Duke, players reach financial settlement

[Joanne98]

http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070619/REPOSITORY/706190348/1013/NEWS03
uke University said yesterday that it has reached an undisclosed financial settlement with three former lacrosse team players falsely accused of raping an exotic dancer.

David Evans, Collin Finnerty and Reade Seligmann were indicted on charges of rape, kidnapping and sexual offense after the woman told the police she was attacked at a March 2006 team party. Evans, a senior, graduated the day before he was indicted. Finnerty and Seligmann, who were sophomores, were suspended. The school in Durham, N.C., also canceled the remainder of the team's games that season and forced the coach to resign.

All three players proclaimed their innocence from the start.

"We welcomed their exoneration and deeply regret the difficult year they and their families have had to endure," Duke's board of trustees and its president, Richard Brodhead, said in a statement.

"They conducted themselves with great dignity during their long ordeal.

The families of the former lacrosse players are estimated to have spent more than $3 million in legal fees. Defense lawyers have said they are considering filing civil suits against Nifong.
"We were drawn to Duke because of its sense of community," Evans, Finnerty and Seligmann said in a statement released yesterday. "The events of the last year tore the Duke community apart, and forcibly separated us from the University we love. . . . Throughout our ordeal, however, we never forgot the lessons we learned, both on and off the field, about character, integrity, and honor."

In the future, they said, they hope to work with the university to develop initiatives that would "prevent similar injustices and ensure that the lessons of the last year are never forgotten."

------ End of article

By JENNY

[youngdem]

1. So, are they gonna rehire the coach they fired who didn't do anything?

Seems that is in order. I'm sure he got a settlement going out, but the facts have changed so much, I wonder if he isn't in line for a few bucks from Duke for the overreaction and wrong conclusion.

[RaleighNCDUer]

2. "...develop initiatives that would "prevent similar injustices..."

How about Duke starting with making it a suspension offense for fraternaties and other student groups to hold keggers and hire strippers.

it all started with underage drinking...

[Joanne98]

3. Not! The little people need to strip to pay their tutition!

[Solo_in_MD]

4. Other statements inidcate that the settlement covers the Gang of 88

also that the settlements are in the 7 figures.

Whether the current President survives is still in doubt