The Details "Power 50," of men under 45:
36 // The Exonerated
Reade Seligmann, David Evans, and Colin Finnerty
Sure, we all thought they did it. It was a closed case: The three Duke University lacrosse players accused of raping an African-American stripper, we all agreed, were guilty as charged. We could see it in the privileged jocks’ faces. Wrong. Not only were they innocent, they triumphed over an unethical D.A. who suppressed evidence and, ironically, became the only person to be jailed over the whole affair. The way the accused players conducted themselves during last year’s prosecutorial witch hunt defied everything we instinctively believed to be true about them. They proved us wrong—making us reexamine our knee-jerk reactions to stereotypes—and they proved our justice system right.
55 comments:
It would be rich beyond belief if Gottlieb was in some way associated with the current secret investigation of police relationships with prostitutes.
It would be beyond rich if one of those prostitutes were Crystal Mangum. The mind reels.
It is a sign of the times, and our experience in Durham, that such thoughts should swirl through our heads.
Jim Peterson
"they proved our justice system right".
well, yes it is. with enough money a defendant can buy either justice or injustice. you don't want to be an impoverished defendant in the U.S. It doesn't play out very well if you're innocent.
Hoo-ray! Gottlieb is clearly a filthy dirty cop, who actively attempted to (there's no other word for it) frame 3 innocent students -- this, on top of his history of serial perjury and frame-ups, as shown by the Duke Chronicle's investigation.
As one who is sadly skeptical about the prospects of the civil lawsuit (because of how the law is written, not because of the facts), I could satisfy myself with (1) seeing Nifong go to jail (mission accomplished), (2) seeing Duke pay-up for the crooked grading practices of Kim Curtis (ditto), and (3) seeing Herr Gottlieb go down in disgrace, and put someplace -- anyplace -- where he cannot continue to pervert justice.
Farewell, Gottlieb -- you dirtbag. You know, you can take a pile of crap and put a badge on top of it, but it's still a pile of crap.
A police topic seems like a good place to insert this settlement for wrongful convictions.
CHICAGO — The city has agreed to pay nearly $20 million to settle lawsuits filed by four former death row inmates who claimed they were tortured by Chicago police and wrongly convicted, an alderman said Friday.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,316072,00.html
More false rape charges - Lacrosse case mentioned
Story of woman raped twice by same man false, police say
San Francisco Chronicle ^Jaxon Van Derbeken
San Francisco - Police said today that last month's report of a woman raped by the same man twice in five days was fabricated and composite sketches the woman helped generate of her alleged attacker have been removed from the department's Web site……
Comment: Chronicle
I seem to notice there are more fabricated rape stories like this reported in the media, than real ones. When I first read this story I was incredulous, but of course didn't say anything for fear of creating fury among feminists.
****Anyone up for a game of lacrosse?
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article/comments/view?f=/c/a/2007/12/07/BA9CTQAMA.DTL&o=3
--------------------------
Comment: Free Republic
What are the odds of a woman being taken by three men inside a house and gang raped, twice?
Ask Crystal Mangum, who claimed it happened to her—once when she was fourteen, and once again when she met some lacrosse players.
And she’s still out there, ready to claim it again . . .
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1936489/posts
Such thoughts have been swirling through MY head ever since we learned of the "suppressed" DNA results. Only something so fraught with possibilities would have made the conspiracy expedient.
Nifong knew that if that DNA implicated his buddies at the DPD he would be in the hot seat for unveiling the evidence.
And Duke gang of 88 were all too ready to bang the pots and incite the racial passions... and Nifong, the hero, was going to ride in on his steed and rain justice on thos Nasty Ole Rich White Boys...and ride to a sweeping reelection.
Yep.... the DNA has been the key all along. No wonder the demons of hell screamed when Brad Brannon broke the secret code.
I think we should back off and let Lopez do his deal. He seems to have the guts to get some things done. Lets' reserve judgment and let it unfold.
I, personally, as others, have been looking forward to this. Yep, its gonna get dirtier before it gets cleaner.
It just may be that Durham has found a way to bring down the $30 million. It just may be that the deals that are happening behind the scenes are exactly what the LAX 3 demanded. CLEAN UP THE SEWER!
And if Lopez is part of the cleanup, the Durham Taxpayers will owe him a debt of gratitude.
Let's just watch.
dsl
HA! HA! HA! HA!
We knew you couldn't handle hiatus. Obsessions are tricky things, huh?
