Duke law professor James Coleman Jr., who has been appointed to investigate the team, says he wants to know whether bad behavior by the lacrosse team “is something that has been ongoing, whether the university has been aware of it, whether the teams the coaches and athletic department have been aware of it; and whether the university, coaches and athletic department have taken appropriate action to deal with it.”
Many claim the allegations against the team are just a reflection of a sense of White privilege that pervades the entire campus.
“I like Duke. I had fun my four years here. But the culture at Duke most people think most students at Duke think they’re above everything else,” says Tracy Egharevba, a senior and member of the on-campus chapter of the NAACP. “They’re prestigious. They can do whatever they want without any consequences.”
Jeff Benedict, former research director at Northwestern University’s Center for the Study of Society and author of several books on sports violence, says it is not as much about economic privilege as it is the “culture of entitlement” that surrounds college and professional athletes.
“What’s unique about sports, and this includes lacrosse, is when you go to college campus you are afforded things that other students are not afforded,” he said. “These guys know they’re different.”
He added: “It’s like being given extra power when you’re quite young and immature. And some guys don’t handle it very well.”
— Associated Press
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