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Davidson Does Grading

By K.C. Johnson

Cathy Davidson occupies a unique place in the history of Duke?s response to the lacrosse case. Widely perceived as among the more moderate of the Group of 88, Davidson humiliated herself by penning the first apologia for the Group?s action. In her January 2007 op-ed, the Duke English professor invented a past that never existed, claiming that in the first two weeks after the case broke?a time when both local and national coverage was overwhelmingly slanted against the lacrosse players?the media was in fact ?rampant? with ?racist and sexist remarks,? with those intent on ?defending David Evans, Collin Finnerty and Reade Seligmann . . . reverting to pernicious stereotypes about African-Americans, especially poor black women.? Davidson, in short, revealed herself to be either a shameless fabricator or (much more likely) someone so steeped in the groupthink atmosphere that dominates Duke?s humanities departments that she actually believed that the early media coverage was favorable to the lacrosse players...continue to full post

Full post as published by Durham-in-Wonderland on August 04, 2009 (boomark / email).