How about when the National Review review comes out. Will we hear from you then too? Or is that one not something you want to share?
KC--hiatus. OxyMoron (emphasis on last syllable)
To the 11.09:
Your comment is, indeed, a puzzling one. I invite you to re-read the earlier post, in which I said the blog would go on hiatus after the Q&A post on Monday.
It appears as if you have inside information about the National Review (do you work for the magazine?). I was unaware that the NR was reviewing the book, yet you speak of "when," not "if," a review comes out. I certainly hope you're correct, and that the book is being reviewed.
Anonymous at 11:09, you don't even know what a syllable is.
8:10
You are referring to O.J. right? That being the one case where the DNA evidence existed but was ignored when money and politically correct fear bought an innocent verdict. That was a far different situation from this one--where 3 innocent men were accused by a mental patient who had deja vu when it came to the accusation. You would have done far better to have used the Jena 6 to throw up against an OJ type case. Of course, they now have a substantial amount of money to put into their case.
Or were you referring to the city of Duhmmb? I'm not sure there's a whol lot of money there either. Or is it Dook? Only Coach K and DUMC can keep them afloat. Coach K can keep the donations flowing into the athletic account and DUMC is still a world-class medical center and teaching facility.
Maybe you refer to the Klan at Dook. They are definitely a group of privilege. They are allowed to make ridiculously ignorant statements and go unchallenged by the administration. What a crock!
I have brought this rabid and illogical diatribe of libel here to illustrate of what Bob Ashley and his fellow two-digit IQ staffers are made.
This pathetic exercise in brain plunging should have been reserved for a letter-to-the-editor on a slow news day--(which constitutes everyday at the H-S).
This is the same method of operation they used against the lacrosse players. A few rabid Duke 88 professors or those of like mind would send in this type of emotion-laden trash and it would be printed immediately.
However, nothing representing the other point of view was ever allowed.....and that goes for the editorial pages of the N&O as well.
Only very bland, milquetoast expressions were allowed.
This is what makes me really hot.
This freakish bile below is Orin Starn in a dress.
(And, for the record, I couldn't care less about Karl Rove; however, people like this woman who promote such libel and slander make those formerly dispassionate sit up and take notice.)
******************************************
H-S:
Rebecca Cerese: Confronting Rove was exercise in patriotism
Guest columnist : Dec 8, 2007
I am the woman who asked the first question of Karl Rove at Duke University on Dec. 3. I want to clarify the context of my question, respond to Rove's answer and expand on a few other issues from the article in The Herald-Sun. My question started with a 1999 quote from former President George H.W. Bush. Bush, former head of the CIA, stated, "I have nothing but contempt and anger for those who betray the trust by exposing the name of our sources. They are, in my view, the most insidious of traitors."
It is within this context I asked my question which was: "Since you were so intimately involved with the outing of a CIA asset who not only was covert, but working on issues concerning weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and Iran, I was wondering when does your trial for treason start?"
Rove responded that these were slanderous comments, and questioned my faith in the Justice Department and in Patrick Fitzgerald. He then added, "If anything that you had to say had a bit of truth in it, I wouldn't be sitting on this stage." It is important to remember that Patrick Fitzgerald was never able to get to the bottom of the Valerie Plame scandal because I "Scooter" Libby perjured himself and obstructed justice, and then had his prison sentence commuted by President George W. Bush. We do, however, have Matt Cooper's testimony that Karl Rove was the person who told him Valerie Plame's identity.
Second, I want to respond to some of the comments put forth by the conservative student leadership at Duke, that anyone who protests is "absolutely undignified," and "everything that is wrong with things these days." I would like to counter that by saying that people who don't believe that there is a place for dissent in this country, and want to suppress freedom of speech are what is truly wrong with this country.
I was also taken aback by Stephen Miller's fears that someone would pull a gun or knife on Rove. The protesters present were there to oppose the heinous and tragic violence unleashed on the rest of the world by this administration and were all completely non-violent. Obviously non-violence is a concept lost on people who support the bloodthirsty war-mongering of Rove and the current administration.
I am sick to death of people questioning the patriotism of liberal Americans who have opposing views on the war and other major issues. Robert Kennedy said, "The sharpest criticism often goes hand in hand with the deepest idealism and love of country."
