athletics at any level. Most of the top schools in the country accept students with average SAT scores well above 1400.

While an athlete with good grades and a 1250 SAT may be able to do fine at any school if he or she is a serious student, there is no way they would be admitted without the promise that they will play sports for the school that admits them.

The CCI needs to be taken to task for making a proposal that is not implementable. If they had wanted to deemphasize athletics, they should have had the courage to say so. A serious recommendation that Duke become a division III athletic school or abandon varsity sports would not be popular but it would at least make sense.

The proposal of the CCI is a total fantasy. If a school wants to be competitive in division I basketball it has to admit students on the basis of basketball talent. There are not many McDonald's all Americans with 1500 SATs and 4.0 GPAs.

More galling is the absence of any acknowledgment that the precipitating event for this report, the lacrosse case, was a complete travesty. The case did not reveal a culture of rampant racism and sexual violence. But rather it revealed an ideologically motivated sub-community that had no respect for such rule of law items as presumption of innocence, due process, and the sharing of relevant evidence.

If the case revealed anything about the culture of Duke, it is that an officially pampered group of faculty is encouraged to make ignorant anti-white, anti-male and anti-athlete statements about their students. It also revealed a campus that was largely silent while three of their students were railroaded by a local DA who violated state regulations in its line-up procedures, conspired to deny the defense attorneys access to important exculpatory evidence and indicted someone who had incontrovertible evidence that he couldn't have been at the scene of the alleged crime.

The case revealed a group of activists that not only ignored the presumption of innocence in their rush to parade outside the house of the accused with a sign saying castrate, but have shown no remorse whatsoever after it has become clear that the accusations were a fake.

It finally has revealed that at least one local newspaper is moonlighting as a public relations firm for the local DA and the Duke office of Public Relations.

Anonymous said...

Did anyone hear "Talk of the Nation" (PBS) today? Larry Moneta and a student member of CCI (a core-4 sorority member)were interviewed. There was an extended phone converstation with the author of the "Rolling Stone" article. I only caught the tail-end of the program, which focused on alcohol and hook-up culture.

Neighborhood Retail Alliance said...

All this demonstrates just how much the CCIers are in league with the enemies of Duke. They are just like all of the far left critics of the United States who claim that they are not anti-American, while at the same time that they vehemently take issue with all of the country's basic institutions and beliefs. The CCIers don't hate Duke, except the manner in which it is currently constituted.

Anonymous said...

It amazes me that 10 years ago (before the internet, before blogs, before KC), we got all of our news from these newspapers!

How little we knew.

Anonymous said...

Do you think the Herald Sun is purposefully - strategically - targeting a certain population in this community - that small population that still buys their paper. They seem to be reporting to please that population rather than to report the news.

Blog Hooligan said...

It bravely addresses the disparity between Duke's lofty ideals and the day-to-day reality...

I guess all of these black professors are sell outs or something, because they ranked Duke #1 in Diversity: Duke University had the highest average diversity rating of the nation's most selective and academically prestigious universities. Also ranking among the top five in racial diversity are Emory University, Princeton University, Washington University, and Vanderbilt University.

Blog Hooligan said...

To: 3:34

The CCI needs to be taken to task for making a proposal that is not implementable.

Nothing the left suggest is implementable without being Sovietesque in nature. Every plan they (far left) have suggested starts with the premise of themselves being the standard and 100% of the population striving to be like them. If that were the case, then 1) the CCI would be pointless, because every student would be enrolled in their classes and 2) that would not be considered 'diversity.'

The logical conclusion of this plan (if there even is one) is the destruction of the institution currently known as Duke, the same institution that pays their salaries. I doubt seriously if they'd be willing to work for Duke pro bono.

Anonymous said...

#:26: "I just can't get over how illogical (and dishonest) Nifong is. Or else he's just a complete moron."

Perhaps ALL of the above ;)?

Anonymous said...

This is what happens when feminists and hard-line lefties infiltrate the mainstream media.

Lies, lies and more lies.

Anonymous said...

Did anyone hear "Talk of the Nation" (PBS) today? Larry Moneta and a student member of CCI (a core-4 sorority member)were interviewed. There was an extended phone converstation with the author of the "Rolling Stone" article. I only caught the tail-end of the program, which focused on alcohol and hook-up culture.

