Duke case spurs US colleges to clean up campus culture

While the case is over for the former lacrosse players, it has prompted soul-searching at many colleges and refining of student policies.

from the April 13, 2007 edition

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However, since the case came to the fore last spring, colleges have been instituting or hurrying planned changes to address the problems of an athletics-dominated college atmosphere where even Division III schools are relying on fine-tuned squads to draw recruits and prestige.

They've been helped in their efforts by United Educators Insurance (UEI), a 1,200 member college consortium, which has held several conferences to bring college officials up to speed on the changing nature of colleges' liability for off-campus incidents.

"The Duke situation does reinforce the importance of not presuming a student is guilty, but, while tragic for the individuals involved, it has also had the important effect of causing universities to rethink the role athletes play and the rules that govern conduct," says Karen-Ann Broe, a risk analyst at UEI.

The University of Texas and University of Georgia have begun acting faster to suspend athletes for off-the-field incidents involving beer and marijuana. The University of Alabama has tightened conduct policies for athletes and changed contracts for coaches so they are more responsible for the actions of players. And at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., last year a women's soccer coach was fired after pictures of a hazing ritual were posted on a social- networking website.

NCAA athletic conferences have hired teams of sexual violence counselors to hold special seminars for athletes. But more colleges are also putting big-name New York image consultants on retainer to prepare for a possible scandal.

At Duke, a new $30-million volunteer service program called DukeEngage pays for students to go out in the "real world" and help people. Though unconnected to the case, the school sped up the February announcement of the program. More quietly, the university is fixing up and selling off 12 off-campus homes it rented to students – including the one where the lacrosse players held their now infamous party.

One recommendation is to limit the amount of time faculty spend on committees so they can spend more time with students. But bridging that gap won't be easy since most university budgets are driven by projects that typically involve professors leading teams of graduate students, not freshmen. Other suggestions will be presented to the Duke trustees this fall, including a proposal to create a 400-seat campus drinking area.

There's evidence that Duke's soul-searching had an impact on the campus. Judicial procedures on campus dropped by 85 percent after the case. And though applications were down 20 percent early in the year, the year-end total of around 20,000 was only 1 percent behind last year's crop – including a record number from African-Americans.

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