My love for my country goes so deep that I am willing to stand up and speak out against a lawless bunch of criminals who have hijacked our government, and continue to wrap themselves in the flag even as they shred the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Throughout history, America has moved closer to its ideals of equality for all only when ordinary citizens speak out about injustices and demand change. Today, we need that more than ever, and a vigorous exchange of ideas from all sides should be welcomed, as we determine the type of America we wish to live in.
Rebecca Cerese is a local documentary film maker.
**********************************
"Rebecca Cerese is a local documentary film maker."
Uh-huh. And I'm Cecil B DeMille.
I'd say very local.
Has Nifong really been punished? Consider this:
1 Have Nifong's pension and retirement benefits been negatively affected by his slimy role in the case? To my knowledge the answer is "no" since he achieved the necessary time in job to realize full benefits.
2. Is one day in jail really "punishment"?
3. Was he convicted of anything? In other words, does he now have a police record such as a felony conviction?
4. Has he lost any money over the case? I.E. has he been fined?
5. Seems to me he has weathered the storm...is there additional punishment looming for him and if so what is it?
I'll give credit to the H-S for one thing.
They had the Gottlieb story a solid day before the N&O reported it.
"I seem to notice there are more fabricated rape stories like this reported in the media, than real ones."
One could make a similar argument regarding hate crimes, since so many of the reports that we read of hate crimes have turned out to be hoaxes.
However, this does not mean that reports of rape, or of hate crimes, are usually false. What it may mean is that the reports of rapes/hate crimes that become media phenomena are more likely to be false.
When you think about it, this actually makes sense. When rapes are truly committed, they are committed for the purpose of gratifying the rapist's desires -- whether that is a desire for sex, or a desire to exert control, or a desire to express hostility, it is almost never a purpose that is served by publicity. The rapist doesn't think about how what he/she is doing will play in the media, but about whether it is sating his/her drives. The argument is slightly different for hate crimes, since some hate crimes are meant to "send a message", but again, the criminal is generally not thinking "how will the media perceive this?"
The hoax, on the other hand, is all about manipulating perception. If you're trying to explain away an embarrassing absence or an embarrassing pregnancy or whatever, you don't want a realistic story -- you want a story that will make you, immediately and unambiguously, A Victim and The Victim. Free to invent details, they invent away -- and they overplay, creating the kind of story that the media laps up. Is the nightly news going to devote major space to a girl who claims she was raped by someone of her own race who just grabbed her, took her out of sight, raped her, and let her go? Probably not. But when they claim, as Tawana Brawley claimed, that it was several men, of a different race, who raped her repeatedly, called her racial slurs, smeared her with feces, wrote slurs on her body, and stuffed her in a garbage bag -- the media would have to be crazy to pass up such a story. I wonder how many times back then someone said, in reference to the outrageousness of Brawley's claims "you just couldn't make this stuff up!" only to learn later, as we all did, that that is exactly what happened.
We mustn't forget that real rapes, and real hate crimes, do occur. But perhaps, just as those who study urban legends start to get a sense for stories that are a little too good, a little too ironic, a little too lessonful, we can learn to be wary when we hear the next story of horrible victimization.
Gottlieb is now a patrol sargent, seems like a more dangerous situation than before. Now he commands a whole patrol and I bet he will be harrassing and arresting even more Duke students. The guy shouldn't have arrest powers and should be behind a desk, on second thought..... better yet in jail.
11:09.
Talk about obsessions, I thought you guys were still on your Rehab Tour ?
"KC--hiatus. OxyMoron (emphasis on last syllable)" -11:09 pm 12/7/07
I’m confused about your reaction to KC’s blog. If you don’t find it interesting and find the author a “moron” then why do you visit here? Do you enjoy reading blogs authored by a “moron?”
I suggest that you ignore morons in the future, unless of course they have power over you.
KC JOHNSON: DEMOCRACY BY DECEIT 12-20-03
I have an article in this week’s Weekly Standard about a dubious new curricular program called “The Arts of Democracy.” Funded by a Department of Education grant coordinated by an organization called the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U), “The Arts of Democracy” teaches students that “democracy” entails support for “diversity” and “multiculturalism” and opposition to U.S. foreign policy. The project performs this task through carefully selected course clusters that present one-sided, politically-oriented messages.
