Duke free-falling from grace

0 Comments | Philadelphia Inquirer, The, May, 2006 | by Stephen A. Smith

I never believed the day would come when we'd see an educational institution so flagrantly stupid, so selfish, so conspicuously aloof. Evidently it's Duke, supposedly one of America's more honorable institutions of higher learning.

A few days before losing in the NCAA Division I women's lacrosse semifinals on Friday, members of the Blue Devils team told the world they would wear wristbands with the word innocent emblazoned on them during the game, in support of three Duke men's lacrosse players indicted on rape charges stemming from a March 13 team party.

These 18-, 19- and 20-year-old women evidently were either ignorant or insensitive to the fact that there were 94,635 rapes in the country in 2004, according to the FBI. Or they weren't aware that rape is one of...