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<p>As I look over the names of the infamous 88 who promoted the witch trial hysteria, I think it’s interesting to note that only two, Ronen Plesser (physics) and Dan A. Lee (math) are involved in hard science / math. Typically professors in these disciplines understand the importance of proof before embracing a theory. </p>
<p>I feel the lot of them are an embarrassing stain on Duke.</p>
<p>wait what happened with these 88 faculty members? i’m interested in going to duke, but I haven’t heard of this. or how crappy durham is… :/</p>
<p>Just google ‘Duke gang of 88’ for the whole sordid tale
Here’s just one link
[Views:</a> Duke’s Poisoned Campus Culture - Inside Higher Ed](<a href=“http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2006/05/01/johnson]Views:”>http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2006/05/01/johnson)</p>
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Ditto. I had three of those professors and worked closely with a fourth, and all of them were some of the very best professors I’ve had. (I have experience with 3 universities.)</p>
<p>One of them taught my very first college class and was an amazing advisor; I doubt I would’ve done well in graduate admissions without her assistance. I can name quite a few profs on that list with white male (athlete) sons, so I’m not entirely sure what it’s supposed to indicate. Certainly all of them were extremely supportive of me and most of the other students I know.</p>
<p>A glance at past posts is revealing. 10 of DavidWatts’ 14 posts bash Duke, and an additional 2 bash USC. 14 of danstearns’ 19 posts bash Duke. I pay them about as much attention as I do to David Horowitz – that is to say, none at all.</p>
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<p>If the purpose of this forum is for students and alumnae to high-five each other and validate that their school is the greatest thing since sliced bread, I’ll refrain from further posting . Personally I believe CC is a great venue for prospective students to hear the unfiltered pros and cons about schools they may be considering.</p>
<p>In my opinion, the Duke Rape Hoax and the resulting conduct of the Gang of 88 spoke volumes about the lack of intellectual integrity in a significant segment of the Duke faculty. Warblersrule86 states that one of them taught her first college class and ‘was an amazing advisor’. Wonderful. I wonder if she would have the same warm and fuzzies about her first college professor if he helped whip up the mob hysteria if the races of the accused / alleged victim been reversed.</p>
<p>If this counts as another ‘duke bashing’ post - I guess I’m at 15 now.</p>
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<p>Although I completely agree that prospective students deserve to hear both the positives and negatives of Duke’s academic environment, I believe that it is facetious to characterize the Gang of 88’s actions as being somehow impacting intellectual integrity. First, intellectual integrity is hardly the right term to use first, since none of the professors plagiarized or faked academic work. Their fault was to jump to conclusions on inconclusive data, which is hardly as serious as someone plagiarizing work. Moreover, as others have noted already, how does the past actions of said professors impact their teaching or research abilities? You’re right, it doesn’t. </p>
<p>Going to the specifics, the actual ad posted by the Gang of 88 mentioned little about the rape case, but was rather a (perhaps justified) critique of campus culture as a whole. Your claim that the professors were trying to incite mob hysteria is dubious at best. Furthermore, several professors were also very vocal in speaking against the actions of the aforementioned groups, including one of the best teachers I had the privilege of studying under. Lastly, this kind of group polarization is hardly unique: all you have to do is look back to the McCarthyism to see this kind of behavior writ large. Are you going to condemn our entire nation as lacking “intellectual integrity” due to the actions of a single disingenuous man?</p>
<p>@dd1993: tutydau was asking whether or not Durham was safer than: Baltimore, Chicago and New Haven, not declaring that it was safer. </p>
<p>But I heard Duke was very segregated by skin color, but even more so by economic status. The rich chill with the rich, and the poor hang with the poor. I’m sure a large proportion of the school doesn’t live by these standards, but I’m sure a large proportion does.</p>
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Actually, you have it backwards. I’m male, and the prof was female, though that’s really neither here nor there. As for the switching of the races, it makes no difference in my book. I neglected to mention in my previous post, incidentally, that I lived next to several lax players on campus one year and have a very favorable opinion of them. </p>
