Our Gothic wonderland

The Duke lacrosse scandal occurred during my freshman year at Duke, and I was a reporter for the Duke Chronicle at the time. ESPN’s recently broadcast documentary “Fantastic Lies” added minimal information or perspective to the average Duke student’s knowledge of the scandal, but it did allow me to reflect on my own experiences. 

I interviewed President Brodhead shortly after the scandal broke during a forum on Duke’s campus culture. He was in the 18th month of his tenure at the time, and he told me he believed that for Duke to thrive amidst the fallout from the lacrosse scandal, the “changes [at Duke] are going to have to be made by the students.” We are fortunate Duke had many student leaders on campus at the time that we can be proud of. 

From the perspective of both a campus reporter and fellow student, I got to see firsthand the leadership role played by Black Student Alliance President Wintta Woldemariam (T ’06) during one of the most racially charged periods on a college campus thus far the 21st century. Her maturity and call for calm on campus made a deep impression on me—particularly when she told me she was shocked by how the national media oversimplified the lacrosse scandal into a “black woman versus white male issue.” The talking heads of the mainstream media should have paid more attention to the outstanding example she set. Duke Student Government president Elliott Wolf (T ’08), who was elected just weeks after the scandal broke, also played a key role in establishing links between Duke Student Government and the surrounding Durham community. He took the reins of DSG at a moment when Duke was undergoing significant self-reflection and scrutiny. 

I also had the privilege to be part of the Duke Chronicle staff as it covered the lacrosse scandal in a way that did justice to the Duke community. The effort was spearheaded by Seyward Darby (T ’07) and Ryan McCartney (T ’08), who were the Editors-in-Chief of the Chronicle as the story unfolded. News Editor Steve Veres (T ’07), Sports Editors Mike Van Pelt (T’ 07) and Greg Beaton (T ’08), and countless others—many of whom today hold influential roles in media and journalism—provided news coverage of the lacrosse scandal in an objective way with a focus on our campus. I strongly encourage everyone to re-read the Chronicle’s coverage of the scandal to better appreciate our shared history.

Though I loved my freshman year at Duke, as a selfish 18-year old I was worried the fallout from the lacrosse scandal would ruin Duke’s long-term reputation and thus my own academic credentials. My family, understandably, felt the same. I vividly remember a heated conversation I had with my father while sitting in my room on the 2nd floor of Giles. My father is a university administrator himself, and he was shocked by what he felt was the Duke administration’s lack of support for the students on the lacrosse team. He told me to apply to transfer to UPenn, which is near our family’s home and where he had expected me to go when I was deciding between colleges. My father had a point. I certainly never expected my freshman year at Duke to involve protestors yelling outside of my residence hall. Yet whenever I stepped off the C1 bus and looked up at the Chapel, the notion of being anywhere else besides the Gothic Wonderland immediately seemed absurd. 

Ten years later, it is clear joining the Duke community was the best decision I could have made. When I interviewed Dean of Admissions Christoph Guttentag in the fall of 2006, I asked him how Duke would compete for top students against other elite schools that had not recently suffered from 24/7 criticism in the media. He told me that he was confident prospective students would realize that “Duke is a special place.” He was right—in the decade since the Duke lacrosse scandal, the number of applicants who aspire to join the Duke family every year has increased by 50 percent.

The lacrosse scandal was as much about Durham as it was about Duke. President Brodhead’s administration and the Board of Trustees deserve credit for recognizing this when they created the Office of Durham and Regional Affairs in 2008 and hired Phail Wynn, Jr. to head the department (despite him having a Tar Heel MBA). I visit Duke regularly, and I’m amazed by how much more integrated Duke students have become with Durham compared with my own time there. When I talk to recent graduates at New York City alumni events, I am shocked by how positive of an impression they have of Durham. It’s a stark contract from when I was at Duke, and I believe many people are surprised by the dramatic improvement in town-gown relationships that took place from the nadir of March 2006 (I am conscious that there are still salient issues at Duke yet to be resolved, which is no different than almost every college campus in the country). 

Since the lacrosse scandal, we’ve seen our alumni lead the world’s largest technology company as well as the world’s most influential private foundation. We saw the late Aubrey McClendon (T ’81) play a major role in leading the American energy revolution. We’ve had Nobel Prize winners, Rhodes scholars, Fulbright scholars and countless talented individuals represent Duke positively around the world. I’ve seen my classmates, friends and fraternity brothers become influential journalists, humanitarians, professional athletes and inventors (and let’s not forget the investment bankers and management consultants either).