Following the dismissal of all charges against three former men's lacrosse players, members of the Duke community reflected Wednesday on the conclusion of a case that has gripped the University for nearly 13 months.
North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper announced Wednesday that his office has dropped the remaining charges against David Evans, Trinity '06, Collin Finnerty and Reade Seligmann, citing insufficient evidence against the former players and mishandling of the case by Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong.
Student leaders and other members of the student body responded to the announcement and considered the media maelstrom that descended upon the campus after the indictments.
"For a long time, everyone has been expecting that the charges would be dropped," said Duke Student Government President Elliott Wolf, a junior. "With the announcement from the attorney general that they were innocent, it rids the Duke and Durham community of any doubt."
Junior Christiane Regelbrugge, co-founder of Students for an Ethical Durham-which hosted a voter registration effort with the lacrosse team last fall-said the outcome vindicated their efforts to ensure that justice prevailed in Durham.
"We're thrilled that this day has finally come-we always knew it would-and that these boys can move on with their lives," she said. "Justice has finally been served, and that was always the goal with Students for an Ethical Durham-to make sure that officials elected in Durham were ethical and treated all citizens fairly."
In response to the lacrosse incident, DSG created the position of community liaison to foster a better relationship between Duke students and the community.
Outgoing community liaison Daniel Bowes, a senior, said he hopes the position will continue to benefit the community even as the charges were dropped.
"The lacrosse incident created a problem, and the community liaison is supposed to deal with that problem," Bowes said. "Community interaction is just as important today as it was yesterday. I'll be talking to individuals in the community, ensuring them that while the exoneration is great for Duke, it has no repercussions for the community liaison position."
Some students said the confirmation of the players' innocence should not overshadow the underlying issues brought to light during the national reaction to the lacrosse case.
"We will never know what really happened on the night of March 13, but it is our sincere hope that justice has been served," the Black Student Alliance's outgoing and incoming presidents, Malik Burnett, a senior, and Simone Randolph, a junior, wrote in a statement. "The lacrosse incident has become much more than a case of alleged rape, but serves as a lesson that issues of prejudice and inequality still exist within our nation today."
Senior Rebekah Fergusson said that although she was initially unsure about the innocence of the players last spring, the ensuing scrutiny led to some positive measures on campus.
"I definitely went back and forth myself on [the guilt or innocence of the players], but after Nifong and his ethics charges were brought up, it seems kind of unfair," Fergusson said. "I wasn't somebody who was very sure a crime had not been committed, beyond whether or not their behavior was respectful. I do believe that some of the culture initiatives that have come out of it were good things, and I don't think we should stop paying attention to that-but we probably will."
BSA representatives also said the University should continue to emphasize the efforts to improve campus culture prompted by the case.
"We applaud the University's efforts to look introspectively and candidly explore Duke's culture," the statement from BSA read. "It is our hope that the community can move forward as a campus united in making Duke a place of safety, acceptance and respect for all of its members."
Wolf expressed concern, however, that the lacrosse case-in addition to exposing student inequities-revealed prejudices within the community regarding how Duke students are perceived.
"The Duke lacrosse case has made it clear that the police views Duke students differently than other people," Wolf said. "The University should make sure police are not targeting Duke students because they are Duke students."
The closure of the case will redirect national attention and correct biased perceptions brought on by the scandal, sophomore Keith James said.
"It's going to start to help our reputation across the country," he said. "The problem wasn't rape itself-the racial slurs brought on the tension. Hopefully [dropping the charges] will start to heal some of those things."
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