President Richard Brodhead announced five committees the University has launched following sexual assault allegations against members of the men's lacrosse team.
The committees' charges range from studying previous incidents involving the lacrosse team to evaluating the administration's response throughout the past three weeks.
"So many things are out there that it's time to take an action," Brodhead said.
Three of the five committees are chaired or co-chaired by black leaders, but none of the five groups will deal directly with racial issues. Among the most outspoken critics have been those who have claimed the lacrosse team and the broader Duke community have been insensitive to racial issues.
The Campus Culture Initiative will take a broad look at the social lives and values of undergraduates. Another group will explore how the Duke Community Standard and judicial processes relate to social life.
With the goal of offering advice and guidance to Brodhead and the Board of Trustees on internal policies and practices, the Presidential Council will be chaired by two prominent external leaders.
Brodhead noted in a four-page letter released to the community Thursday evening, as satellite trucks once again arrived on campus, that the Campus Culture Initiative will "include promoting a more responsible approach to the culture of campus drinking."
Brodhead also said many of the initiatives are directly in response to questions raised by members of the community. The criticism has ranged from a slow response to the alleged incident to a binge-drinking culture that has marred Duke-Durham relations.
A subcommittee of the Athletic Council, the body with oversight of Duke sports, will investigate the culture of the men's lacrosse team.
James Coleman, Duke School of Law professor and an Athletic Council member, will chair the committee. Coleman has experience leading major athletic-related task forces, recently having led the group that overhauled Duke's athletic drug policy.
"The intention here is not to single out the behavior of individuals but to understand the extent to which the cumulative behavior of many over a number of years signifies a deeper problem for which significant corrective actions are called for," Brodhead wrote, adding that he expects to receive some recommendations by May 1.
William Bowen, president of the Andrew Mellon Foundation and former president of Princeton University, and Julius Chambers, former chancellor of North Carolina Central University-the school where the alleged victim is enrolled-and former director-council of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Legal Defense and Education Fund, will co-chair the committee charged with the investigation of the administration's response.
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