LAX player settles with Duke for grade

Colleges & Universities Duke University
1

<p>I am surprised that a Duke student would be happy with Cs. </p>

<p>RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) – Duke University has settled a lawsuit brought by a former lacrosse player who accused a professor of giving him a failing grade because he was a member of the controversy-plagued team.</p>

<p>Kyle Dowd, who graduated in 2006, was not one of the three team members who were charged with raping a black stripper hired to perform at a March 2006 team party. State prosecutors dropped all charges last month against the players, who are white, saying they had been the victims of an overzealous district attorney.</p>

<p>The lawsuit, which named the Durham school and visiting professor Kim Curtis, alleged Curtis discriminated against Dowd when she gave him an F in a course on politics and literature. The lawsuit, which claimed fraud and negligence, said he had gotten Cs on his assignments in the class.</p>

<p>The lawsuit said the failing grade nearly kept Dowd from graduating. After he appealed, the university changed the grade to a ‘‘D,’’ citing a computation error.</p>

<p>As part of the settlement, Dowd’s grade was changed to ‘‘P’’ for passing. Neither side admitted liability, the school said in a brief news release. Other details weren’t released.</p>

<p>The lawsuit sought $60,000 in damages.</p>

<p>Curtis was among 88 faculty members who signed their names in April 2006 to a full-page advertisement in Duke’s student newspaper titled ‘‘What Does a Social Disaster Sound Like?’’</p>

<p>‘‘Regardless of the results of the police investigation, what is apparent everyday now is the anger and fear of many students who know themselves to be objects of racism and sexism,’’ the ad read, in part.</p>

<p>The ad drew harsh criticism from supporters of the lacrosse team, who believe it painted the players as guilty before the facts of the racially divisive case were known.</p>

2

<p>It didn’t say he was happy with his C’s.</p>

<p>From the looks of it, it seems like Duke changed his grading to Pass/Fail so it doesn’t figure into his GPA at all.</p>

3

<p>It’s not that he was happy with C’s, it’s that he felt it was actionable that despite B’s and C’s on the assignments, and dean’s excusable absences in class to participate in the Great Nifong Hoax of 2006, he received an “F” in the class. Duke was only willing to make it a “D” (which at least meant he could graduate), and so he sued, demanding that if Duke wouldn’t change it to a proper grade, at least it would be changed to a “P” which would give it no weight on his GPA.</p>

4

<p>wow, I wonder how this affects Duke’s rep. No wonder why its pulling kids off the waitlist everyday.</p>

5

<p>Good thing for us the folks on the waitlist are also excellent.</p>

6

<p>I think Duke has a somewhat unofficial policy of always taking some kids off the waitlist. I probably saw that somewhere on the Chronicle.</p>