Amid continued campus turmoil surrounding recent rape allegations directed toward members of the men's lacrosse team, President Richard Brodhead stressed the importance of education, respect and responsibility in meetings with two student groups Monday night.
Brodhead addressed issues of security, race, town-gown relations and alcohol with the graduate and professional community and undergraduate student leaders at the InterCommunity Council meeting.
His discussions came in the wake of allegations that three members of the men's lacrosse team raped and assaulted an exotic dancer at an off-campus party March 13.
The University's president has been reaching out to various Duke and Durham community members, including Mayor Bill Bell, Chancellor of North Carolina Central University James Ammons and several religious leaders.
"Everybody understands the capacity of this event to rip this place apart and reactivate tensions with very long-running histories," he told members of the graduate and professional community. "Everyone I've talked to, who's lived in this city in a substantial way, understands how very dangerous that would be."
Brodhead said it is natural for many community members to be upset, adding that campus leaders should use the current situation as an opportunity to bridge existing gaps and make the community "stronger rather than weaker."
"Even if the most serious of these things come to pass, it will be in our power to write a better history," he said.
Brodhead also stressed the importance of avoiding judgment until all the facts have been established.
"This business of a presumption of innocence is not just some abstract thing that people in law schools care about," Brodhead told the graduate and professional community. "It is actually the safeguard that allows all of us to live our lives."
Some in attendance at the two meetings wanted to know why the University is not conducting its own investigation. Brodhead said Duke does not have access to some key information.
"You could lose a police case because of a university's involvement," Brodhead said in his address to ICC.
"If we were to conduct our own separate parallel investigation, there's all kinds of ways that could interfere-without meaning to-with the police investigation," he said when he spoke to graduate and professional community.
He added that the University will respond appropriately and seriously if members of the lacrosse team are, in fact, culpable.
In light of recent security threats directed toward Duke students, Brodhead emphasized the importance of understanding one's place in the larger Durham community. Friday night, police responded to rumors of potential gang-related violence on N. Buchanan Boulevard, where many students live and where the alleged rape took place. The night before, two students were harassed and assaulted outside Cook Out restaurant.
"I can't guarantee that there won't be repercussions," Brodhead said. "All I can tell you is, this is one of the many, many reasons that we all should take our citizenship at Duke University and in this town very seriously at this time."
Race-a topic that looms large in discourse about what some have called strained relations between Duke and Durham-also arose as an issue during Brodhead's conversations.
"People have told me that this campus is steeped in racism and sexism," Brodhead said. "When I hear that, I know that there might be some measure of truth in those statements.... I want people to grow less comfortable with these things."
Although he is still mulling over the suggestion that all incoming students be required to take diversity and racial sensitivity classes, Brodhead said some types of attitudes toward race can be "educated out of you."
Some graduate and professional students said they are concerned by perceived University inaction in response to racial slurs allegedly used by members of the lacrosse team March 13. The president said crime and punishment only allow for a limited degree of personal growth, adding that better results are found through criticism, shame and education.
"The punishment that would suit me is the punishment that would make that person never think such things again and understand why they mattered," Brodhead said.
Strained Duke-Durham relations have been a source of concern for many during the past few weeks. Brodhead admitted that the current situation is "volatile" and has struck chords of animosity and antagonism among some members of the Duke and Durham communities.
"I understand the potential at this point for Duke to be perceived in a bad light. We owe it to ourselves to remember the good along with the bad," he said, citing various projects, through which Duke has helped to enhance the Durham community.
Brodhead said Durham leaders nevertheless know members of the administration want to work with the surrounding neighborhoods to move forward.
"As far as the leaders of the city go, I have no worries," Brodhead said. "This is not exactly the place where never is heard a discouraging word, and the deer and the antelope play."
In both conversations, Brodhead noted that the alleged incident brings a number of cultural concerns to the table-not the least of which is alcohol.
"It is hard for me to believe that people would have done sober what they apparently did drunk," Brodhead said, adding that his use of the word "apparently" did not confirm or renounce certain team members' innocence.
He said the issue in question is "how you can promote a culture in which people have access to something that's a pleasure, and then take responsibility for it-not crossing into the point where it becomes something that weakens the will and allows people to do something they're ashamed of."
Brodhead did not say anything more about the punishment of lacrosse team members and the future of the program. "I did make it clear that the suspension of the games was not a punishment but rather because at this time it was not appropriate [to play games]," Brodhead said.
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