Saturday, May 30, 2009

May Events in the Case

As part of her A-Rod book tour, Selena Roberts offered misleading and outright false statements about her writings on the case. On Monday, I’ll be providing a comprehensive summary of the Roberts National Mendacity Tour.

[I should note that I previously suggested "some slanders are too outrageous even for Selena Roberts," and that Roberts had dropped her ludicrous claim that her rush-to-judgment columns were justified because the players placed "pornographic" photos of false accuser Crystal Mangum on the internet. It turns out that she has, remarkably, continued to make this allegation.]

Most in the MSM gave Roberts a pass—though she was forcefully challenged by Murray Chass and Jason Whitlock.

A Durham judge is planning a book, with one chapter on how the media ignored the many wonderful aspects of Mike Nifong’s record.

Nifong’s successor, Tracey Cline, continued her ethically challenged ways.

Why the Love decision is bad law.

Durham mayor Bill Bell forwarded a letter to President Richard Brodhead in which a local committee—which included two Duke professors—continued to cast aspersions on the lacrosse players' character, and suggested that Duke and Durham were the victims of the case. Both professors declined comment on their rationale for forwarding such an argument.

The Bell letter also put on the record—for what appears to be the first time—that the Duke and Durham police departments “shared” jurisdiction over 610 N. Buchanan. In the comment thread, commenter krddurham tracked down town/gown police policies from around the country, the specifics of which showed the unusual nature of the Duke/Durham PD arrangement (of the links provided, only an obscure college from California had a similar set-up as Duke and Durham).

Sean Parrish, a graduate student in the Duke History Department, provided a glimpse into the kind of “scholars” that the Group of 88-heavy department is now training.

Houston Baker fumed that other black intellectuals do not listen to him enough.

The Group apologist is still at work.

Data emerged about the statistical qualifications of Duke undergraduates, as grouped by race and ethnicity.

And two troubling national items, with indirect links to the case: (1) the Justice Department inexplicably dropped voter-intimidation charges against the New Black Panthers (including at least one, Malik Shabazz, who came to Durham); (2) My UPI colleague, Stuart Taylor, unearthed university writings from Sonia Sotomayor that sound as if they could have come from the Group of 88.

A reminder that you can access all the monthly summaries, which I started compiling in summer 2008, here.

16 comments:

krddurham said...

Prof. Johnson,

What do you find unusual about the Duke/Durham PD arrangement?

Here’s the paragraph from Ekstrand’s lawsuit (pg. 46) claiming that 610 N. Buchanan was not within the Durham PD’s jurisdiction…

87. At the time Mangum claimed she was sexually assaulted at 610 N. Buchanan, the
residence at 610 N. Buchanan was within the jurisdiction of the Duke Police
Department—not the Durham Police Department.

http://www.ninthstreetlaw.com/docs/1.07-cv-953.pdf

You agreed that Ekstrand’s assertion is incorrect.

The “Police Jurisdiction Allocation Agreement” attachment is on page 411.

Paragraph 2.3 of the agreement says: “Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph 2.1, the City Law Enforcement Agency maintain the authority and primary responsibility to investigate all offenses committed within the Campus Law Enforcement Agency Area of Extended Jurisdiction.”

The Duke PD share concurrent jurisdiction, of all property in Durham owned by Duke University, with city, county, and state law enforcement. The “Police Jurisdiction Allocation Agreement” expanded the jurisdiction of the Duke PD…the jurisdiction of city, county, and state law enforcement agencies did not change.

610 N. Buchanan is within the jurisdiction of BOTH the Durham PD and the Duke PD.

Many campus police departments across the U.S. share their jurisdiction with local law enforcement agencies. Yes, the campus police have the primary responsibility to investigate crimes that occur on their campuses, but their responsibility and authority does not supersede that of local, state, or federal law enforcement agencies.

