Duke Rape Scandal Stokes Racial Woes
At Duke University, this time of year is usually all about basketball.
It's March Madness time and, while the school's traditionally powerful men's team didn't fare well in this year's NCAA tournament, its women's team made the Final Four.
But, reports CBS News correspondent Trish Regan, rather than focusing on sports and studying for finals, for more than two weeks a different subject has been dominating campus life: the allegation that three white players from Duke's elite lacrosse team raped a black student from North Carolina Central University.
The student, an exotic dancer, was hired to work at a party in an off-campus home, where the alleged rape occurred.
So far, no one has been officially charged with a crime. Investigators are waiting for the results of DNA tests done on lacrosse players. Those results are due back from the lab this week. However, Regan notes, the district attorney says he won't be releasing those results. He also says that, should he file charges, he won't do it until at least April 10.
Freshman Charisma Nelson says the allegations have put a new strain on the already delicate relationship between the school and the community of Durham.
"I don't think we wanted to admit how fragile it was," Nelson told Regan. "I think this incident shed more light and just made it more evident."
In a town where most people make less money in a year than the $43,000 it costs to attend Duke, there's a perception that the university's students are privileged and elitist, Regan observes.
There's also the notion that Duke Students "get drunk and they get wild and they get crazy, and things happen," says Chasyaw Wortham, who lives near the campus.
What does the community think should happen?
"There should be a punishment for the team, everyone who was involved," Wortham says. "They shouldn't get a pat on their backs."
The university is concerned about increased tension, Regan points out.Friday night, administrators sent an e-mail to students, warning of threats of a drive-by shooting targeting the lacrosse players' house.
Some students say they've already felt a backlash.
"There's even a bit of hysteria because of all the things that are happening. We have to be careful," says Basil Camu, who is white.
He and fellow white senior Morgan Gieske went to a hamburger stand early Friday, and say they say they were accosted by a group of African American men.
"(They were) just yelling things like, 'This is Central territory. Duke students aren't welcome. We don't want you raping our women,' " Camu said.
"Before I knew it," Gieske added, "someone had actually hit him in the back of the head. And then it just sort of escalated, and people were around the car and hitting the bumpers, and the windows."
On The Early Show Monday, CBS News legal consultant Wendy Murphy
"You don't see often hate crimes prosecutions anywhere across the country," Murphy said, "but if, in fact, this was a rape perpetrated against this woman because of her race, North Carolina does have a provision in its laws that this could be prosecuted both as a rape and as a hate crime, which means the punishment could be much, much more harsh.
"It's the D.A.'s call. And you have to be able to prove that she was raped based on her race. It's a hard standard to meet. But if they were calling her racial epithets during the crime or before the crime, then I think it's an appropriate case to bring as a hate crime."
Members of the lacrosse team are categorically denying a rape occurred, meaning this could turn into a case of "she said, they said," Storm noted.
"If she's got the kind of injuries we've been hearing alluded to," Murphy remarked, "if there is physical evidence, if there is DNA of some of the guys on her body, or under her finger nails that were retrieved at the crime scene, ripped off, it's going to be pretty difficult for the guys to suggest that she consented, which is probably the only possible defense if there is DNA present."