One morning this past November, police found the body of an Appalachian State student in the trunk of an abandoned car. The student was one of my friends from high school, and we had maintained our friendship into our freshman year at Appalachian. Literally two minutes after I had posted pictures of him on facebook.com that day, I got the call about his death.
The news blind-sided me. In high school, he was on the swim team, he was an Eagle Scout, and he took AP classes. At Appalachian, he started smoking and dealing pot. By the time sophomore year rolled around he was dealing cocaine, and by November one of his "clients" had decided to brutally murder my friend instead paying off his $3400 tab.
And so the Blame Game began.
Some students blamed it all on the conspicuous druggies at the school for creating a climate of corruption. Some blamed the administration, citing the murderer as a campus security guard with a criminal record. Some blamed it on the entire nation for harboring the demoralization of today's youth-and some just claimed my friend brought it upon himself.
One month a college student is beaten and burned in the trunk of a car until he dies. This month a college student cries rape and the media descends upon Duke University like vultures-vultures whose diets consist solely of accusation and scandal.
This must be nice for District Attorney Mike Nifong, a man who continues to publicly condemn the lacrosse team, who will not accept the slightest alterations to his assiduous allegations and who is up for re-election in one month. This delusional guy is the ringleader for people who do not actually care for the woman who alleged rape, but rather who care about turning an isolated account completely unrelated to them into a personal Blame Game.
After the alleged incident, several students became vocal about the poor quality of Duke's treatment of women, minorities, and people in Durham. Duke is protecting the lacrosse team, some said, but failed to care about them because they were black and a female just like the alleged victim. Duke loves the rich students the most, others claimed. They are going to get off because they are white student-athletes, others decided.
Is this affair not exacerbated enough without students suddenly speaking out and claiming personal victimization, the apparent torture and injustice to which Duke has exposed them?
I realize most people are not victimizing themselves over these events, but the ones who are naturally decide to be the most vocal about it. I have several questions looming in my mind about these people, a major one being, "Where can I find the crystal ball you use to see what actually happened that night?"
And now it seems the Game is descending upon a whole new level as rumors of drive-by shootings circulate through our e-mail inboxes-and as Nifong decides he is not going to reveal pertinent DNA test results until "the trial," a trial that does not exist since no one has been charged for these alleged crimes.
Talent and intelligence are not prerequisites for pointing your finger at someone as the source of a problem. I watched it happen at Appalachian, and now I observe it here at Duke on a much larger scale. I read and hear disgustingly self-absorbed tales of the Duke administration ignoring people because they are women or they are black or poor or not athletes. I hear about "rich white guys" getting all the breaks, I listen to conspiracy theories, and I read e-mail from our vice president about potential drive-bys.
My friend who was tortured to death in November was one of these rich white guys, and if you say "He asked for it," then apply that same opinion to the woman who was allegedly raped.
No one asks for it. No one allows for these things to happen except for the people who commit them. We must end this Blame Game, wait for the facts, hope for the best and strive together rather than further divide ourselves along artificial lines.
Only then can we create a better community for Duke and Durham.
Mallory Pickard is a Trinity sophomore. Her column runs every other Tuesday.
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