As the scope of the Duke lacrosse controversy broadens to include the character of collegiate lacrosse programs and athletics in general, Tufts lacrosse coach Mike Daly took the opportunity to raise the issue with his players in an informal discussion a week ago.
Daly told his players that because college lacrosse is under a spotlight, they should be aware of how their actions are perceived on campus.
"We have addressed the issue with our team, but we are always communicating with our guys the importance of making good decisions," Daly said in an e-mail to the Daily. "I am very biased about our guys. I think the world of them, but they are not perfect. We are always concerned about our character and how we act as a program to represent ourselves, our university, and our sport."
On Monday, the Duke case took its latest twist when the team's defense attorneys announced that the DNA tests from the swabs taken from 46 lacrosse players were all negative. The attorneys claim that the results should exonerate the players from all rape allegations.
District Attorney Mike Nifong, however, responded that he still believes a sexual assault took place and promised that the investigation will continue.
The alleged victim, a 27-year-old black mother and student at a local college in Raleigh, accused three members of the team of raping her at a Mar. 13 party where she was hired as an exotic dancer. During a search of the house, police discovered four artificial fingernails, a cell phone and cash, all of which were consistent with the alleged victim's account.
Since the scandal broke, the team's season was cancelled, the police discovered and released vulgar e-mails sent between players after the party, and head coach Mike Pressler resigned.
The players' guilt or innocence has yet to be determined, but the lacrosse team's perceived culture of bad behavior is what has made the allegations seem like a foregone conclusion and has prompted Duke University to launch an investigation into the players' records of behavior at Duke.
"Whether a rape was committed or not, there's a deeper underlying problem that has been exposed," said Jeff Benedict, an investigative journalist and lawyer who has published several books on sports and sexual violence. "The important question is whether Duke and other schools and other athletic departments will take progressive steps to address these kinds of attitudes."
One response in the media has been to pinpoint lacrosse itself as a factor in this situation. An Apr. 2 New York Times article questioned if "lacrosse, said to be the fastest-growing collegiate men's sport" was "becoming another athletic sanctuary of male entitlement, football for the more affluent?"
Other media coverage has suggested that the violent, aggressive nature of lacrosse and the elite Northeast boarding-school backgrounds of many players may have played roles in this characterization.
But Benedict does not believe that lacrosse has any inherent tendencies toward violence.
"I don't believe that sports per se are a cause for why men are abusive towards women," Benedict said. "It has very little to do with football, lacrosse or hockey being aggressive, violent sports. Fact of the matter is there are lots of men and boys who play those games and who are never aggressive or abusive to women."
Tufts Athletic Director Bill Gehling agreed that blaming lacrosse as a sport is not a fair response.
"I think we need to be very careful about generalizing about any group on the basis of an incidence like this," Gehling said. "I don't [subscribe] to the belief that this event is indicative to lacrosse players in general, and it doesn't reflect what I see in the lacrosse players at Tufts."
Daly added that the lacrosse players at Tufts have diverse backgrounds that make them impossible to pigeonhole.
"We have 43 players and they come from all different parts of the country, have different interests, religions, skin colors, SAT scores, etc.," Daly wrote. "It is impossible to come up with a singular description of our team, never mind a lacrosse player."
"It's tough because [lacrosse] is a growing sport, and the majority of the country is hearing about this incident, and this one incident," said senior Billy Granger, a co-captain of the Tufts lacrosse team. "There are a lot of lacrosse players who are doing lots for their communities. But you don't hear about those kids doing the good things, you only hear the bad things."
According to Benedict, because the situation involving Duke is a high-profile case that is receiving "saturation coverage" by the media, it may inspire more dialogue about violence towards women on college campuses.
"The upside is that more people focus on an issue that needs more attention," Benedict said. "Not that Duke has players that are out of control, but that there are a lot of men on college campuses that have warped views on women and what is appropriate on how you treat them. It's a big problem in this country, and a case like this helps us focus on larger problems."
Violence against women, in addition to responsible-decision making, was a topic in Daly's discussion with the Tufts players when he addressed the team about the allegations.
"I reminded the players that we recruit people with character and people committed to excellence," Daly wrote. "I reminded the players of how egregious we feel charges of disrespect to women are. We mainly challenged them to make good decisions, put themselves in safe situations and be accountable to these decisions."