For argument's sake, during the investigation of the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre, do you think the investigation of the rampage was left in the hands of the campus police since they had the primary responsibility to investigate all crimes that occur on campus? Like the Duke PD (and many other campus PDs), the Virginia Tech PD shares their jurisdiction with other law enforcement agencies…

“VT police officers have jurisdiction and legal authority on all university-owned property. Since students live both on and off campus, we work very closely and share jurisdiction with the Blacksburg Police Department, the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office and other law enforcement agencies.”

http://www.police.vt.edu/VTPDnew/CHIEF.htm

Here are the links that I provided that, in your opinion, “showed the unusual nature of the Duke/Durham PD arrangement”…

http://www.dailytarheel.com/news/university/campus-police-expand-domain-1.1752819

http://www.washington.edu/admin/police/jurisdiction/

http://www.andersonfreepress.net/node/15127

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/26/AR2008112602449.html

http://safety.umsl.edu/police/services/access.html

http://www.palomar.edu/police/clery.htm

http://www.millersville.edu/~police/about.php

http://media.www.diamondbackonline.com/media/storage/paper873/news/2008/11/14/News/Univ-Police.May.Expand.Concurrent.Jurisdiction-3544152.shtml

http://www.ius.edu/universitypolice/

DiW readers can decide for themselves if these links “showed the unusual nature of the Duke/Durham PD arrangement”.

Thanks, again, for your time,

krddurham

BTW…could you clear up whether or not Inv. B.S. Jones worked for the Duke PD or the Durham PD? TIA

Kilgore said...

KC -- Heartfelt thanks for your continuing to follow these issues and offer updates such as this that expose the depth, breadth, and unconscious nature of the insanity that nearly crushed the lax players. My own personal hope is that your next book will focus on these issues on a national level. It is sorely needed.

Anonymous said...

Is Brown a Communist?

Debrah said...

One has to wonder.

Are all these people, who are to be the next generation from the academy, burdened by the same indoctrination and caustic vibes as one Sean Parrish?

Depressing and alarming all at once.

Debrah said...

I knew that Saunders would jump on this topic immediately.

Just as he and so many jumped on the Hoax from the start.

If they could only cover every injustice with such zeal.

Debrah said...

One might wonder why Mrs. Semans gives every topic related to Duke such a flowery patina.

Well, it would appear as though Mary Duke Biddle Trent Semans and her mother had been flowering the gardens around Duke for a long, long time.

******************************


Professor's vision helped shape plan for public garden

By Neil Offen : The Herald-Sun
May 31, 2009


DURHAM -- Originally, it was an overgrown ravine filled with building debris from the construction of Duke University.

But in the early 1930s, Frederic Hanes, the first chairman of the Department of Medicine at Duke, saw promise in the area as he walked to work each day.

As an official history puts it, he convinced Sarah P. Duke, wife of Benjamin Duke -- son of tobacco magnate and Duke family patriarch Washington Duke -- that his dream of an iris garden just needed a little of her generosity to go forward.

With $20,000 from its original benefactor, the first Sarah P. Duke Gardens, full of more than 100 beds of annuals, bulbs and irises, was created where the South Lawn is today. But when heavy summer rains in 1935 significantly damaged the plantings, Hanes knew he had to come up with a new plan.

After Sarah Duke's death in September 1936, Hanes convinced her daughter, Mary Duke Biddle, to fund a new, more formal garden in memory of her mother.

"I remember Dr. Hanes asking my mother [Mary Duke Biddle], 'Don't you want to do something about this whole area?'" said Sarah's granddaughter, Mary Duke Biddle Trent Semans, chairman emeritus of the Duke Endowment, recalled recently. "And she said, 'Yes, what's your vision?'"

The vision brought in Ellen Biddle Shipman, a well-known landscape designer and one of the first women to be successful in that field, into the picture. She designed the Italianate-style terraces to take advantage of the natural slope of the land. Her inspiration was the globe of the Earth, with the seven curved terraces of dry stacked Duke stone representing lines of latitude.

