Presumed Guilty (page 7 of 7)

Hysteria and Tears

At 4:30 p.m. Mike Pressler called his team together. “Guys, our darkest hour has come,” he began. The lacrosse season was over. The players’ dream of winning a national championship—of triumphing over adversity—was dead. Their coach was resigning, effective immediately.

Hysteria filled the packed meeting room. There were tears. Screams. Kids holding their heads in their hands as if in physical agony. The coach’s tears flowed too. He spoke for 40 minutes.

Outside, the media waited. Sensing that something was up as the lacrosse players came crying into the parking lot, the journalists began rushing over.

Faculty extremists would apply the body blow. The April 6 Chronicle featured a full-page ad signed by 88 Duke faculty members. Asking “What does a social disaster look like?” the signatories stated without qualification that something had “happened to this young woman [Mangum].” They based their judgment on the DA’s uncorroborated allegations.

Meanwhile, Coach Pressler would have a hug and affectionate words for each team member. “Fellas,” he told the guys that afternoon, “you are not responsible for this. In the right time and venue, I will tell our story so that the world can hear the truth.” Fortunately that day would finally arrive.

In June 2007 a disciplinary panel of the North Carolina bar stripped DA Mike Nifong of his law license after ruling that he had engaged in “dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation.” That same month, Duke announced an out-of-court settlement with Coach Pressler and with lacrosse players Dave Evans, Collin Finnerty and Reade Seligmann.

Mike Pressler now coaches at Bryant University in Rhode Island. Dave Evans works on Wall Street after graduating from Duke in 2006. Reade Seligmann transferred to Brown University, while Collin Finnerty transferred to Loyola College in Maryland.

Which professors signed the damning document that was published in The Chronicle? What were the media headlines that indicted the team in spite of the evidence? What did DA Mike Nifong say that got him disbarred? Read The Duke Lacrosse Rape Case for more.

From Reader's Digest - September 2007

 

• • Breakthroughs
• • Generation Y
• • Unbelievable
• • Cracking Cases

• The Duke Lacrosse Rape Case
• Which professors signed the damning document that was published in The Chronicle? What were the media headlines that indicted the team in spite of the evidence? What did DA Mike Nifong say that got him disbarred? Find out here.
• 
• Binge Drinking on Campus
• The hidden epidemic of social drinking at campuses across the country.
• 
• Teens Having No-Strings Sex
• Teen girls are buying into the sleaze we're selling.
• 
• Let's Put the Heat on Campus Cheats
• The scandal of college cheating.
• 

• Be Inspired
• 10 Celebrities Who Give Back
• 7 Amazing Stories, $700,000 to Charity
• Virginia Cervasio: Making It Matter
• PLUS:
• Quiz: What's Your Celebrity Cause IQ?