Duke made proper move in suspending lacrosse team

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Something bad happened at a party in a house near the Duke campus more than two weeks ago. How bad that something was, and precisely which -- if any -- of the Duke men's lacrosse team's 47 members were involved, is currently the subject of a criminal investigation and the impetus behind considerable unrest on the idyllic Duke campus and in the city of Durham, N.C.

Yet something very good has happened, too. On Monday evening, Duke president Richard Brodhead suspended the entire men's lacrosse team, pending the outcome of the investigation. It's about time. Make no mistake: Brodhead's action came much too slowly and only under pressure, as protests took place on his campus and pressure swelled from far beyond North Carolina. The president should not be overly praised. Brodhead moved too late, and quite possibly for the wrong reasons, but he has done the right thing.

(An elephant has entered the room. Would Brodhead have acted similarly if this incident had involved his powerhouse men's basketball team or his mediocre -- but ACC -- men's football team? Would any Division I-A president? Small steps, here. We'll get back to that.)

Background: Officials in Durham are investigating an incident that took place on the night of Monday, March 13. A woman who works as an exotic dancer reportedly told police that she and another dancer were hired to perform at a private party in a home near the Duke campus. The woman told police that she was pulled into a bathroom, beaten and choked, and raped by three men.

Subsequently, 46 members of the Duke lacrosse team were summoned to a Durham forensics laboratory and asked to submit a cheek swab for DNA testing. Members of the Duke team, including its three captains, declined public comment until issuing a statement Tuesday, saying, in part, "We ... stated unequivocally that any allegation that a sexual assault or rape occurred is totally and transparently false.''

District attorney Mike Nifong, meanwhile, told an Associated Press reporter, "I feel pretty confident that a rape occurred.''

There is more. The woman who made the accusation is black, and a student at North Carolina Central University, a historically black institution in Durham. According to the Raleigh News & Observer, a neighbor heard one person at the party shouting at the alleged victim as she left the house after the alleged assault: "Thank your grandpa for my cotton shirt.''

The Duke lacrosse team has only one black member. He was the only player not asked to undergo the DNA test, because the alleged victim told police that her alleged attackers were all white.

There are many unresolved issues beyond the guilt or innocence of the athletes. Why did nine days pass between the alleged incident -- which included a 911 call to police -- and the DNA testing? Why was the Duke lacrosse team allowed to play two games before its season was suspended?