Readers of my postings in Cliopatria might wonder why I seem so concerned with what might loosely be labeled excessive political correctness in both personnel and curricular matters. Partly, of course, my approach to these matters arises out of my tenure case: when an institution tries to fire you for advocating merit rather than gender quotas in hiring and criticizing a college-sponsored educational event on Middle East international affairs that had no supporters of either the US or Israel, you become sensitive to how ideologues can abuse the personnel process. And, as a glance through the cases handled by FIRE suggests, it seems that in the academy today, the threat to academic freedom more often comes from an extremist “left” than from the right.
But I also am so interested in such curricular matters because of the situation on my own campus, Brooklyn College. It never seemed to me a question that the job of a professor was to teach students about academic content rather than behavioral skills or what to think about political “values.” At Brooklyn, now, however, that question is very much up for debate, partly due to the apparent attitude of the campus administration. I’m a believer in Alan Charles Kors’ argument that sunlight—public exposure—is the best way to combat such ideas.
***********************************************
It produces great sadness....deep Diva melancholy.....that such beatific offerings will now be reserved, or confined (depending upon one's point-of-view), to academic and liberal fora and publications.
KC will soon be lost to us and the Diva is just now starting to come to terms with the deep void.
"I'll go crazy if I think about it. I'll think about it tomorrow. After all, tomorrow IS another day."
I want KC to be a little more to the right. Just a little.
If I could package KC and Stephen Miller into a concoction of one man.....I would fall wildly and madly in love!
LOL!!!
Debrah,
Regarding Cerese's article, methinks thou protesteth too much. Had high-level officials of a Democratic adminsitration outed a covert CIA agent (no matter how marginally covert that agent really was), a Republican Congress would have been drawing up articles of impeachment.
On the other hand, I will give Rove credit for being man enough to appear at a venue where everyone in the audience was not prescreened to fawn all over him.
Ken Duke
Durham
KC--hiatus. OxyMoron (emphasis on last syllable)
What's an "on", genius? How's that forthcoming book going?
This was Duke University and Durham's Ox Bow incident . . . the entire posse participated in this near lynching, and it has a lot to think about . . . what does this incident say about these people and human nature. Something did happen among the Gottlieb types on campus and in the legal profession and among the politicians and police in a nominally democractic society. Where were members of another race looking out for their own welfare by looking after, in the favorite word of Duke's politically correct English Department, "others." Others who were isolated by spurious and vulgar allegations and finger pointing and name calling and fraud indictment. Others, who were or are different, but others who were not different in their need or disire for justice or to be protected by law. For the love of God isn't there something strange about the name Gottlieb in this respect? Yes and what does Duke and Durham mean by getting back to "normal"? Yeah, . . . er, well.
To 9:37 AM -
Nifong will have to pay his on lawyers' fees, based largely on his conviction and one day in jail.
Depending on how the civil suits go, that could end up as a financial punishment by itself. Of course, if the civil suits include a penalty on him personally, that would be another punishment.
CHRIS DAVIS, HARVARD '73
I would prefer the editors of Details speak for themselves, when they come up with lines like, "making us reexamine our knee-jerk reactions to stereoypes", etc.
What stereoypes? White upper-middle class gang-bangers? What white upper-middle class gangbanger "stereotype" am I supposed to be "sharing" with the august intellects that push out Details every month? The statement on its face is self-serving, presumptuous, preposterous and wrong.
Police and many of us get reassigned all the time.
I started to read this blog because I had a personal interest in the Duke case. I continued to read it for the pleasure of reading what Professor Johnson presented-rigorous, honest,
logical, informed and humorous. It
was like a really good free course in thinking without any tests to worry about. I never had a teacher who was so smart or well educated and I appreciated his going on-line. I will miss him. I wish he could find another topic that so interested him and include us all
in his research process. Thanks, Prof.
Anon @ 4:17 writes:
"Police and many of us get reassigned all the time."
Yes indeed, particularly after having a proven record of falsely arresting a particular segment of the local population; filing false police reports; and getting into fistfights in neighboring towns.
Yes, sir ... the dubious "reassignment" rears its ugly head nearly as often as "resigning to pursue other interests."
One Spook
"Proved our Justice system right" is an oxymoron. This case exposed the serious flaws in our justice system, and to say the system worked becasue they were exonerated is a travesty, no innocent person should have to spend millions to prove their innocence, CGM should have to pay...
BDay
We will know soon enough the details of Gottlieb's reassignment.
Re; 4:42.
I think almost all of us agree with you concerning the tremendous debt of gratitude we all owe KC.
With all due respect to the other witty and brilliant contributors to this blog, I don't think anyone else is an adequate replacement or substitute for KC.
