Blogger calls for Duke inquiry

Professor criticizes faculty, 'enablers'

DURHAM -- KC Johnson, the Brooklyn College professor who skewered Duke University professors on his popular Duke lacrosse case blog, called for another investigation on a campus that has had its share of them in the past two years.

Johnson, a critic of "a group-think atmosphere" that he says exists on many college campuses, came to Duke on Tuesday and suggested that administrators start an investigation into the actions of faculty over the past 18 months.

"Duke should investigate the behavior of faculty, not for punishment but to establish a record of what happened," Johnson told several hundred supporters who turned out for his speech at Page Auditorium on the Duke campus.

The soft-spoken polemicist was at Duke at the invitation of a new campus group, Duke Students for an Ethical Duke, and Duke's Program on Values and Ethics in the Marketplace.

Johnson co-authored "Until Proven Innocent: Political Correctness and the Shameful Injustices of the Duke Lacrosse Rape Case" with Stuart Taylor, a columnist for the National Journal.

On Tuesday, Johnson said that although the three accused players had been exonerated and Mike Nifong, the prosecutor who pushed forward with charges, had been disbarred and jailed, attention needed to be cast upon "enablers."

Johnson cited the nurse who examined the accuser as one enabler. He cited as enablers Ron Stephens, the Superior Court judge who signed the order allowing police to collect DNA from 46 lacrosse players; and Mark Gottlieb, a police sergeant whose typed notes of an interview with Crystal Gail Mangum have raised many questions among defense lawyers.

Johnson talked about the so-called "Group of 88" -- professors who endorsed an ad in the Duke student newspaper in April 2006 before any charges were filed and before any DNA results were in -- which has been characterized as a rush to judgment against the players.

But the critic, whose Durham-in-Wonderland blog became a popular source for people interested in the lacrosse case, also had praise for some at Duke.

Johnson said the student newspaper provided the best coverage he read. He said student government leaders should be commended for their wait-and-see approach. He singled out several professors for standing up for the players, and he praised one administrator for urging faculty not to rush to judgment.

"For all the bad we saw on the academic side," Johnson said, "we also saw an awful lot of good."

(Staff writer Joseph Neff contributed to this report.)