Faculty members rushed to judgment

One of the most distressing outcomes of the now-resolved lacrosse scandal was the rush to judgment by so many people completely uninvolved with the case, especially many of the faculty of Duke University. Since when did it become politically correct to vilify one's own students? I can only imagine how distressing it must be to be an athlete and talk to a professor in a class with the suspicion that the professor would prefer if you were not at his/her university. Aren't the faculty supposed to care about the students? Aren't the faculty around to provide a caring/supportive network in which young people can learn and grow? I question the integrity of anyone who teaches and simultaneously marches in protest against his/her own students, regardless of their behavior. The problem with large research universities is that the faculty become distanced from the students they are supposed to help grow. I would like to see a discussion initiated by President Richard Brodhead in which the campus culture of the faculty is examined. I would like to see a full-page ad by the Group of 88 telling me how they plan to learn from this experience and figure out why they love teaching young people (like the defendants)-unless they don't care, in which case I hope they can have the integrity to quit their profession.

Mark Gilbert

Trinity '97