The Terraces were dedicated on April 21, 1939. In 1945, the university trustees gave oversight of the gardens to Duke's Department of Botany. To protect the gardens from expansion, in 1959, the university's trustees set aside the 55 acres on West Campus for the Gardens. William B.S. Leong, a landscape architect and city planner for Boston, was hired to design the first of several master plans that have shaped the gardens.

The Doris Duke Center was dedicated in 2001 and the last decade has seen a significant increase in the gardens' educational and outreach programs. A new children's garden is in the planning stages.

Today, the gardens has a budget of $2.3 million -- about half of which is from the university and the remainder from private donors -- and employs 22 people and welcomes the efforts of hundreds of volunteers.

"The question always has been, is a public garden an idea or a place?" noted Jan Little, director of education and public programs. "The answer, we believe, is both."

af said...

Having read Stuart Taylor's article and following the link to (future) Justice Sonia Sotamayor, I can readily see how she would have absolutely found on behalf of the LAX players. The ransacking of the dorm rooms of the members of the Princeton Gay Alliance paled in comparison to what was done to the LAX players by the Group of 88. Madame Justice, in the name of justice, would have had no recourse but to nail the 88'ers, who were far more vicious and who transferred their venom into the educational process.
Then again, that wouldn't fit her RCG political leanings would it? No more than Eric Holder's honesty in prosecuting voter-intimidation.
Empathy is one thing. Rewriting the Constitution is another. This country is truly going to 7734 (upside down) in a handbasket.

Gary Packwood said...

Truth Commission Needed

KC's monthly summaries provide an excellent justification for me at least to become more involved with my university alumni associations and neighborhood committee as an overseer who is alert to the regular phony crisis' that are churned out by extremists with an agenda.

President Obama's Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel is quoted as saying...'You never allow a serious crisis to go to waste' which I do understand. But I should never sit silently on the sidelines and pretend to understand extremists at Duke or Durham or in my own community who twist that cute phrase into ...You should never allow a month to pass without creating a phony crisis'.

And that is what happened at Duke and in Durham month after month after month.

Phony crisis' on campus creates a hostile workplace environment and in many instances blatant harassment and should be dealt with as such.

Some might suggest a Truth and RECONCILIATION commission but after reading those summaries KC provided, I would settle for something less grand...perhaps a letter to President Brodhead from several hundred alumni asking for evidence that truth telling is important to his administration.

Ditto for the Mayor, Elected officials and Selina Roberts' boss.
::
GP

Debrah said...

Judge Brown seems to have more than his share of controversy from the past.

No wonder he wants to put some embroidery around Nifong's sorry legacy.

One might wonder how frequently they worked together in Durham over the years to deny due process.

Anonymous said...

Ah yes, let's assail Sotomayor for something she wrote as an undergraduate at Princeton, and then tie it back to the group of 88. That would be the usual Taylor-KC hit job: shallow as shallow gets.

kcjohnson9 said...

To the 11.50:

Just a suggestion--but it's my sense that criticisms are more effective (and, I suppose, more courageous) when they are not done under the cloak of anonymity.

Anonymous said...

That's funny, because I don't find assailing Sotomayor based on her undergraduate writings to be particularly courageous, even if you do so publicly.

kcjohnson9 said...

To the 12.15:

Once again, it's my sense that criticisms are more effective (and, I suppose, more courageous) when they are not done under the cloak of anonymity.

I can only assume that you lack sufficient confidence in your criticism to make it under your own name. In that respect, your lack of confidence makes me more inclined to share Stuart's view on the question.

af said...

To the 12:00 and 12:15

Sotomayor opened herself up for discussion with her ill-advised comments. Racist is as racist speaks. Or can only the white male be racist?

a Nice NJ Guy said...

Re: the 12:15; 11:50

Why do I suspect these Anonymous mud slingers are actually Gang of 88'ers ?

Or at least one of their vocal zombie followers.

Anonymous said...

.Or at least one of their vocal zombie followers.

I would go with this. On other blogs Nancy Pelosi, Hillary Clinton etc cannot be criticised but Sarah Palin is fair game. But then again East coast alumni look after each other as the gang of 88 showed.