<p>Sorry Duke people. And in fact, it saddens me that such an unfortunate event has truly tarnished my alma matter (I got my J.D. from Duke!). And anyone who denies that this event had a negative effect on Duke's reputation is not being realistic. It is no coincidences that almost every top school has experienced tremendous increase in applications but Duke. Even Emory (a southern school like Duke) had a record number of applications. Duke can downplay the fact that its reputation has suffered a blow all it wants. However, this will not do anything.</p>
<p>I agree that is probably some small negative effect due to the lax case, but I think it will be short-lived and not as meteoric as some are making it out to be. Also, Trinity had a record number of applications, but Pratt numbers fell, interestingly. There were also a record number of Asian, African American, and Hispanic applicants. White people's application numbers went down. Not sure the reasons for these discrepancies.</p>
<p>the drop in apps was so insignificant, that i can honestly say i am not worried. duke will rebound within a year. the nation is slowly recognizing the mistakes made in the lacrosse case.</p>
<p>No worry; the public tends to have short memory span. People don't even remember how Bush misled and lied big time about Iraq, let alone trivial things like lax case (the players were innocent after all). :)</p>
<p>um comparing bush's failures which WERE REAL to the lax case which WAS A LIE is uncalled for and completey idiotic.</p>
<p>Huh..you totolly misunderstood. What I was saying is people can't even remember things that were real and major, so I wouldn't expect them to remember little sensational drama based on false accusation.</p>
<p>oh my apologies in that case. (things seem to get misinterpreted often on CC...). however, i do not know too many people who forgot about Bush's failures. under that pretense, i made an assumption about your post.</p>
<p>Actually many people are pretty vague about how and to what extent he did it. Otherwise, we wouldn't still have Cheney STILL lying about Iraq link just recently. I think one major reason I remember well is I am not an American and there's no patriotism clouding my judgement (foreigners were very against the war right from the beginning). I didn't trust that guy right from the beginning and I was surprised I had to argue with my roomate about it back then, given the fact he's a liberal. So all along, I'd been waiting for the truth to get exposed and I got my wish though at a much more gradual and slower pace than I'd like. When my roomate was mad about how he was fooled, I was just thinking, "didn't believe me? told you!".</p>
<p>Let's not let this devolve into a free for all on the Iraq War. </p>
<p>Back on topic: what do you guys think about Mike Pressler(former Duke Lax coach) and that book of his that's coming out?</p>
<p>Apparently, in his book, he really scorches the Duke administration. I really think that's the only thing the administration did wrong in this whole affair - to fire Pressler (ok, I know he technically resigned, but nobody actually believes that and Pressler doesn't even say that). I even think the administration did the right thing by canceling the season; they really had no choice. While it is completely unfair to the team and if I was on the team I'd be ****ed (they have a filter for pi ss? what are we in? third grade?), if they played, it would have been completely unsafe. "Activists" (aka angry mobs) would go to every game in violent protests, scorching the players and victimizing them. This would have been disastrous. These "activists" already did this to players at their homes - it would have been way too easy for all the players to be together on the field. Really unsafe, in my opinion. Just would not have been feasible to finish the season. </p>
<p>But firing Pressler was a bad decision and should not have been done with the information that they had. The admin definitely succumbed to pressure from the media and the community who demanded somebody be held accountable for the "racist" and "sexist" behavior of the LAX players - which we now know to be mostly untrue. I'd guess 90% of colleges would have also fired the coach - it'd take really strong willpower to not. Obviously, my estimate is blatantly personal opinion and has no factual basis. Note that Pressler left the day after the infamous e-mail came out; if that e-mail didn't come out, I bet he'd still be the coach. Who the heck leaked that e-mail? The rumor is that it was the initial judge. That judge should go take another ethics class.</p>
<p>Brodhead was in an impossible situation and could not possibly appease all of his constituencies as he had limited information at the beginning, which was also extremely biased against the players since Nifong had come out already saying they were guilty. Brodhead kept saying that the players were innocent until proven guilty to appease to one crowd (for about 20% of the time), and then the rest talked about the abhorrent nature of sexual assault and racism in our society. If Brodhead chose to use his time to back the players 100% and they turned out to be guilty as Nifong had assured the community that they were, Duke would be seen as a racist institution and be sent back 50 years. He couldn't risk that. Also, Brodhead had one really bad quote: "If they did it, it is appalling to the worst degree. If they didn't, whatever they did is bad enough." or something like that. He also shouldn't have said that. So two mistakes by Brodhead, but in general, I personally think he did as good of a job as he could. He also criticized Nifong on many occasions. The group of 88's response is an entirely different story, though, and I don't see how anybody groups Brodhead with them.</p>
<p>So Pressler definitely got the rawest deal of anybody in the affair next to the three indicted players - and I don't see why he shouldn't write a book about it. Also, McFadyen got screwed since his private email got leaked. That seems pretty crappy, although the email was also really vile and shouldn't have been sent; but still, it's a private email that will be forever associated with his name. Just my thoughts.</p>
<p>What a dumb article haha</p>
<p>There are three books that will be out soon about the LAX case, one being co-authored by Pressler. </p>
<p>They are "It's Not About The Truth: The Untold Story of the Duke Lacrosse Rape Case and the Lives It Shattered" by Mike Pressler and Don Yaeger; "A Rush To Injustice: How Power, Prejudice, Racism, and Political Correctness Overshadowed Truth and Justice in the Duke Lacrosse Rape Case" by Nader Baydoun and R. Stephanie Good; and "Until Proven Innocent: Political Correctness and the Shameful Injustices of the Duke Lacrosse Rape Case" by K. C. Johnson and Stuart Taylor.</p>
<p>The following article is dated March 2007 and is a good summary of what Pressler has to say:</p>
<p>Yeager is quoted as saying that by firing Pressler and canceling the season before any indictments occurred the administration of Duke gave the impression that something did happen. Personally, I agree with Yeager. In my viewpoint Pressler was Duke's sacrificial lamb and the Lacrosse players were cannon fodder.</p>
<p>The saddest comment I have heard is that Seligmann, Finnerty, Evans and Pressler will be electronically haunted as any internet search for their names will forever link them to the case. It will follow them for the rest of their lives and because of the internet will never fade into obscurity.</p>
<p>Seems like the lax case just won't go away. too bad.</p>
<p>Too bad there are people like you (catg) hoping it won't go away. Aren't you the fellow (or gal) who recommended Dartmouth over Duke in some other posting. Either you didn't make it to Duke or you are feeling guilty already (having not picked Duke). Hoping to justify your situation with the lax case. Feel sorry for you, better luck on other things in your future.</p>
<p>Lighten up zimmy, my sister went to duke. My preference for Darthmouth probably comes from being too close to Duke. No big deal. I was just reading about the books coming out. didn't mean the "too bad" in a sarcastic sense. sorry</p>