KC's first hand grasp of the issues at stake in Lacrosse, along with his heroic defense of the rights of parents and students to expect that the academy provide an education worth paying for,instead of propaganda and brainwashing from the PC crowd, make him the ONLY man who currently can continue this sober mission.
"Outsiders" cannot do it as well. It takes one with a respected educational background,a historal perspective, a moral imperative, and a serious dose of downright righteous anger to attack and counterattack the hostile, belligerant, and nonsensical enemies of freedom in education.
I hope and pray that KC will take the cause to another blogsite. And invite those of us who care, to join him there to continue this mission.
Doris Leissing
Hendersonville, NC
The minions are laughing right now. First the Feds aren't coming, then the Blue Committee just decided to keep Brodhead and commend his "leadership" ( ??????) and now KC is putting DIW on a hiatus.
It's almost too much to suffer in one week. If I were the Divah, I would have to do something dramatically Divish to recover. Since I'm not, I'll just try to see if the Steelers can stop the Patriots tomorrow to quench my sorrows.
Gottlieb's "notes" and notes from Nurse Levity - (as well as her ever-changing testimony) - seem to have something of a parallel track.
Debrah's post of the UTube video of Nurse T's testimony shows how the SANE's written notes didn't stay in line with her later testimony.
I'd suggest that Gottlieb is being moved on those issues, especially pertaining to Levity.
Not that those were the only issues. But those inconsistencies were shown in under-oath testimony, particularly the fact that Levity's first report said "no condoms were used" to a later recantation. If anything, this proved that Gottlieb was less-than-spectacular as an Investigator.
It may only be something of that magnitude, unfortunately, and not a part of any settlement, and may not represent any further action against him.
Why did Poster-child Addison get promoted? That's something I really don't understand.
addendum to 4:56 PM
"...and to spend more time with the family."
In the captioned quotation, there is a statement with which I do not agree and, in fact, with which I find great issue, for it memorializes the notion that all found problematic the behavior of the Duke lacrosse team. I do not agree with the statement:
"Sure, we all thought they did it."
I, for one, never thought they did it. Never.
And I so stated early on.
I am offended by all those who, with the benefit of hindsight, rush to join those who now know the truth, but who early on had no wish to know anything other than that which was politically correct. Too many believed the worst about these young men. They were white, they were smart, they were athletic, they were personable, ... they were, hence, perfect targets of the media and, worse than that, targets of the academy as it believes it can define what is "right."
They were expendable in the "diversity" onslaught. Those with a diversity agenda, formed of politically correct notions, would not accept the concept that a black female could falsely accuse white men of rape. Those with a feminist agenda could not accept the idea that any woman would falsely claim rape. The legal establishment and Duke's administration could not accept the concept that a District Attorney could lie and conceal the truth. Each of these constituencies made judgements based on pre-conceived and formed belief.
That is a tragedy of the Duke Lacrosse Burning. Preconceived, yet false, notions forming the basis for judgement. And this tragedy is likely one to be repeated, for even now we know that truth is not the issue...for the agendas of radical (and even not so radical) groups continue to interpret and form the truth.
Truth has become a malleable convenience and not a fixed standard by which one can judge reality. Politics and agenda has triumphed over truth. That is a lesson of the Duke Lacrosse Burning.
to 11:09
KC doesn't have the cajones to put up the National Review piece on his book. That's probably why he's claiming the "hiatus" he knows it will slam him up against the wall.
He can't handle the truth.
So Gottlieb got his butt kicked off his desk and onto the street? What did he do wrong? Forget to put ice in Crusty's Mountain Dew?
To the 11.36:
I have no idea what you're talking about. There is no "National Review piece on [the] book." If there were, I would have gladly posted it.
It's possible, of course, that NR will review the book in the future (although why they would do so since it came out in Sept. is unclear). If they do so, I'll post the review at the book's website, as I've done with every review from a mainstream publication.
Anonymous said...
to 11:09
KC doesn't have the cajones to put up the National Review piece on his book. That's probably why he's claiming the "hiatus" he knows it will slam him up against the wall.
He can't handle the truth.
12/8/07 11:36 PM
Two words for you 88er:
Sour Grapes. :))
11:36
Have you read UPI?
Even part of it?
(Need a reader-guide to help you get through it, or a special reecorded version?)
Are you a big fan of National Review? (Charles, I'm asking you a question.)
