Faithful readers know that UD doesn’t do child porn profs. Too many. And what’s it tell you about universities? Nothing.
I mean, if a university, like Cambridge University, which has a convicted, way twisted child porn prof on its faculty, does nothing, then UD will cover it. That’s what you call a scandal.
But generally, for libertarianesque UD, a sex on campus story has to be really something for her to provide coverage.
A faculty member and high-ranking administrator accused of selling his five year old son [UD thanks Jason for the fresh link] into sexual slavery makes the cut. A university which still hasn’t taken down this person’s webpage makes the cut. The irony of a man who teaches a course in the American health system and who may also have been involved in the total destruction of the health of his child makes the cut.
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UD thanks The Professor for the link.
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What? You’re looking for words of wisdom? I ain’t got no stinkin’ words of wisdom.
No way can a university know it’s harboring evil. If the man were overtly psycho, Duke would’ve been on it. But he’s obviously functional. So you can’t go after Duke, unless they fail to respond quickly and intelligently to the debacle.
This will be a big story. The child was adopted, and this is the ultimate nightmare of adoption agencies, so expect some discussion about parent selection standards. Otherwise, assuming that no one warned Duke about this person, and that there were no clues about him available to the university, I wouldn’t expect this to become a Duke story.
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Update: Lombard’s Duke page has now been taken down.
June 27th, 2009 at 5:01PM
Your News and Observer link is dead; here’s an AP account.
I don’t agree with you that Duke should pull his web page now, for the same reason they shouldn’t fire him now: he has not been convicted yet. I doubt he’s innocent, but he’s entitled to at least the formal presumption of innocence. (My guess is that the Duke faculty manual requires this sort of due process, too.) Right now, they’re doing exactly the right thing: putting him on administrative leave until the trial. After he’s convicted, then they can pull the web page.
June 27th, 2009 at 5:50PM
Many thanks for the new link, Jason. I’ll fix that in the post.
You may well be right; but I’d be surprised if such a faculty rule existed. The University of Georgia pulled the triple homicide guy’s page real quick, and he never even went to trial.
I understand the presumption of innocence, but this guy has already admitted to most of the crime, and to a history of sexual abuse of at least one of his children. It’s hard to deny it when the technology nails it so firmly.
June 30th, 2009 at 3:01PM
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