The small, white house is not that different from the two-story houses that surround it, excluding the wear and tear the one-story wooden home has endured over the past month. Its navy blue wooden shutters are broken, and the rain gutter flaps in the breeze, along with the scraps of clear masking tape – remnants of signs posted both in protest and declaring innocence. Bits and pieces of trash litter the grass, and sections of white paint are torn from the sides and front of the house. The outside is not the only trashed part of the house; the blinds on the inside are missing slats and boards are placed against the windows protecting what lies inside.
This is where it all started.
A small house located across from the campus of Duke University, a house the Duke lacrosse team has been occupying for the past year.
On March 13, the players of the Duke lacrosse team held a party and hired two exotic dancers to perform at 610 N. Buchanan Blvd – the lacrosse house rented by team captain Daniel Flannery. A month later, what happened between the time the dancers arrived and left is still in dispute.
According to a search warrant and problem cause affidavit issued by Investigator B.W. Himan, the alleged victim, a 27-year-old black female and student at N.C. Central University, said three white lacrosse team players beat, choked and raped her in the bathroom of the house. The alleged victim arrived at the house at approximately 11:30 p.m. on the night of March 13 and she and another dancer began their routine.
The two women, according to the search warrant, became worried because of the aggression of the lacrosse players caused by the men’s excitement. One man at the party allegedly said to the women he was going to “shove this up you,” while holding a broomstick in his hand. The dancers left, concerned for their safety.
The alleged victim said two players, Adam – who she said everyone called Dan – and Matt, pulled her into the bathroom and sodomized and raped her. She reported the rape also involved a third player named Bret. According to the search warrant, the alleged victim was “beaten, kicked and strangled.” The rape allegedly occurred after the suspects apologized to the two dancers, asking that they come back to the party.
The alleged victim’s “four red polished fingernails were recovered from the house,” among other things, including her purse.
The alleged victim’s hospital exam, according to the search warrant, concluded she had “signs, symptoms and injuries consistent with being raped and sexually assaulted vaginally and anally.”
The members of defense council were not available for comment. In a statement Tuesday night, the defense attorneys released a non-conclusive DNA report, which they said proves that their clients did not rape or assault the victim. The DNA did not match any of the players.
The case runs deep, involving issues like sexual assault, race, economic status, class and an issue that has left the sport of lacrosse tarnished.
Lacrosse gets a bad reputation
Members of the N.C. State lacrosse club said they were victims discrimination because of the alleged rape at the Duke Lacrosse house. Members of the club said they feel people are looking at allegations in the case and assuming most lacrosse players are violent, party hard and lack self-control.
“[The Duke players] a misrepresentation about lacrosse players in general. A few guys that do the bad thing get the publicity,” Rob Moreton, a junior in natural resources and a member of the NCSU lacrosse club, said.
The president of the lacrosse club, Ricardo Pineda, a junior in political science, said he believes that the whole situation is bringing a sport that is not popular to the attention of the public – but that attention is bad.
“It’s unfortunate; it’s shedding a lot of negative light on the sport,” Pineda said.
The players said they have had questions thrown at them implying they have parties like the Duke lacrosse players held.
“Everywhere I go people ask me if I’ve ever raped anyone, or if I have parties like that,” Pineda said.
Morton said he has also received many comments about the whole issue of the alleged lacrosse raping.
“People ask if this is what happens at lacrosse parties. It gets repetitive,” Moreton said. “What they do doesn’t represent lacrosse players.”
Moreton and Pineda said they have classes on different sides of campus, but both are receiving the same criticism from students and others. One lacrosse club member, Mike Hart, a sophomore in business management, said he has received questions from his own family about the character of lacrosse players.
“I get comments saying, ‘I hope you guys don’t do stuff like that,'” Hart said.
Hart said he was in a hotel elevator with his Pack lacrosse shirt on, and some men that came into the elevator claimed to know the alleged victim. The men made speculations about lacrosse in general.
“They said that it was messed up lacrosse players do that,” Hart said.
Moreton said he knows some of the Duke Lacrosse players personally who have “trouble-making” in their character.
“I don’t think they are the best of people. The players are crazy. They are nuts,” Moreton said. “It’s a shame that they are one of the best teams on the field, but it’s one of the worst off the field. I have never seen nor heard of a lacrosse party getting out of hand like that.”
Moreton said these players aren’t known for their good character, but he does not believe that the players had intended to commit the alleged crime, if they even committed it.
“Their party got out of hand, and it shows their bad character,” Moreton said. “But I can’t see them doing it with malicious intent.”
If the allegations are true, Moreton said he does not believe the alleged crime is a racial issue. Moreton said the media might portray the story in a racial light, but he does not believe it’s about race.
“I’m sure it was not a race issue,” Moreton said.
The alleged crime, whether the allegations prove to be true or not, have affected the public’s view on lacrosse, according to Moreton and Pineda.
“There are just a lot of negative comments,” Pineda said.
An issue of rape
The issue of rape is important at all campuses, including NCSU, according to the Women’s Center. The lacrosse rape allegations reaffirmed the importance of rape prevention to the center.
