Conduct Unbecoming
by June Archer

“I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.” – Dorothy to Toto in The Wizard of Oz.

If Toto hadn’t rummaged through Miss Gulch’s garden, Dorothy never would have gone to Oz and learned there’s no place like home.

If Uncle Billy hadn’t misplaced a bank deposit, George Bailey never would have seen what life would have been like without him.

If members of the Duke lacrosse team hadn’t hired a stripper, it would have been another run-of-the-mill party.

Which doesn’t belong?

We can each think of countless examples – and not just in the movies – of moments when one small action committed by us or another has forced a chain reaction of interesting events. If we’re lucky, events are set in motion by a good work performed rather than a sin committed. And if perchance we or someone else have blundered and set off a firestorm, hopefully a lesson has been learned in the end.

Google the Duke case and you’ll get more than one million results. From bloggers to mainstream media outlets, there is no dearth of lurid details alleged to have happened on the night of March 13, 2006. Nearly a year later, it’s the story that keeps on going.

The only clear fact is that a group of lacrosse players at Duke University threw a keg party and invited a stripper.

Now, let’s not be naïve. It should not come as a shock to anyone that college dormitories, frat houses and sororities across the country play host to alcohol-drenched, raucous parties on a weekly basis. And while these activities speak volumes about the state of higher education in America, they are fodder for commentary at a later date.

For now though, forget the unnamed stripper (whose ensuing antics show her to be anything but stable), and the dubious tactics of the district attorney who has now removed himself from the case.

In this case, fingers have pointed everywhere including, most recently, the parents of the accused blaming Duke University for not standing up for their sons.

Nowhere though, in print or newcast, have I seen a finger pointing back to the fateful decision made by the Duke boys to have a little disgusting fun. The kegger gone wrong has visited a whole host of indignities on a wide circle of characters, including one accused player slated to begin a lucrative position with JP Morgan. That opportunity has now vanished in the wake of the criminal allegations.

Ironically, in the spirit of “boys will be boys,” the recent removal of rape charges has prompted Duke University to invite the accused players back into the fold to finish out their studies – even while other charges are still pending.

One wonders if they will have to take special classes on responsible drinking, being an example to fellow students, or how to treat women of any race, creed or social standing with respect.

Future fathers, captains of industry and, heaven help us, commanders-in-chief. The decisions of one night in college by boys who should have known better don’t bode well for decisions they will make out in the “real world.”

At the end of Dorothy’s adventures in Oz when she wakes up in her own bed, one of her farmhand friends asks her, “What have you learned?”

That might be a good question for the Duke boys to ask themselves. But I’m not sure we’d like their answer.