Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

Duke suspends mens lacrosse team from play amid rape allegations Aaron Beard THE ASSOCIATED PRESS DURHAM, N.C. — Duke University’s highly ranked lacrosse team will not play again this season until school administrators learn more about allegations that several team members raped an exotic dancer at an off campus party, the school said Tuesday. President ; Richard Brodhead decided to suspend the team from play “until there is a clearer resolution of the legal situation involving team members,” the university said. The case has roiled the campus; raised racial tensions and heightened antagonism between the affluent students at Duke, which costs about $43,000 a year, and the city of Durham, which has a large population of poor people and is about evenly divided between white and black. A woman told police she and another dancer were hired to perform March 13 at a private party in an off campus home. The dancer, a student at North Carolina Central University, told police she was pulled into a bathroom, beaten, choked and raped by three men. No one has been charged. Armed with a judge’s order, police took DNA samples with a cheek swab from 46 of the lacrosse team’s 47 players last week. The 47 th player, the only black member of the team, did not have to provide DNA because the dancer said her attackers were white. “I needed to have the information about who will be charged,” said District Attorney Mike Nifong said. “I feel pretty confident that a rape occurred.” * Brodhead said team captains notified Athletic Director Joe Alieva on Tuesday that players wanted to stay off the field until the DNA results came back from a crime lab. In a statement, the captains predicted the DNA testing would clear the players of wrongdoing. Brodhead said it was his decision to expand the suspension. “In this painful period of uncertainty, it is clear to me, as it was to the players, that it would be inappropriate to resume the normal schedule of play,” Brodhead said. Nifong said the team members are standing together and refusing to talk with investigators, and he warned he may bring aiding-and-abetting charges against some of the players. The alleged victim is black, which has proved a source of tension on campus. “The circumstances of the rape indicated a deep racial motivation for some of the things that were done,” Nifong said. “It makes a crime that is by its nature one of the most offensive and invasive even more so.” Angry over the team members’ silence and the university’s handling of the case, Durham residents have demonstrated on and off campus in the past few days. They rallied outside the house where the alleged attack occurred, and gathered outside of Duke Provost Peter Lange’s home, where they banged on pots and pans until he emerged to answer questions. Lange said Monday that he believes “the students would be well-advised to come forward. They have chosen not to.” PLRVIRRTE • COOTinUCDPROilll caused extreme pain in her fingers, and she went back to her doctor. “When I got to the doctor, he said the pain in your hand is neuropathy - severe nerve damage,” Armstrong said. “This is when I went through the five-year roller coaster ride.” Armstrong said she decided to live her life to the fullest and tried every drug she could, excluding heroin only because she didn’t like needles. “After dumping all this alcohol and drugs into an already suppressed immune system, I got really sick,” Armstrong said. “I had two brain infections. One was severe meningitis and the other they couldn’t figure out what it was. I had eight spinal taps in four days.” Seeking support, Armstrong said she started \ seeking out gay men who were infected. “I made a whole new batch of friends, some I confided in and some confided in me,” Armstrong said. “And then the first one died. I remember the call: ‘You need to come over and say goodbye.’ I was like, say goodbye? Where are you going? Then I realized; I had to go over and say goodbye.” At one point, Armstrong was placed in a psychiatric ward after she took excessive painkillers with tequila and ran her car into a brick wall. “I was begging them to please let me die. I remember that,” Armstrong said. “So, can’t I just take those drugs like Magic Johnson did? Sure I’ve lived 15 years longer than they said I had, but some of those were extremely painful, so I encourage you to re-think your actions.” Armstrong said abstinence was the only guaranteed way to avoid infection, but took what she felt was a more realistic approach. “If you have sex without a condom you are saying that that sex is worth dying for,” Armstrong said. Third-year biology student Brian Jones said he learned a lot from Armstrong. “She was different,” Jones said. “I think it was more on our level. I liked it and learned a lot of good things.” Comments on this story? E-mail gamecocknews@gwm.sc. edu hhh • uummutiuKKumi students who already had their minds made up on the issue would attend. “This week is to promote the awareness of homophobia, not to change someone’s mind,” said Cale Bonner, a second-year biology student. Windmeyer will speak Monday, April TO, in the Russell House Ballroom on homophobia and issues related to sexual minorities in Greek life. The RHA senate also passed a financial allocation for $2,000 for “Finals Freakout,” which will be held on Greene Street April 19. There will be a DJ, food, an oxygen bar and A $1,864 financial allocation was passed to send six delegates to the National Association of College and University Residence Halls conference that will be held in June at the University of California at Berkeley. The RHA Spring Charity Ball is nine days away, and about 157 tickets have been sold. RHA is working on providing transportation for those who will be attending. Comments on this story? E-mail gamecocknews@gwm.sc. edu Call Madge Davis, VP at Team Oana at (803) 343-3343 to apply for their internship program. Team Oana Investment Advisors * 3142 Carlisle Street $100 back! Receive $100 back through Kaplan’s Rebate when you enroll in a Kaplan course in March: Take advantage of this limited-time offer. Enroll today. 1-800-KAP-TEST | kaptest.com/rebate HIGHER TEST SCORES GUARANTEED OR YOUR MONEY BACK" s(jp»Miajr*»ag1T»ir»V«aSamtoomw*takan«x3 carr*B*o r*Ur*«iSt*M v«CirL« t™«*oSw *****«**y n«nra»n«ftforKj*wMPapm:A*wwraaHK<oomCaunn !Sv»-;««mi«MftN*Tui«**Pw9«<».a*PmmM«iOnlin*Cauraaa*ftiS0 UN* Sd*n anaatod o» Gft*d». a* to Uortn* CMws Vmnvm Mwodan. Caftan a* VldoN. Can** Caan* 6* amtxnmC Nh any odar oft* damn orpromtAor 1aMalv*». YOwimNanrNNNaanttatft ’ ROWaNiiftrtMT 2036 Ca>*ocrjwmwiWft $*>a*»dtt*<Mmfc*co*N** *Mi town to*ftfta ft fc*mt coniNbaft or it Kapfto c**ftd _I_. I W I - - mtoi IlffllMia Mm m