I listened on and off throughout it...there is just so much one can take of Moneta's doublespeak before changing the channel. It was fairly onesided, steered away from the lacrosse case every time a caller brought it up (Neil chastized a woman for saying the case was a farce), and continued to complain about a Duke culture that only exists because of an administration that wants no part in taking responsiblity for guiding a student body. Duke has been pushing the social scene off campus for 10 years now, not wanting the occasion embarassing incident to sully their reputation (even though it happens at every college) and it finally blew up in their face.

If you are interested in raising your blood pressure, I'm certain that a podcast is available at npr.org.

Anonymous said...

I smell merger in the wind... Wilmington Journal and the Durham Herald Sun.

Maybe the D&W Herald Journal Sun???

Maybe Cash can get a real paper route.

Anonymous said...

Mar 1, 2007 2:29:00 PM poster...

It's not amazing at all. There is not one person at the H-S who is as smart as the current, average Duke student. I'm being serious...100% serious. The people who work at that paper are not nearly as intelligent as the students who write for the Duke Chronicle.

So, I'm wondering what the feeder programs are for writing at the H-S. I mean, is it required that you blame white males for everything? Will Chan Hall be starting his internship in May or staying on campus to found a chapter of the New Black Panther party? Seriously, who works at this joke of a paper?

Anonymous said...

JLS says...,

re: Bloghooligan

Every plan they (far left) have suggested starts with the premise of themselves being the standard and 100% of the population striving to be like them. If that were the case, then 1) the CCI would be pointless, because every student would be enrolled in their classes and 2) that would not be considered 'diversity.'

Of course it would be CONSIDERED diversity. It would NOT BE diversity, but that would not matter to the writers of the CCI. In their view they define diversity and it might not include you and me or even an Obama supporter like Professor Johnson, but it is diversity if they say it is.

Anonymous said...

I keep hearing the term co-conspirator used for Dr Meehan. Could somebody in the know please weigh in and state if he is guilty of anything or can he claim he was advised by a lawyer (Nifong) and thought he was "safe". I am wondering if this guy is going to go down with Nifong or not.

Anonymous said...

Did anyone else listen to the show on NPR Talk of the Nation today, on campus culture? A student and a faculty memeber fo the CCI as well as the author of the Rolling Stone article were on the show. The part of the show I listen to sounded like a love-in with the group, strike that, the gang of 88.

Q

Gary Packwood said...

PS: Here is the NPR URL

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7668930

Larry sounded like a practiced academic politician. The The The Issue ....etc.

The Duke student was wonderful... conservative and the next Elizabeth Dole.

The Rolling Stones person was very much into the possibility that booze on campus was a national issues...that she could write about.

The new phrase at Duke is Re-Set the idea of cool...at Duke.

Drinking and the Hook Up culture is now framed as a national issue.

PS: The Rolling Stones person said the rape charge was obviously bogus...and harmful to all women who have been raped.

Anonymous said...

"If the case revealed anything about the culture of Duke, it is that an officially pampered group of faculty is encouraged to make ignorant anti-white, anti-male and anti-athlete statements about their students."

I am outsider to Duke, but I have the pleasure of knowing about a half-dozen Duke Alumni. They are all people of high character, leaders in their communities, stand outs in their professional careers. They are not at all racist or sexists. They all report having had a great experience when they attended Duke.

One of the saddest things about this whole episode is the way Duke's own professors are describing campus life as cesspool of sexual violence, racism and drinking. I have no first hand knowledge of what goes on at Duke, but this negative portrayal is far different from the impression I have of Duke's alumni.

Anonymous said...

"It amazes me that 10 years ago (before the internet, before blogs, before KC), we got all of our news from these newspapers!"

10 years ago these same newspapers were not part of corporate conglomerations. The laws were changed beginning in 1994 to allow media ownership to own more media outlets -- print, radio, TV -- in a particular geographical area, hence, we now have an echo chamber focused on selling more ads, generating revenue and in general turning what was once a vibrant community of disparate media outlets into cookie cutter sameness.