Representatives from the Women’s Center said they make no judgments on the Duke lacrosse case, but they said it is a fact that less than 3 percent of people who report they have been sexuality assaulted are lying.
“[The] majority of the time the survivor is telling the truth,” Laci Weeden, assistant director of the Women’s Center, said.
With the alleged Duke rape becoming so controversial, representatives from the center said they hope women will not be afraid to ask for help in the case of a rape. Weeden said many of the women who have been sexually assaulted do not feel comfortable enough to get help, and the case with Duke didn’t help.
“Many will say, ‘See what’s happening to her, I don’t want that to happen to me,'” Weeden said. “There are so many cases that go unreported.”
Shannon Johnson, director of the Women’s Center, and Weeden both said statistics show players who play in violent sports tend to be violent in their personal life. According to the search warrant issued by Investigator Hinman, violence was a part of the allegations against the Duke Lacrosse team.
The alleged victim offered more in-depth information on the night of the rape in a second search warrant – a fact that has brought some criticism to her account.
The Women’s Center’s directors said that traumatized victims don’t always remember every detail when they first report a case of rape or an incident that is traumatic. The directors said it was possible the alleged victim could remember more about the night of March 13 later on, but that this didn’t necessarily mean she wasn’t telling the truth.
“[A victim is] not going to remember everything,” Weeden said. “Something may trigger something in her memory. There’s always stuff you are going to forget. It’s not because you want to leave it out, but it’s because you just went through a traumatic experience.”
Johnson did not speak specifically in the case of the alleged Duke rape, but instead spoke in general terms. She said she believes students need to come to awareness of rape across campus, not just when stories like this one are told.
Representatives from the Women’s Center said they believe the larger issue in the allegations against the lacrosse team is rape. Members of the Women’s Center are not the only ones to claim to feel that way.
Some students said they feel the more important issue – rape – is not being covered like the other issues the case involves. Vince Melvin, a senior in English, is one student who said he feels that the issue of sexual assault needs to be emphasized more.
“The point of the matter isn’t black or white; rape is rape. It’s not right either,” Melvin said. “You have to look at the bigger picture, regardless of what was said. People want to point the finger, ‘race this, race that,’ but the point is that something happened that didn’t have to happen.”
The racial implications and violence of sports
The alleged victim, according to a copyrighted article on March 25 in the The News and Observer by Samiha Khanna, reported to have heard racial slurs used the night of the alleged rape.
The accused men were white and the alleged victim was a black female. The men played lacrosse at a highly ranked school, the victim was a mother of two and went to NCCU. For students and faculty, this case has brought the issue of race to the surface.
Students said they feel the alleged rape has a lot to do with race, and the two days between when the alleged victim reported the incident and when the police searched the house adds to the racial issue.
“It’s unfortunate that we have to come across this situation. There was a racial factor,” Nancy Zagbayou, a senior in economics, said.
Zagbayou is not alone. Members of the campus community said they feel race plays a part. Fred Hord, the director of NCSU’s African American Cultural Center, said he thinks that the case is racial.
“I think it’s definitely – even if it turns out to be not true – racial,” Hord said.
Hord said racial tensions are a part of American history, and “black women raped with impunity by white men is an ongoing thing.”
“There’s a history that makes it racial. It’s hard to keep it from being racial,” Hord said, and added “it obviously has to do with sexism and the glorification of athletes.”
Hord said he believes in most cases athletes receive special privileges. Being a former athlete and running into athletic privilege as a teacher, Hord said athletes are excused easier than most students; they receive special – and unfair – treatment.
“The one question has to do with the role of sports at a Division-1 school,” Hord said. “There is a record of problems with student athletes, not just Duke.”
Hord was not the only one to note the violence of athletes, and the role it has played in the alleged raping and partying activities of the Duke Lacrosse team. Larry Gourdine, assistant director of health promotions at the Health Center, said he feels male bonding can become violent, especially when those males focus on brotherhood in sports of fraternities.
“Men generally bond around three different things – alcohol, sports or cars and women. Not all male bonding is bad, but when it becomes negative, that’s when it’s bad,” Gourdine said. “Coaches can create a more positive culture.”
Gourdine also believes race was an issue.
“The men were of white privilege, and they brought in an African-American female,” Gourdine said. “I don’t think they specifically thought of it, but it played a part.”
Although Gourdine said race plays a part in the lacrosse case, he does not feel the case is limited to any one issue.
“[In the Duke case] there was alcohol, male bonding, different economic status, different genders and different races,” Gourdine said. “[People] are trying to isolate it to ‘this is a race issue, this is a rape issue, this is a sport issue.’ It’s involves all of these issues.”
Students have said they believe if she was a white girl and black attackers the case would have been looked at sooner. Hord said he doesn’t think that is a “ridiculous” notion.
“For students who assert that, it isn’t a ridiculous point of view,” Hord said. “One could make that case. No one can say it was racial with absolute judgment.”
What happens now?
The incident is far from over. The consequences of the allegations will be felt – on the basis of race and in sports – even after the case is put to rest. The district attorney, Mike Nifong, spoke at a forum at NCCU on Tuesday. He said “this case is not going away.”
The reported crime is still just an allegation.