I'm sorry:
11:36 is probably not Piot;
my hunch is that it's a post by ThingyWingyIntellectual.
"Slam him up against the wall" sounds like him, in his pretend-macho persona. (And this is one that he wouldn't actually want to sign his name to, eh?)
11:36
You can't handle punctuation.
I don’t know how much weight this group has, but at least they are taking action. Also, check in with FIRE, they scored another win.
---------------------
How Many Delawares?
The National Association of Scholars Announces an Inquiry into Residence Hall and Student Life Policies That Violate Intellectual Freedom and Promote a Partisan Political Agenda.
We intend to provide some of our results as short postings on this site -- and longer postings as the findings warrant. We also aim, however, to produce a systematic study of the role that ideological indoctrination plays in residence-hall and student-life programs.
http://www.nas.org/
He can't handle the truth.
A response one would expect from a typical 88'r. Pick the sole dissenting voice in the darkness and proclaim it the "truth".
to 11:90 & &7:39 (same poster?)
If you have a point to make, please make it with an argument supported by evidence. It would help if you would differentiate yourself from the mass of "anonymous" so we can have a dialogue.
Taunting ad hominem comments are too dreary. More like something out of fifth grade recess.
Jim Peterson
JLS say....,
Hey everyone, I just caught up on the Law Review article by the Duke Law Prof. I was looking over on the FreeRepublic site and found this article:
Maybe $30 million is a bargain
which certainly suggests the going rate for false rape accusations is over $10 million per. That does not include any extra penalty for doing it under the color of law. Durham should be careful.
"I, for one, never thought they did it. Never.
...
I am offended by all those ... who early on had no wish to know anything other than that which was politically correct. Too many believed the worst about these young men [because t]hey were white, they were smart, they were athletic, they were personable, ..."
To be fair, it wouldn't have been necessary to believe anything bad about white people, about smart people, about athletic people, about personable people, to believe at the beginning that they must have done it. All it would really require would be an unjustified trust that (as Williamson put it) "if this prosecutor said it was true, then it must be true."
H-S editorial:
Measuring Duke's impact on Durham
Dec 9, 2007
Those who know Durham know that Duke University and Medical Center have a huge impact on the community. Indeed, it's hard to imagine Durham without Duke.
But while we know Duke's impact is major, most of us would be hard-pressed to attach a dollar figure to it. A recent analysis of Duke's impact on Durham helpfully does so.
It's $3.4 billion. A year.
While you absorb that, consider that the figure was arrived at through accepted economic techniques. In fact, it's on the conservative side. The report takes the dollars spent -- including payroll, purchases, donations, student and visitor spending, etc. -- and doubles them. That's known as a 1:1 multiplier, which assumes that every dollar Duke spends is spent one additional time. Many similar impact studies use higher multipliers, under the reasonable assumption that dollars are usually turned over several times.
Duke is the largest employer in Durham, with nearly 40,000 workers. Of those, about half -- 19,755 -- are Durham residents. Those payroll dollars are spent throughout the community. And through spending on research -- $589.4 million in 2006-2007 -- it's estimated Duke funds 21,200 more jobs.
Duke also purchased nearly $280 million worth of goods and services in Durham County in 2006-2007. That supported hundreds of Durham businesses -- 698 to be exact, each earning at least $10,000.
When it comes to downtown Durham's recent revitalization, it's hard to overstate Duke's contribution. Duke leases 210,000 square feet of office space at the American Tobacco Campus, about a quarter of the entire project. Duke's participation in the project was a key factor that allowed it to proceed. Duke also has a major presence in the West Village development now under construction, and at Brightleaf Square.
Duke also spent about $227 million for construction in 2006-2007, money that creates jobs and reverberates through the local economy. And with Central Campus and other projects on the drawing board, Duke will likely spend even more on construction in the future.
All of that economic activity creates positive ripples in the private sector, as can be seen downtown, for example, and with new development springing up on Erwin Road.
But it would be a mistake to think of Duke's contribution as only financial. Durham residents can take classes at Duke and benefit from the cultural offerings there. Durham life is richer because of the Nasher museum, the American Dance Festival and the current events celebrating Thelonious Monk's musical legacy.
Likewise, the Duke-Durham Neighborhood Partnership provides benefits far beyond money. The program creates partnerships with 12 Durham neighborhoods, seven public schools and a charter school. The program has made life demonstrably better for residents and students since it started in 1996.
