As always, one of the side effects of a disturbing event is a rush to over-simplify and exaggerate the situation. Alice Baumbarner's article completely ignores the normal interaction of Duke students, white and black, with residents of the community of all colors. Students -- some prominent athletes included -- volunteer in community centers, shop, teach classes and otherwise act responsibly in the community. Adn the University itself is a major financial and policy supporter of improvements in community life.

Tellingly, she cites Duke's 11% African-American population as somehow dificient because it's short of the 50-50 racial balance in Durham. She apparently is unaware that Duke is a national university and that its African-American student body closely represents the percentage of African-Americans in the nation.

If, in fact, the lacrosse team has gotten out of hand, the evidence will prove it out. Then let's pass judgement. And certainly the combination of elite athletes, heavy drinking and a place to party can be explosive -- in any university, in any part of the country. But to paint Duke as something out of "In the Heat of the Night" is an unjust oversimplification. Nice story line, Ms. Baumgarner, but you had to stretch too hard to make it work.

"The main point is that residents complain about rowdy parties etc., but many of their jobs are funded by the students."

In other words, "I pay your salary so I get to puke in your yard." Hmm... Not the social contract as I remember it.

the letter by Duke '06 Undergrad tells a lot about dook students in general. the undergrad is so full of himself and dook that he thinks a guy getting his house puked and pissed on should be thankful for the job the dookies so gratefully provided him. suppose if daddy's house up in new jersey was getting pissed and puked on by blacks from out of town? i guess he'd think "well, i guess they provide us with service jobs, so i'll let him trespass and piss on my house". right?

The situation at Duke wouldn't be a national story if it weren't emblematic of a national problem. Yes, there is racism, misogyny, class and athletic privilege involved here, but that's hardly national news. The news is that the lax team has been committing crimes for years and no one has held them accountable.

We have been watching for years as the top tenth of a percent have been taking most of the gains in national wealth by buying off politicians who we have reelected. Is it any wonder that the children of the wealthy and powerful think that they can get away with anything? These days there are two sets of rules - those for the ultrarich and those for everyone else. Duke is a shining symbol on a hill of the plantation society we are turning into.

If someone picks a house next to an airport and then complains about the noise, I really can't have that much sympathy. If someone picks a house next to a college campus known to be pushing parties off campus and known for rowdy parties, well then I can't really have that much sympathy for him either.

The disequilibrium isn't the students; it's the residents (concerning drinking and noise).

Clearly if the rape happened more than one person should spend a couple of years behind bars. But, that's not the same issue as loud parties and drinking.

I am a graduate student at Duke -- I was an undergrad at the University of Virginia -- whose wife got her Master's from NCCU. I wanted to respond to a few posts.

First, to the Duke undergrad: your tuition money is spare change compared to what Duke gets from other sources. See the Duke annual financial statement, particularly page 7.

http://www.yearinreview.duke.edu/statement/index.html

Tuition and fees brings in a little over $375M per year. Research grants and donations brings in nearly twice that. Money from the medical center brings in nearly twice as much as research. Your tuition -- as expensive as it is to you -- is small potatoes.

Second, I'm a married grad student, so I can't really speak to the party culture here. I can tell you that it seems downright subdued to what goes on at UVa. I grew up in Charlottesville, and Rugby Road (with most of the frat houses) is party central every weekend. The Kroger just down the road sells more alcohol every year than any other grocery store in the state of Virginia. I'm not making excuses for the stupid stuff that hard-partying students do -- it pissed me off at a "townie" in C'ville -- but to claim that this is somehow unique to Duke is naive. College is an insulating environment, and a lot of crimes at universities are more-or-less swept under the rug by the campus cops. This didn't happen here.

Third, it's true that Duke is predominantly white. But how does Duke rank compared to other institutions? First off, how about better than UNC? Yes, that's right, Duke has a larger percentage of minority students than UNC (although not by much). See

http://mcc.studentaffairs.duke.edu/demographics/index.html

and

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_North_Carolina_at_Chapel_Hill

for details. On top of that, in 2002 the Journal of Blacks in Higher Education found that "Duke University had the highest average diversity rating of the nation's most selective and academically prestigious universities". The full analysis -- the good and the bad, since it does note Duke's problems with race relations, past and current -- is here:

http://www.jbhe.com/features/36_leading_universities.html

The bottom line is that what (likely) happened was despicable and the criminals deserve to rot in a jail cell (after their trial) for years to come. But to portray Duke as some unique "whites only" club -- how many times are we going to hear that Duke is "only" 11.2% black? -- that doesn't care about our community and is an extreme case of what's wrong in America just doesn't hold water.

A significant portion of those grants are for medical research, which is closely linked with the hospital. Second, those funds are all earmarked.

The largest source of non-earmarked funds remains undergraduate tuition.