A lacrosse player’s e-mail rant about killing and skinning strippers in his Duke University dorm room has started a chain reaction resulting in his coach’s resignation, the season’s cancellation and an internal probe into the university’s response to alleged violence by athletes.

      Wednesday’s cascade of events was the latest fallout from allegations that three members of the lacrosse team raped a stripper at an off-campus party on March 13.

      No charges have been filed in the case, but sophomore Ryan McFadyen, 19, the player who wrote the e-mail, has been suspended, and Duke President Richard H. Brodhead promised a “very, very serious self-study” of campus culture.

      “I pledge that Duke will respond with appropriate seriousness when the truth is established,” he wrote in a letter to the community.

      Students and townspeople have marched almost daily since the alleged attack on the stripper, a student across town at North Carolina Central University. The woman, who is Black, claims three White players pulled her into a bathroom and assaulted her.

      Protesters are angry over the school’s handling of the allegations and the team members’ refusal to cooperate with police. Investigators have said the athletes are sticking together and keeping silent.

      Authorities have taken DNA samples from the team’s 46 White players. The sole Black player was not asked to give a DNA sample because the woman told police all of her attackers were White. District Attorney Mike Nifong has said that he is “pretty confident that a rape occurred,” but that he does not expect to file charges until next week.

      The team’s co-captains have acknowledged hiring the stripper and serving alcohol but have denied that anyone was sexually assaulted at the party.