<p>Mob hysteria? Oh, come now. As someone actually on campus during the events, I can attest that there was very little hysteria involved. It was of interest for a day or two, but it didn’t really gather much attention beyond that. From what I can tell, people not affiliated with Duke seemed to take much greater interest in the case to an almost voyeuristic degree. Some people at Duke - students, staff, and faculty alike - thought the players were guilty, some firmly believed they were innocent, but the vast majority simply waited to see how things would play out.</p>
<p>It was perhaps unfortunate timing, but the lax accusations came out the same time as Duke’s sexual assault awareness week, which it hosts every year. The march and listening statement were intended to be a part of that week and were specially modified for the accusations. Much of what it said is true - rape is indeed a problem at Duke, as it is at most college campuses. With the recent implementation of a new rule that requires staff and faculty to report rape accusations brought to their attention by a student, the number of rape cases in the last year alone doubled. Sadly, one of my best friends was one of those victims. It’s also true that this is not something generally talked about or considered an issue on campus.</p>
<p>It’s true that many liberal professors have encouraged somewhat questionable actions. At Duke, a cultural anthropology professor led her students in heckling David Horowitz during his presentation. At Columbia, the president of the university himself resorted to personal attacks after inviting Ahmadinejad to campus. At UNC, student protesters barged into a speech by Tancredo and broke a window. These actions are hardly seemly, and I’ve written in disapproval about them before. I would consider part of the listening statement, which encouraged the raising of voices, to be similarly a poor decision - at a time when reason was needed, angry voices were not really of much use.</p>
<p>To insinuate, however, that Duke faculty are out to “get” their students, however, is an accusation with which I strongly disagree. Indeed, I view it in precisely the opposite fashion; they’re not naive enough to think that Duke is not without its problems and care enough about the Duke community to encourage debate about those issues.</p>
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<p>This may refresh your memory
[The</a> Johnsville News: Duke Lacrosse Saga in Pictures](<a href=“http://johnsville.blogspot.com/2007/08/duke-lacrosse-saga-in-pictures.html]The”>http://johnsville.blogspot.com/2007/08/duke-lacrosse-saga-in-pictures.html)</p>
<p>The chanting throngs outside the lax house and the huge banner reading “CASTRATE” are just a few of the behaviors which were, in my opinion, encouraged by your favorite profs.</p>
<p>As I recall, the Gang of 88 never issued an apology to the wrongfully accused. </p>
<p>No matter, sweep it under the rug and people will forget. Now let’s go paint our faces blue and watch BASKETBALL!! Rah rah Blue Devils!!!</p>
<p>I think warblersrule86’s point about the mob hysteria is that if you were a typical student on campus (I was on campus at the time as well), you didn’t really notice anything except for some more news trucks. It didn’t have any affect on your day-to-day life unless you actively sought it out. And while you may think these actions were out of line, it’s no different at any university and you’d be naive to think it’s unique to Duke. In fact, Houston Baker, probably the “worst offender” in the whole incident, got a huge promotion by Vanderbilt and is now working there. Grant Farred, another one of the more vocal professors, got a promotion at a later date by Cornell. The professors at Duke certainly aren’t more extreme liberals and fanatical in any way than other elite universities. If you think they are, you’re delusional. Could have happened anywhere else. Not saying that everybody acted appropriately; just saying it’s not a reason to avoid Duke.</p>
<p>Stanford has better weather than Duke?</p>
<p>need-aware for intls</p>
<p>I like everything about Duke, except Durham.
But I don’t like how in every “up-to-date” college handbook, the admit rate for Duke shows up as 22%. This is 2010! Not 2002!!</p>
<p>What I hate most about Duke is the shallowness/fakeness exhibited by a good portion of the student population (probably around 30-40%).</p>
<p>Durham is a great city with a bad reputation. Anyone who is bashing Durham is just repeating what he has heard from others and has never made the effort to explore it.</p>
<p>Disagree with the first statement, totally agree with the second.</p>