In the past, Duke had a reputation for being in Durham, but not a part of it. If that was once true, it certainly isn't today. Today, Duke is a full partner in Durham's success -- and one of the major reasons behind it.
Ashley's Sunday diary entry:
How would you spend $100 million?
Dec 9, 2007
What would you do with $100 million?
It's an intriguing question, one that Samuel Wells, dean of the chapel at Duke University, has been exploring this year in a series of "deans' dialogues." The latest was late Wednesday afternoon with L. Gregory Jones, dean of Duke's Divinity School.
The series, as the chapel's web site outlines it, is designed for deans to explore "topics surrounding how to promote the common good."
Surely, there are many ways to use $100 million for the common good, and Jones touched on some Wednesday.
Listening to their discussion, and later, I wondered about the question, and how we answer it in contemporary society.
As Jones noted, these days $100 million really isn't a lot of money. It is in terms of our household budgets (for most of us, if not necessarily for a Bill Gates or a Warren Buffett). But it is a rounding error in many institutional budgets.
With $100 million, you could, for example, pay the salaries for a year of about 100 Division-1 college football coaches, based on a USA Today compensation survey published, coincidentally, on the day of the deans' talk.
That survey found that this year the average compensation for the 120 top-division coaches was $1 million, the first time the average hit seven figures.
You could also pay the salaries of the five highest-paid coaches for maybe six years, since each makes $3 million or more.
With that amount of money, you could pay for the United States operations in Iraq, combat and reconstruction, for about eight hours. That's based on an estimate of the daily cost by Washington economist Scott Wallsten, cited in a January New York Times story.
(So far, that war has cost us just shy of $500 billion, which is, any way you look at it, a lot of $100-million-dollar chips.)
Duke University Hospital last month announced plans for a major expansion. Based on current estimates, the amount the deans were musing about would pay for about one-sixth of the project's cost.
And, it would have paid for the Divinity School's latest addition, the Westbrook building in which the conversation was held, with $78 million left over.
Jones took note of the fact that some might question the cost of the addition. He recalled the admonition of an alumnus as the building's plans were taking shape, urging school leaders not to cut corners and to erect a building that would have an impact on those who saw it.
It was an investment, he said, in the school's mission to nurture the leaders of congregations and to cultivate a culture of impacting the world in meaningful ways.
Which brought him to his answer on how he would use $100 million.
He would use it to foster leadership in service of that cause.
"It is really crucial that we cultivate ways for people around the world to develop capacity for leadership in service of the gospels," he said.
"The needs are huge," he said, "whether for local soup kitchens, AIDS, malaria ...." and the list could go on.
At the end of the day, one's definition of the "common good" is highly subjective.
Many would argue that major-college athletic programs serve the common good in many ways. Sport is an important part of life, college athletes develop valuable skills, and encouraging enthusiastic support for and identification with an alma mater or otherwise favorite school is worthwhile.
The market is setting the rates for college coaches, and perhaps we should no more question that the market values highly skilled football coaches at $3 million or more a year than we should question the rates of film stars or hedge fund managers.
And the debate over whether the war in Iraq fosters a common good is a central debate in U. S. politics today. While I happen to believe it does not, I acknowledge many others believe it does.
The question Wells is posing to his fellow deans is a profound one.
Give it some thought. What would you do with $100 million?
Bob Ashley is editor of The Herald-Sun.
Sure, we all thought they did it. It was a closed case: The three Duke University lacrosse players accused of raping an African-American stripper, we all agreed, were guilty as charged. We could see it in the privileged jocks’ faces. Wrong. Not only were they innocent, they triumphed over an unethical D.A. who suppressed evidence and, ironically, became the only person to be jailed over the whole affair. The way the accused players conducted themselves during last year’s prosecutorial witch hunt defied everything we instinctively believed to be true about them. They proved us wrong—making us reexamine our knee-jerk reactions to stereotypes—and they proved our justice system right.
Actually, my stereotypes served me just fine, as usual. That's why I sometimes envy liberals: Each day brings a new surprise for them.
RRH
"to 11:09
KC doesn't have the cajones to put up the National Review piece on his book."
If there was such a piece -- an unfavorable review of UPI in the National Review I would have thought it could be found by searching the NRO website for the terms "Until Proven Innocent"+Taylor+Johnson . No negative review can be found that way. Did one exist?
Maybe Nifong, Tara and the G88 were channeling from Ian McEwan's acclaimed novel - Atonement- written in 2001.
