Basketball players deny endorsement

In a letter to the editor last week, the men's basketball team declared its strident support for Duke Student Government presidential candidate Jordan Bazinsky, but a series of denials and denunciations has cast doubt on the endorsement.

Trinity junior Jill Alexy, a team manager who is also organizing Bazinsky's campaign, put the letter on the table during one of the team's marathon autographing sessions. Several players said that in the rush to get as many items signed as quickly as possible, they did not read the letter before signing it, and others claim that they never signed the March 1 letter at all.

"On a day where I signed over 300 items, I do not take the time to read every single thing I sign. I assume since it is on the table, I am to sign it. But it wasn't until I read my name next to the letter in The Chronicle [that I saw] what had happened...," Shane Battier wrote in an e-mail. "I did not intend to endorse Jordan.... I feel my name was misused."

Battier, a Trinity junior, has been particularly vocal about his non-involvement with the endorsement-which ran with his name and that of teammate Carlos Boozer, who come first alphabetically. His ire prompted a letter of apology from Bazinsky, who said the confusion about the letter stems from miscommunication.

"The last thing I would want to do is misrepresent someone's ideas, Shane's or anyone else's," said Bazinsky, who had won the presidency until the election results were thrown out Sunday night. When he saw the letter, Bazinsky said he assumed the players had been briefed on his platform and were offering support.

Alexy, who has been with the team for two years, insists that she spoke with each and every player about the endorsement, despite several players' assertions to the contrary. "I approached each individually to see if they would support my friend Jordan...," she said. "It was in all different circumstances, but they all agreed." Furthermore, Alexy said the players should be responsible for what they sign. "Obviously, the first lesson we all learn when we're two years old is that you have to read what you sign," she said, adding that she finds it "personally insulting" that Battier does not fully recall their conversation.

Before the letter was published, Alexy told The Chronicle that she witnessed all the signatures, and Editorial Page Editor Norm Bradley, a Pratt junior, took that, the signatures and their appearance on Duke Basketball letterhead as confirmation of its accuracy. "The letter was clearly signed by each individual on the basketball team," he said. "However, in retrospect, The Chronicle should have been more aggressive in contacting individual members of the team to verify that they remembered signing it and agreed with its endorsement message."

Alexy later admitted she did not witness all the signatures.

Alexy would only say that she has been or will be "punished severely," and a clearly distraught Bazinsky said his friend was in a "very bad position."

The controversy surrounds a typical autographing session Feb. 23. As usual, a vast assortment of posters, basketballs and personalized notes and photographs was laid out for the players to sign during a prearranged autographing session; the letter was in a section of special items set off to the side. Most of the players signed it then, and to collect the rest of the signatures, Alexy moved the letter to a separate location where players sign memorabilia as they pass. By the following Monday, she said, all the team had signed.

Laura Anne Howard, who oversees the autographing process as the basketball administrative secretary, said the players assume that if something is out for signing, it has gone through the proper channels and does not need to be read first. "I have it all set up, and the whole point is that they should just be able to walk and sign," she said. Howard deemed Alexy's actions "definitely inappropriate."

"I would never have had the players sign something like that without them knowing what they were signing-which they clearly didn't," she said.

Alexy said managers often put out personal items to be signed by the team. Because she felt the players had consented to the endorsement, she felt there was nothing wrong with putting the handwritten endorsement note out with all the other paraphernalia. "I feel like I covered all my bases," she said. "I in no way feel that I took advantage of anyone."

But Jason Williams said he did not intend to endorse any candidates. "I didn't even know what I was signing for," the Trinity freshman wrote in an e-mail. "We were having autograph day and someone put it in my face and I just signed it."

Trinity freshman Mike Dunleavy, meanwhile, did not attend the session when the letter was signed. Refuting Alexy's contentions with simple "No"s Dunleavy said he did not sign it, did not agree to allow anyone to sign his name, was never directly contacted about the letter and did not agree to endorse Bazinsky.

In retrospect, Bazinsky said he regrets seeking the endorsement. "I didn't need the basketball team," he said. "It was cool, but that's all."