New season begins for Duke lacrosse

It was the first time in memory that all of Duke University's student athletes - including members of its embattled lacrosse team - gathered under one roof, within the Gothic stone walls of the Durham, N.C., school's legendary basketball stadium.

For a nationally ranked lacrosse team whose season was suspended last spring following an exotic dancer's accusations that she was raped by three players at a rowdy off-campus team party, the Sept. 11 pep rally was a welcome diversion, said the lacrosse team's co-captain, Ed Douglas, 22, of Baltimore.

"Out of that grew a lot of camaraderie" between the lacrosse program and other Duke teams, said Douglas, one of 41 players on the team that includes 10 from Long Island. The new coach, John Danowski, is the former Hofstra University head lacrosse coach.

After months of bad publicity about the team - and by extension the school itself - Douglas said players emerged with a feeling of "being proud to be a student athlete, and being proud to represent Duke in a public way."

Continuing criticism

But the unusual athletes-only rally outraged a number of people on the campus, saying it again raised questions about the lacrosse program that first surfaced in the wake of the highly publicized rape accusations.

This weekend, as the lacrosse team prepares for a new season - starting with exhibition games yesterday at Molloy College in Rockville Centre - the controversy continues.

Critics said the Cameron Indoor Stadium rally, which in part was meant to honor two former Duke athletes who died at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, demonstrated that the school's sports establishment still doesn't understand many students' reactions to the rape accusations. After the arrests, many students said team members had long been out of control and, because of their success nationally, were coddled - elite players on an elite team.

The self-congratulatory tone of the rally shows that the athletic department and its supporters "have stubbornly refused to learn the lessons of these last months," Orin Starn, a Duke professor of cultural anthropology, wrote in an opinion piece in a Durham newspaper about a week after the rally that sparked a flurry of mixed reactions.

"An arrogant sense of victimization and entitlement seems to have replaced any semblance of clear thinking or self-reflection in Duke sports circles," wrote Starn, who could not be reached for comment.

But the critics have it wrong, Douglas and Danowski said in interviews.

Past rowdy behavior, underage drinking at parties and the team's hiring of strippers for the March 13 party were wrong, but a new code of conduct - written by the team itself - will help prevent problems, Douglas said.

The code calls for suspending players from the team for a range of infractions, including hazing, providing alcohol to younger  members, harassment, violence and other crimes. Members must report code violations by any player within 24 hours or face immediate suspension.

The three accused players, Collin Finnerty, 20, of Garden City; Reade Seligmann, 20, of Essex Fells, N.J.; and David Evans, 23, of Bethesda, Md., are expected to face trial next year on charges of raping and kidnapping the dancer, a single mother and a student at nearby North Carolina Central University. Defense attorneys say their clients are innocent.

Team unity bolstered

Among current team members, the innocence of the three players is an article of faith.

"Every guy in the locker room believes in them. We reach out to them," said Douglas, who said he often phones Finnerty. "When I called him last week, he said he's keeping busy with lots of stuff in Garden City and taking a class at Hofstra."

Their coach applauds the team's faith in the players.

"In everything they do, they include those guys, Collin and Reade. They are so supportive and steadfast in their belief," he said. Evans, the third accused player, has graduated and is not as closely linked to the remaining players, Danowski said.

As he awaits his trial, Finnerty lifts weights and practices lacrosse skills in the hope that, if acquitted, he will be allowed to rejoin the team, Danowski said.

With their every move under public scrutiny, the team members look out for each other, the coach said.

"They're still enjoying themselves and the college experience, but they're wary," Danowski said. "They're such great kids, but even so, I think they're looking over their shoulders to make sure things don't get misinterpreted."