"As early as the week that followed, the glazed surface of conviction was not without its blemishes and hairline cracks. Whenever she was conscious of them, which was not often, she was driven back to the understanding that what she knew was not literally, or not only, based on the visible. It was not simply her eyes that told her the truth. It was too dark for that... The truth was in the symmetry, which was to say, it was founded in common sense... What she meant was rather more complex than what everyone else so eagerly understood, and her moments of unease came when she felt that she could not express these nuances... Within a couple of days,no, within a matter of hours, a process was moving fast and well beyond her control. her words summoned awful powers......"
Looking forward to the movies - this one and HBO UPI.
Going back to KC's "Group of 88 Rehab Tour" posting concerning Duke music Professor Zimmerman, this is a must read!
In comments on Zimmerman's blog, KC had three times asked for Zimmerman to respond by supporting his assertions and arguments and, finding no such response, perfunctorily dismissed Zimmerman. Our own MOO Gregory, posting as Tortmaster, did make comments however. Zimmerman may be perfectly capable of teaching two music classes per week at Duke, but in debating with Gregory he brings a 6 inch flaccid piece of string cheese to a sword fight.
After an excellent comment by michael in nh, there follow 8 comments by Gregory. IMHO, these are a must-read, folks!
MOO Gregory, aka Tortmaster, responds to Zimmerman
Arranging 12 flintlock rifles to fire as one by connecting the trigger mechanisms with a broom handle, American Patriot Gregory easily mowed down the musical Hessians at Trenton, effecting their surrender. "This is like child's play," quoth Gregory.
Gatling, Gregory, and Early Machine Guns in War Harper and Row (1977)
One Spook
Anonymous at 11:35 said
"KC doesn't have the cajones to put up the National Review piece..."
ANONYMOUS said KC doesn't have the balls? KC was one of the first to have the cajones to challenge the PC steamroller... and he didn't hide behind "anonymous."
Can you 88ers make yourselves look any stupider?
-RD
Re: Rev. Sam Wells
Debrah said...
…………….
What would you do with $100 million?
....[Samuel Wells, dean of the chapel] at Duke University, has been exploring this year
-------------------------------
Yeah, and like I care what the so-called Rev. Wells says? He acted no better than his twin, the Rev. Jessie Jackson, pointing false fingers at the LAX3 when they most needed support.
After the facts became clear, proving them ridiculous, they tap danced off, never admitting a rush to judgment, or saying they were sorry.
IMO, no hypocrisy is worse than that of the radically liberal pious. (Using the word ‘pious’ loosely.) I hope my total disgust for both these ‘Reverends’ is obvious!
------------------------
Until Proven Innocent, page 333,
(Sam Wells)
“The Chaplin had smeared the lacrosse players in a sermon almost ten months before……”
------------
D-I-W: Friday, August 11, 2006
Intellectual Thuggery
“Chaplain Sam Wells amplified on themes from his April 2 sermon, reproduced in full in the April 9 Herald-Sun, in which he denounced "the subculture of reckless 'entitlement', sexual acquisitiveness and aggressive arrogance” and spoke of exposing “the reality that sexual practices are an area where some male students are accustomed to manipulating, exploiting and terrorizing women all the time—and that this has been accepted by many as a given."
In an e-mail to me, the chaplain denied that these statements referred to members of the lacrosse team, and said that he was simply issuing a general critique of sexual misconduct. But it seems hard to believe that many people on campus or Herald-Sun readers would have appreciated such nuance.”
AF said...
8:10
You are referring to O.J. right? That being the one case where the DNA evidence existed but was ignored when money and politically correct fear bought an innocent verdict.
I would say the DNA was rightly ignored because it appeared to have been planted by a crooked cop. Certainly the possibility that that was the case was strong enough to create "reasonable doubt."
Crooked cops don't just result in innocent people going to jail. They also result in guilty ones going free.
Thank you, Dr. Johnson, for your work on the Duke lacrosse incident. Reading your blog since its beginnings, I've often wondered about the person behind your postings at midnight (what can keep him up at night?), but whatever your inspirations, I feel certain that your work has changed the course of the stream, in a small way at least. I knew the Duke cultural criticism crowd when they were young and ready to party. Your columns have given everyone another mirror to look into. I'm quite sure that despite their protestations, everyone who reacted on impulse to the first news from Durham has had to think again about themselves and their motives, thanks largely to your blog. Best wishes on your next work.
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