Lacrosse Scores: Duke 0 Character -50

While it is hard to get a handle on what the true story is as it relates to the alleged rape of a young lady in Durham, North Carolina, it does place the boorish behavior of a group of privileged young men on display for the world to see. It is hard to believe that not one young man stood up and did the right thing. Even if a rape did not occur, the racial slurs and disgusting e-mails by members of the lacrosse team seem to indicate that there is a lot of work to do to instill character in the lives of these young men. Every time it seems that we have moved away from the degradation of the poor and racially different, we see how much work there is to do. I always had a lot of respect for Duke and it would seem that a young person lucky enough to attend this $45,000 tuition per year school would recognize that this placed some degree of social respondsibility for those who have received so much.

I wonder how and when racial tolerance and respect is taught as part of the education at Duke. When one of these young men graduates and takes a job as personel director at a Fortune 500 company, do we presume that they suddenly become a person who makes hiring decisions based on a fair evaluation of the applicant's qualifications.

This is a sad chapter in the lives of dozens of young men and one young woman, not to mention the family turmoil that is taking place in Durham and the elite enclaves of the lacrosse families. We'll probably hear a lot about the poor character of this young woman while disecting the pedigrees of young men who were "just boys being boys".

I wonder what the story would have been if the team was an all black basketball team and the girl was white? Just wondering. We may never hear the true story from either side, but it's a shame that we have to deal with this at all.