Duke Reinstates Lacrosse Team

June 5, 2006 — -- The Duke University men's lacrosse team has been reinstated to play next fall -- but nothing will ever be the same, according to university president Richard Brodhead.

The team will be held to stricter standards and more rigorous oversight, Brodhead said at a press conference Monday.

"I am, I know, taking something of a risk in reinstating men's lacrosse," Brodhead said. "On the other hand, if we do not allow these players the chance to take responsibility for creating a new history for their sport at Duke, we would be denying another fundamental value -- namely, the belief in the possibility of learning through experience."

On April 5, Brodhead suspended the men's lacrosse program and accepted the resignation of men's lacrosse coach Mike Pressler, after an exotic dancer hired to strip at a March 13 off-campus lacrosse party told police she was raped and beaten by three men at the party.

Three members of the men's lacrosse team have been charged with rape and kidnapping. All three have proclaimed their innocence.

"I decided that Duke should only resume men's lacrosse if we made a clear statement of conduct we expect of the players going forward; if the players made a commitment to live by these expectations; and if we had a strong oversight mechanism to monitor the situation," Brodhead said. "These conditions have now been met to my satisfaction."

Under the new guidelines, violations will include underage drinking, disorderly conduct and harassment. First offense penalties will include counseling and community service; second offenses will incur a three-game suspension; and third offenses will warrant season-long suspensions.

Brodhead said that the decision to reinstate the team could be reversed if the new standards are not maintained.

No Duke sports team has had its own standards of behavior before, although all teams are expected to adhere to a university athletic department code of ethical conduct.

One of five committees appointed by Brodhead to investigate the university's response to the rape allegations recommended last month that the team be allowed to play next season.

Last season, Pressler brought Duke's Blue Devils to the May 2005 national championship, where they lost to the Johns Hopkins University Blue Jays, 9-8.

Brodhead also announced that assistant coach Kevin Cassesse, 25, was named interim coach while the Duke's director of athletics conducts a nationwide search for a new coach. Cassesse is a former All-America Duke lacrosse player.

Brodhead also addressed the rape allegations, noting the crossfire of conflicting charges and denials.

"In the end ... none of us know for certain what did or did not happen at the March 13 party," he said."This much is certain -- rape is an abomination, and if the allegations in the indictments are proven true, these students will deserve severe punishment for a heinous act.

"If, however, it is determined that the allegations are false, then these students themselves will have been the victims of a serious injustice, one that will deserve its own stern condemnation,'' Brodhead said. "For now we must continue to take the matter seriously and suspend final judgement toward an uncertainty that only the courts can resolve.''