Yes, Crystal Mangum has admitted to her false accusation against the Duke Lacrosse players. Nearly 20 years after the infamous incident, she now acknowledges that she lied and is asking for forgiveness from the three players she falsely accused. Mangum is currently serving a prison sentence after being convicted of murdering her boyfriend. You can’t make this up—the woman once universally believed to be telling the truth is now revealed as both a liar and a convicted murderer.
An article covering her recent confession details her admission of guilt and mentions the eventual disbarment of the prosecuting attorney. However, it conspicuously omits the consistent and overwhelming support Mangum received from the Duke administration, faculty, student body, police, media, and general public at the time. For men's advocates, it was surreal and frustrating to watch as this dishonest woman was enveloped in a flood of gynocentrism and public sympathy, while the Duke Lacrosse players were demonized.
I want to highlight what the article fails to mention. While it recounts Mangum’s confession, it neglects to discuss a number of things, including the repeated student and faculty protests staged in front of the Lacrosse players' home. Photographs from the time capture these protests but can’t convey the deafening chants and relentless drumbeats. Among the many hateful messages shouted that day was: "Castrate!" The intensity and hostility of those protests remain etched in memory, a sobering reminder of how powerful gynocentrism is in manipulating public sentiment.
The crowds that gathered outside of their home were comprised of students and faculty. The assumption by these people was obviously that the young men were guilty. Simply due to the woman's accusation.
Here's an ad that was taken out that calls on people to come forward and tell the truth! In other words these players must be lying and withholding the truth. Here’s the ad with all of the player’s pictures.
This is a shot of the house that was taken before it was torn down. I had been traveling through North Carolina and couldn't' resist stopping by the original site of this disaster. It was empty at the time but still seemed to emanate a strange vibe. Hard to imagine the emotional pain these young men went through. All were top notch athletes who competed to be a part of one of the nation’s top college lacrosse teams only to be buried in false accusations and hatred from nearly everyone around them. Not to mention a promising season cancelled and down the drain due to Mangum’s lies.
Of course Newsweek got into the fray. What do you think is implied from this cover?
One dreadful event was the act of 88 Duke faculty who became known as the "Gang of 88." They took out an ad in the student newspaper that at least implied that the three lacrosse players were guilty. You can see the ad below and if the print is too small you can go here. It is a monument to relational aggression. Implying things with built-in easy deniability. As can be expected with relational aggression they later denied that it was pointed towards the lacrosse player's guilt and in fact even after the boys were exonerated this group of 88 maintained their innocence.
Just for the record, as a final note, let's name names. Below are the names of the Gang of 88 and their department affiliation.
Never let them forget how wrong and misandrist they were:
Abe, Stan (Art, Art History, and Visual Studies)
Albers, Benjamin (University Writing Program)Allison, Anne (Cultural Anthropology)
Aravamudan, Srinivas (English)
Baker, Houston (English and AAAS)
Baker, Lee (Cultural Anthropology)
Beckwith, Sarah (English)
Berliner, Paul (Music)
Christina Beaule (University Writing Program)
Blackmore, Connie (AAAS)
Jessica Boa (Religion & University Writing Program)
Boatwright, Mary T. (Classical Studies)
Boero, Silvia (Romance Studies)
Bonilla-Silva, Eduardo (Sociology)
Brim, Matthew (University Writing Program)
Chafe, William (History)
Ching, Leo (Asian & African Languages and Literatures)
Coles, Rom (Political Science)
Cooke, Miriam (Asian & African Languages and Literatures)
Crichlow, Michaeline (AAAS)
Curtis, Kim (Political Science)
Damasceno, Leslie (Romance Studies)
Davidson, Cathy (English)
Deutsch, Sally (History)
Dorfman, Ariel (Literature & Latin American Stds.)
Edwards, Laura (History)
Farred, Grant (Literature)
Fellini, Luciana (Romance Studies)
Fulkerson, Mary McClintock (Divinity School)
Gabara, Esther (Romance Studies)
Gavins, Raymond (History)
Greer, Meg (Romance Studies)
Glymph, Thavolia (History)
Hardt, Michael (Literature)
Harris, Joseph (University Writing Program)
Holloway, Karla (English)
Holsey, Bayo (AAAS)
Hovsepian, Mary (Sociology)
James, Sherman (Public Policy)
Kaplan, Alice (Literature)
Khalsa, Keval Kaur (Dance Program)
Khanna, Ranjana (English)
King, Ashley (Romance Studies)
Koonz, Claudia (History)
Lasch, Peter (Art, Art History, and Visual Studies & Latino/a Studies)
Lee, Dan A. (Math)
Leighten, Pat (Art, Art History, and Visual Studies)
Lentricchia, Frank (Literature)
Light, Caroline (Inst. for Crit. U.S. Stds.)
Litle, Marcy (Comparative Area Studies)
Litzinger, Ralph (Cultural Anthropology)
Longino, Michele (Romance Studies)
Lubiano, Wahneema (AAAS and Literature)
Maffitt, Kenneth(History)
Mahn, Jason (University Writing Program)
Makhulu, Anne-Maria (AAAS)
Mason, Lisa (Surgical Unit-2100)
McClain, Paula (Political Science)
Meintjes, Louise (Music)
Mignolo, Walter (Literature and Romance Studies)
Moreiras, Alberto (Romance Studies)
Neal, Mark Anthony (AAAS)
Nelson, Diane (Cultural Anthropology)
Olcott, Jolie (History)
Parades, Liliana (Romance Studies)
Payne, Charles (AAAS and History)
Pierce-Baker, Charlotte (Women’s Studies)
Pebles-Wilkins, Wilma Petters, Arlie (Math)
Plesser, Ronen (Physics)
Radway, Jan (Literature)
Rankin, Tom (Center for Documentary Studies)
Rego, Marcia (University Writing Program)
Reisinger, Deborah S. (Romance Studies)
Rosenberg, Alex (Philosophy)
Rudy, Kathy (Women’s Studies)
Schachter, Marc (English)
Shannon, Laurie (English)
Sigal, Pete (History)
Silverblatt, Irene (Cultural Anthropology)
Somerset, Fiona (English)
Stein, Rebecca (Cultural Anthropology)
Thorne, Susan (History)
Viego, Antonio (Literature)
Vilaros, Teresa (Romance Studies)
Wald, Priscilla (English)
Wallace, Maurice (English and AAAS)
Wong, David (Philosophy)
Did Duke learn anything from this? Years later: