McCarthyism in Durham?

As an alumni of Duke, I have followed with great interest the case involving the three Duke lacrosse players. This case illustrates a growing danger in this country. As a nation, we have become more polarized, and in a time in which information is instantly available, we rush to judgment all too quickly. What is worse, we project our own political and social beliefs onto every situation, in the process failing to ask even the most basic questions about what we believe and what we are told.

I do not pretend to know all of the "facts" surrounding this case, which puts me in exactly the same place as every Duke student, faculty member and administrator. Yet, many did not let this lack of information prevent them, particularly faculty and administrators, from taking decisive measures against the accused. While time will hopefully show what truly transpired in March, it is already clear that the three students' right to due process was violated and presumption of innocence ignored by people who let their own political and social aims guide their actions. What is more ironic and disturbing is that these actions were taken in the name of justice.

There was a time, not that long ago, when a group of people were similarly singled out and persecuted and, in some cases, prosecuted in a similar manner. So egregious were these cases, so horrible these times, that a name was given to the hysteria that led to it, a phrase that we often use today when similar situations arise: McCarthyism.

Steven Beckett

Fuqua '87