Letter to the editor

I am responding to "fari nzinga's" absolutely appalling April 7 editorial. In particular, I was horrified by their comments regarding the Duke lacrosse allegations of 2006. What nzinga wrote about the Duke lacrosse case was not only outrageous but also patently false.

I will not give nzinga any attention on her other points about the protests or recent events on campus. Frankly, she does not deserve it. To claim that the 2006 case "exposed the rape culture prevalent on campus" is a disservice and a travesty to the three innocent young men, Reade Seligmann, Colin Finnerty and David Evans, that were wrongly accused of rape by a rogue, evil district attorney, Mike Nifong, who sought to destroy their lives for the sake of gaining public office. Worse, statements like these do harm to the very real victims of rape not only on this campus—I encourage all to learn more about Duke's "Breaking Out" campaign for more information—but around the world. These types of statements work to belittle and cast doubt upon very real victims and survivors who will forever be haunted by memories of their assault and to further the rape culture nzinga cites.

ESPN's recent "30 for 30" documentary on the Duke lacrosse case not only exposed Nifong's injustice but also vindicated the three young men whose lives were ruined by a false assumption of "guilty until proven innocent," not only by people around the world, but also by some people on this very campus. I am disturbed that such a piece that is not only disgraceful but also borders on libel could possibly be written by a Duke graduate. While I would like to think that we have learned from our mistakes regarding this case, it is disturbing that some people like nzinga try to further these "fantastic lies" that were disproven a decade ago solely to advance a political agenda.

Davis Lovvorn

Trinity '18