Grateful for degree

Regarding Kristin Butler's column, "Summa cum loony," I understand why there are feelings of anger towards the young lady who falsely accused the lacrosse players. I also understand why people would wonder why they let her graduate in the first place.

My response is that we all make mistakes. I don't know the young woman personally, and I know it will take some time for everyone to heal from this situation, but the young men have been cleared and are being compensated for their suffering. I know that monetary compensation doesn't fix the past, but I feel like it will aid the young men as they approach the future.

I am glad that NCCU allowed the young woman to graduate. That was their way of aiding her in her walk towards the future and a fresh start. The column discussed briefly Ms. Mangum's drug use and violations of university codes. I think that it is safe to say that students across the world are breaking the rules (even at Duke) and are still graduating with their class.

This particular young woman just happened to have her dirty laundry aired across the nation. I am not excusing what she did by any means-as a matter a fact, I was a little angry when I realized that her accusations were false. However, it's not my place to judge her. The only things that I can do are hope and pray that there is a life lesson learned out of this.

As for the university and its degree being credible, as an alumna of NCCU I know that I worked hard for the degree, and I am extremely proud of it. If you choose to say that our university can't be taken seriously, that's on you. Thousands of NCCU alumni have been able to accomplish some incredible things after they graduated because of their experiences at NCCU. Instead of tearing other universities down (as this column did) we should be celebrating each other's accomplishments and be thankful that we are able to obtain an education because so many people can't.

Shonette Lewis

NCCU alum