While Duke University President Richard Brodhead paid some lip service to presumption of innocence, his actions toward the students and the lacrosse team in the initial weeks of the controversy belied his words. Now, he has issued a statement that the university will “learn what we can from this difficult experience.”
But, Brodhead has shown that he does not learn. While Dean of Yale, Brodhead presided over a similar fiasco, one that led to James Van de Velde, a popular lecturer being accused of a murder he did not commit. Under Brodhead’s leadership, public relations trumped justice.
Too often, today, university presidents act a fund raisers rather than leaders. They shy away from controversy and are unwilling to take unpopular stands on principle. Rather than lead debate, they follow it. Mistakes happen. Had Brodhead learned from his while at Yale, he would have mitigated the miscarriage of justice at Duke.
Brodhead is an excellent teacher, and to that profession he should return. Any student would be lucky to have him as a professor. But not as a university president. It is time for Richard Brodhead to resign. He should apologize to Duke, the three falsely accused students and, almost eight years too late, to Jim Van de Velde.