Duke Lacrosse Team Had a Reputation for Swagger
DURHAM N.C.
There is a saying at Duke University that there is only one real fraternity on campus: LAX, shorthand for lacrosse.
Long before the university was rocked by allegations that lacrosse players raped and choked a stripper during an off-campus party March 14, Duke’s highly ranked team had a reputation for swagger and a powerful sense of entitlement.
Now administrators are starting to wonder whether they put up with it for too long.
“Taken as a group, is there a special history of bad behavior with this team?” Duke President Richard H. Brodhead asked Wednesday in announcing the resignation of the team’s head coach, the cancellation of the rest of the season and the opening of an internal investigation.
Even before the scandal, the nearly all-White team had come to personify an arrogant elite on this privileged campus. Nearly a third of the team’s 47 members have been charged in recent years with offenses such as disorderly conduct and public urination.
