Apologize this

Watching our president's apology to lacrosse players last Saturday, I caught a glimpse of the old Dick Brodhead-the caring and courageous leader whose agile mind and steadfast integrity once inspired this campus.

It couldn't have been easy for a lifelong educator like Brodhead to acknowledge he "may have helped create the impression that we did not care about our students" and that he caused the families of the accused "to feel abandoned when they most needed support." Equally commendable was our president's admission that he could have done more to "be clear that [Duke] demanded fair treatment for its students" and to ensure "ill-judged and divisive" voices on campus did not appear to speak for the University as a whole.

One apology does not dismiss Brodhead's many failures over the past 18 months. But it does live up to one of the highest ideals of this University-namely, a willingness to admit our mistakes and learn from them. For that, Brodhead deserves praise.

For other elements of his speech, Brodhead does not. Clearly, the law school's two-day "Court of Public Opinion" conference was not, as Vice President for Government Affairs and Public Relations John Burness told me "an ideal venue for him to talk about the lessons he had learned." The conference did bring together a number of big names like law professors James Coleman and Erwin Chemerinsky and "Durham-in-Wonderland's" KC Johnson to discuss their experiences during the lacrosse case.

But Saturday afternoon's session conflicted with the Duke-Miami football game and the N.C. Pride Parade on East Campus, effectively guaranteeing few undergraduates would attend. A $325 registration fee deterred lacrosse supporters who aren't students. And however heartfelt Brodhead's words may have been, his 15-minute apology (misleadingly billed as "Reflections by President Brodhead" and sandwiched between long panel sessions like a glorified bathroom break) was tainted by the impromptu and inappropriate venue in which he read it. Indeed, if Brodhead has, as Burness told The Chronicle, been "seeking an opportunity to make such a statement for some time," it's telling that he refused to read these comments at a more significant, inclusive event, like last week's Founders' Day. Or the upcoming State of the University address.

Moreover, given that Brodhead says he regrets his failure to "reach out" to lacrosse families in Spring 2006, the decision to apologize before an audience of lawyers and journalists-and not, say, the people he actually wronged-is all but inexplicable.

So is his timing. There's no question that Brodhead should have released this statement at least six months ago, as these words could have saved us all considerable grief. It's also clear that Brodhead's decision to apologize was connected to the Board of Trustees meeting taking place on campus; he is undergoing a trustee-sponsored performance review at the moment and several board members were present for his apology. It's a safe bet that impending lawsuits, alumni dissatisfaction and the need for closure also contributed in some way to the decision to apologize now.

But speculating at these secondary motives is ultimately less important than the question of what comes next. In his speech, Brodhead promised his administrative staff will be "going over all our procedures to see what we can learn from our experience." Attempting to "work through these difficulties and see that their lessons are learned" Duke will "be hosting a national conference of educators, lawyers and student affairs leaders to discuss best practices in this important field." I will continue to hope that this latest set of committees meets more success than other Brodhead-generated bodies like the Campus Culture Initiative.