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Monday, June 05, 2006

From Today's Duke University News Conference



'The Duke University men's lacrosse team will resume play next fall under a strict code of conduct and tighter oversight by administrators, President Richard Brodhead said Monday.

"I am, I know, taking something of a risk in reinstating men's lacrosse," Brodhead said at a press conference announcing the move. "On the other hand, if we did not allow these players the chance to take responsibility for creating a new history for their sport at Duke, we would be denying another fundamental value -- namely, the belief in the possibility of learning through experience."


...A committee studying campus culture, including the use of alcohol by students, is expected to make recommendations in the fall, including possible changes to the student code of conduct and judicial process, he said.

"You don't change a culture by means of regulation and punishment," he said. "To make the changes we need, Duke needs to find ways to promote its values in a positive fashion and to create an atmosphere where students have frequent opportunity to reflect on the meaning of the choices they make and to internalize an ethic of responsibility and mutual respect."'


UD's all for this. Duke is right to reinstate the game.

The main thing Duke's president conveyed was the new direct responsibility he'll take for sports generally at the university, and the new code of conduct all the lacrosse guys have signed on to.




But there's "campus culture," with its astounding and basically tolerated alcohol consumption, and there's Duke's effort to promote "its values," which I guess means the values the administration and faculty hold. My sense is that at Duke, as at a lot of other campuses, the larger "values" world looks the other way while students are at play. That averting of the eyes sends its own signal, of course; and it will be difficult, after all this time, for universities to adjust their focus.