Economics professors letter to the Chronicle

The following letter was submitted to The Chronicle, the campus newspaper at Duke:

To the Editor:

We, the undersigned Economics Department faculty members at Duke University, are cognizant of the fact that, to date, the only collective signed statement by faculty members concerning the events of last March was an advertisement in the Duke University Chronicle subsequent to protests and a forum on March 29, 2006. We are aware too that the advertisement was cited as prejudicial to the defendants in the defense motion to change the venue of the trial involving the three Duke lacrosse team members. We regret that the Duke faculty is now seen as prejudiced against certain of its own students.

1) In light of recent events detailed in court proceedings, it appears that there were a number of irregular acts committed by members of the Durham law enforcement agencies and District Attorney’s Office. We join with President Brodhead in calling for an investigation of those acts, inimical to students at our university.

2) We welcome all members of the lacrosse team, and all student athletes, as we do all our students as fellow members of the Duke community, to the classes we teach and the activities we sponsor.

Signed:

E. Roy Weintraub, Professor of Economics

Atila Abdulkadiroglu, Associate Professor of Economics

Charles M. Becker, Research Professor of Economics

Tim Bollerslev, Juanita & Clifton Kreps Professor of Economics

Vincent Conitzer, Assistant Professor of Computer Science and Economics

Neil B. DeMarchi, Professor of Economics

Bjorn Eraker, Assistant Professor of Economics

Henry G. Grabowski, Professor of Economics

Daniel A. Graham, Professor of Economics and Law

Kevin D. Hoover, Professor of Economics and Philosophy

Shakeeb Khan, Associate Professor of Economics

Bahar Leventoglu, Assistant Professor of Economics and Political Science

Thomas J. Nechyba, Fuchsberg-Levine Family Professor of Economics and Public Policy

Pietro Peretto, Associate Professor of Economics

Curtis R. Taylor, Professor of Economics

Edward Tower, Professor of Economics

Huseyin Yildirim, Assistant Professor of Economics