Duke Students Want Lacrosse Drama to End
By Philip Jones

Although it’s still not clear what happened at a Duke lacrosse party on March 13, attorneys for the 46 lacrosse players who submitted to DNA testing said results released Monday prove the players are innocent.

But at a forum on Tuesday at North Carolina Central University – where the alleged victim is a student – Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong said the investigation will continue, with or without DNA.

“I hope that you will understand by the fact that I am here this morning, that my presence here means this case is not going away,” Nifong said.

But after nearly a month of speculation and media hoopla, Duke students like senior Jonathan Welch are ready to put the controversy behind them.

“Everybody’s tired of it,” Welch said. “I told my roommate that I’d probably be interviewed about this, and that 60 Duke students passed on the opportunity to be interviewed by one of your reporters last week, and he goes, ‘Yeah, I would pass on the opportunity, too. I’m tired of talking about it. I don’t have anything to say.’ And I think that’s probably an average voice on campus right now.”

Welch said that regardless of the outcome, the racial lines being drawn because of the case are putting a strain on Durham.

“I would like to see all this blow over quickly,” he said. “And I’m hoping that’s going to be the reaction from the community, as well. Because the same Durham I’ve lived in for four years has not been like this. There have not been tensions this high … between people of different economic backgrounds or even different ethnic backgrounds.”