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NAACP Exec: Duke Should Investigate: State Leader Says President Needs to Act Even Amid DA's Work

Posted on: Wednesday, 5 April 2006, 06:00 CDT

By David Perlmutt, The Charlotte Observer, N.C.

Apr. 5--The head of the state NAACP on Tuesday called on Duke President Richard Brodhead to conduct his own investigation into the events that led to sexual assault allegations at an off-campus party for the Duke lacrosse team last month.

The Rev. William Barber, speaking at Duke Divinity School, also said his office will monitor the investigation by Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong and has asked for a meeting with Nifong.

"We must monitor the legal process to ensure justice is carried out in this investigation without special privilege or treatment to anyone," Barber said in a prepared speech for the annual Martin Luther King Series on the 38th anniversary of King's assassination.

The allegations stem from a party that began March 13 where a black woman hired to dance said she was raped and sodomized by three white men in a bathroom at the party. The woman, a single mother and student at nearby N.C. Central University, told authorities that she and another woman had been hired through an escort service to dance for a small party, but when they arrived it appeared the whole team was there.

She left after some of the men hurled racial slurs, but was coaxed back inside.

Under a judge's order, all but one of the 47 team members submitted DNA samples. Nifong has said he doesn't expect results, or charges, until next week.

The players have adamantly denied the sexual assault.

Brodhead suspended the team's season until the DA's investigation is complete.

The president and his chief spokesman, John Burness, couldn't be reached Tuesday. But Brodhead has told reporters he won't conduct his own investigation until Durham authorities finish their probe.

The campus Chronicle newspaper reported that Brodhead told two student groups he's concerned he might interfere with the DA's investigation by conducting his own.

Barber, who leads the N.C. National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said he shouldn't wait.

"A complete profile of the team should be developed for President Brodhead," Barber said. "He should know who was at the party. Who was violating Duke's (honor) code that night? How many times had they violated the law or Duke's code before?

"These and many other facts should be readily available to the president."

Barber also denounced any code of silence on the allegations and urged compassion for the reported victim. He said that rights for both sides need to be protected, calling for "no shortcuts to justice."

Barber praised Brodhead, the school's president since 2004, for his handling of the "monumentally difficult situation, without bias."

Late last week, Brodhead convened a meeting of Durham and N.C. Central officials, including N.C. Central Chancellor James Ammons and Durham Mayor Bill Bell.

"He's been reaching out," Bell said.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Charlotte Observer, N.C.

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Source: The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, N.C.)

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