2 lacrosse undergrads say 'no' to Duke return

A former Duke University lacrosse player from Long Island and a teammate who were both cleared last week of charges that they had raped an exotic dancer have decided not to return to the school.

Collin Finnerty, of Garden City, will attend the London School of Economics in England this fall, his father, Kevin Finnerty, said yesterday on ABC's "Good Morning America. " The family has declined a Duke invitation to have the 20-year-old sophomore resume his studies there, his father said.

Reade Seligmann, 21, of Essex Fells, N.J., has also turned down Duke's invitation to return to the Durham, N.C., campus, he said in an interview yesterday with NBC's "Today" show. Seligmann plans to enroll in another school and is considering whether to become a criminal defense attorney. "We can all work together and make positive things come out of this, and help people in the future who are falsely accused of crimes and prosecutorial misconduct," he said.

The two, along with an older player who graduated the day before his indictment, were arrested after an exotic dancer claimed they raped her after she performed at a house party last March. The third lacrosse player who was cleared last week, David Evans of Bethesda, Md., has been offered a job on Wall Street.

North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper last week declared the three innocent based on a three-month investigation.

Collin Finnerty told "Good Morning America" that during the past year his father was the rock for the family, and he learned how much his mother loved him. "We all faced a tough time, but they really guided me through it, and I can't imagine what it would have been without them."