I am appalled at the Durham community and the Duke community's response to the rape allegations.
I thought that we lived in a society where suspects are innocent until proven guilty? That is clearly not the case. No one has been convicted of a crime, yet already we are having candlelight vigils and banging pots and pans.
My question to the community is this:
Are you going to go up to each member of the lacrosse team and apologize if it is proven that these allegations are totally unfounded?
I think that everyone needs take a step back and ask him- or herself, if you were the one being accused of rape, would you want to be treated like a criminal-even if you hadn't done anything wrong?
Yesterday I heard one student say to another that "this is an alleged rape." The other replied, "Oh, I know it happened."
This is exactly the type of attitude that perpetuates the idea that it no longer matters what you are convicted of-it matters what you are accused of. Similarly, no one knows all the facts; there are rumors circulating, some of which are surely untrue.
As students, we need to just let the authorities, the criminal justice system and ultimately a jury of our peers decide guilt and innocence.
A black female student today said that if this had been a black male and a white female it would have been "guilty until proven innocent." If you believe that is unfair, why would you sit around and do the exact same thing to the lacrosse players?
I won't sit here and pretend to think that the lacrosse team is entirely a stand-up bunch of guys, but I'm also not ready to burn them at the stake.
And I don't think anyone else should be, either.
Ned Samuelson
Trinity '08
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