Dear President Broadhead, Judicial Affairs Staff, Group of 88, and other if-not-distinguished-at-least-infamous company,
In late August, a football player was arrested for an underage DUI (BAC .12), simple assault, carrying a concealed weapon, failing to stop at the scene of an accident, and threatening by pointing a gun. First he was indefinitely suspended from the team, but then he had that down-graded to a one-game suspension. The university was supposed to “investigate the charges,” but he played out the season and, to the best of my knowledge, he’s still at school.
Anyone else would have been suspended for two semesters. Automatically. For the DUI alone.
Now we have two more football players “given misdemeanor charges” on Friday night. No official comment from the university–and I’m betting that’s the way it will stay. I’m also betting nothing will happen to these players, even though a warning about loud noise (with no citation) is enough to spark a university inquiry when other students are involved.
So even though Duke (1) would have punished other students in a much harsher way; and, in the past, (2) preemptively suspended the falsely accused lacrosse players; (3) suspended another player for sending an (admittedly disgusting) email; and (4) preemptively canceled an entire season for the alleged problems with four of 37 players, it apparently sees no problem with the football program.
Is this at least as bad as the lacrosse players’ record of public drunkenness? And noise violations? And parties? Is this an example of the “athletic privilege” you were so angry about last year (and the year before, and the year before, ad nauseam)? Is “whatever they did…bad enough”?
Please let me know ASAP. Then we can get on forming another committee. Maybe another protest. That would be cool.
Most insincerely,
A female student oppressed by the patriarchal system of manly sports and other bad stuff
