Other than Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong and the three men he charged with rape, sexual offense and kidnapping, no one has come under more intense scrutiny in the lacrosse scandal than President Richard Brodhead.
A series of public statements and the resignation of English Professor Karla Holloway this month from her post on the Campus Culture Initiative have once again brought Brodhead's actions to the fore-actions he said have been guided from the start by one simple idea.
"If you want to know what my strategy has been for dealing with this, it's been to try to do what was right, try to figure out what principles were involved-the principle of respect for evidence, the principle of taking seriously the community issues, the principle of presumption of innocence and due process-and fashion a response that tries to honor those principles," Brodhead said in an interview Friday.
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That kind of quote-complicated and detailed-has been both Brodhead's strength and his Achilles' heel throughout the past 10 months.
Supporters point to his philosophy on the scandal as that of a intellectual, deep thinker.
But detractors seek a firmer stand.
John Burness, senior vice president for public affairs and media relations, has praised Brodhead's unflagging steadiness and moral fortitude in a no-win situation. Burness also noted, however, that Brodhead's style can sometimes appear glib and does not always resonate with large groups.
Since a landmark June 5 press conference announcing the reinstatement of the men's lacrosse program , Brodhead has stuck mostly with one-on-one interviews with members of the press, where his personable, affable manner seems to shine.
His response appears to have won over many students, as several standing ovations at home basketball games attest. He also won wide acclaim from many for his decision to reinstate indicted players Collin Finnerty and Reade Seligmann. For others it was too little, too late.
A chorus of bloggers now leads the swarm of critics calling for solutions ranging from investigations of the administration's conduct to Brodhead's departure from Duke.
Many of them wonder if legal proceedings may have gone differently had Brodhead taken a stronger stance early on. Others say he should have condemned harshly faculty attacks on students or use University funds to help pay legal fees for the indicted players.
Several members of the group most affected by Brodhead's actions-the lacrosse team itself-declined to comment for this story, saying that with the season opener Feb. 24 against Dartmouth in sight, it is time to look forward.
"It's going to be one of those things that I'm going to look back on, probably when I graduate, and think about it," said lacrosse player Tony McDevitt, a senior. "I'm still a student here at Duke, so it's tough for me to put myself in his shoes."
McDevitt stands with many other lacrosse players, bloggers, professors and parents in commending the decision to reinstate Finnerty and Seligmann, a move many saw as a long-awaited about-face. It was also the move that led Holloway to resign her committee seat in protest.
"We were disappointed with how they handled Collin and the case up until now, but we're pleased that they've gotten to this point," Finnerty's father, Kevin Finnerty, told The Chronicle at the time. The family had to make the first move, Kevin Finnerty added, to open a conversation with Brodhead after their son was indicted in April.
A former lacrosse player who graduated last year, who would speak only on the condition of anonymity, said he has been unhappy in the aftermath of allegations with Brodhead's behavior, which he said was not supportive of his students.
"It was unfortunate that some of the subsequent actions that were taken by the University didn't really imply a presumption of innocence," the player said. "It's a shame that President Brodhead took the word of a public figure over the word of students."
A quicker response, the alumnus said, might have helped to prevent some of the trouble the indicted players have experienced. He also challenged Brodhead's assertion that all decisions had been based on principle, using Seligmann and Finnerty's re-admission as an example.
"They were presumed innocent then and they're presumed innocent now," he said. "What's changed? They are still charged. It appears that from the start this has been a public relations thing for [the administration]."
The alumnus, who emphasized that his allegiance to the University has not waned throughout the ordeal, said the fact that faculty statements were used as evidence of a hostile environment in a defense motion to change the trial's venue was very troubling to him.
"It's just my hope that Duke will admit some of the instances where they might have been wrong and work to make sure this doesn't happen again, where Duke students are targeted by Durham authorities and Duke's own faculty would be cited in a defense change-of-venue motion," he said. "It's in their best interest that it's not a part of Duke's reputation."
Brodhead's refusal to publicly censure the signers of an April 6 ad in The Chronicle commenting on the campus's social climate has been a central focus of criticism.
The president said he believes the appropriate role for him is not to advocate one position or another but to remind the community of the values they need to observe.
Steven Baldwin, professor of chemistry, argued in an Oct. 25 guest column in The Chronicle that the administration had erred in asking former men's lacrosse head coach Mike Pressler to resign and in not taking a more vocal stand in support of students.
"Cynically, you wonder how sincere [administrators' recent actions] are," he said Sunday. "I've heard people suggest that they're positioning themselves for possible litigation. I don't want to be viewed as an attack dog, but... I just wonder what Nifong would have done if he thought that the things he was doing were, in fact, not supported by the University."
Still, those working most closely with Brodhead throughout the case said they have been impressed by his strength, steadiness and strict refusal to take sides-even if those decisions haven't been convenient.
"He's person of remarkable resilience," Burness said. "I don't know how he does it. I'm sure there are days when he wakes up and thinks, 'How did I get myself into this?'"
And the president, while confident he has made the right decisions, is not unaware of his peccadillos.
"Anyway I would have conducted myself would have been subject to criticism," Brodhead said. "I've heard it said sometimes that I recognize subtleties and nuances and I'm sorry, I don't regard that as a criticism. In truth, I think I've stood up for the values in a pretty clear and forceful manner."
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