Epiphany: Crowley Atones
On November 13th, the Durham Herpetic Scum published this ignorant drivel from Duke earth sciences professor, Thomas Crowley. The piece, and its writer, were immediately, and justifiably, assailed throughout the blogosphere. The outpouring of derision was so voluminous, in fact, that Liestoppers was moved to give the good professor his very own spacious cubicle of infamy, entitled "Crowley's Box of Rocks," found about half way down the right margin of their homepage.
Today, the Herpetic Scum published the following letter from Professor Crowley, entitled Lacrosse Retraction, which states, in its entirety, as follows:
On Nov. 13, The Herald-Sun published an "Other Voices" piece by me concerning the Duke lacrosse case. I have subsequently been informed of errors in that letter. In particular my blanket statement about behavior of the lacrosse team was neither fair in general nor applicable to the particular case now in dispute. I apologize for this and any other errors.
The response to my letter has made me more aware of the intense emotions that are associated with this case. These tensions can only be bad for campus-community relations, and I strongly support any efforts to reduce them. Finally, I sincerely hope that lessons learned from the lacrosse case will be applied to future cases in order to lift the standards of justice for all in Durham County.
The writer is a professor at Duke University.
THOMAS J. CROWLEY
Durham
December 1, 2006
It is important that Professor Crowley's atonement be memorialized here, considering both that, upon very good information and belief, the Herpetic Scum has had it in its possession since the day after Thanksgiving, and that it will almost assuredly be deleted from public view upon the Rag's own pages in the very near term.
Professor Crowley, you are to be commended, Sir. I trust that your turkey, or crow, tasted simply delectable last Thursday. Cleansing one's conscience has that effect. It takes an open mind to hear. It takes courage to stand up and publicly admit that you were wrong. It takes strength of character to fight the powerful forces of injustice. It takes integrity and humility and a teacher's soul to painfully volunteer your conversion to your student charges as a guiding example of what education truly means. If only Duke's president and "culturally" retarded faculty possessed the same.
posted by August West at 8:07 AM
9 Comments:
Extraordinarily powerful truths Mike. Thank you.
Professor Crowley is to be commended for eating crow and showing real integrity.
Further proof of the collapse of the Hoax. Congrats Prof. Crowley
Like the picture a lot.
Crowley's epiphany appears based on the "new information" he received from feedback to his initial loopy letter. Good for him, I say.
However, to paraphrase my position when I'm wrong - "He wasn't wrong, he just didn't have enough information" when he wrote the 11/14 letter - lol
So, it is mind boggggggling to fathom the 'information filters' in academia today that would have prevented such 'information gathering'
Bravo Mr Crowley - the "A" on your final exam gets you a passing grade on your poorly researched mid-term paper.
TW
Crowley's op-ed included a defamatory fact statement that was libellous if untrue. I'm referring to his allegation that the lax players "had a previous history ... tarnished with racial comments." He offered no support for it in the op-ed, and it's contrary to relevant findings in the Coleman committee's report. The publication of the retraction cut his risk of being nicked for punitive damages, so methinks it's more a matter of prudence than courage.
Crowley knows the end is near and ALL of those who played a role in the lies, slander and corruption will have to pay the price. He is just covering his butt at this point. Sorry to little to late. He should have thought about what he was saying before he publically spoke out against the lacrosse players in general and the 3 falsely accused. He just wants to do some damage control before massive lawsuits are filed.
I think Crowley retracted his statement for fear of a law suit. I would love to know why he felt compled to enter into the fray with no knowledge or research.
At this point I think any retractions or "I'm sorry" from anybody should be ferociously rejected. Screw these bas_ards. They all got behind what is almost the most despicable thing you can do a human being, falsely accuse. The price the Duke kids could pay(but won't) is imprisonment for 30 years, and you think that "I'm sorry" would even get you in the door? Screw you buddy! There is a special place in hell for Crowley and all of them. When the score is settled these Precious supporters won't know what hit them. Crowley positioned himself for some reason as the spokesmen for the "truth" and gave false information as fact. He helped fuel the rage in some of the uninformed biased parts of Duke and the community, and should not be congratulated for his wimpy
"I'm sorry" routine. Screw 'em
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