On the day that two players were charged in the case, that term resonated with people who have watched, argued, gossiped and cried as Durham's pain played out in lurid detail.

The rape investigation that has swirled for weeks around Duke's men's lacrosse team moved from the court of public opinion to the court of law. Some people felt relief -- others anger -- that the legal case advanced. They agreed on one thing: It's too soon to discuss healing. Too many questions linger.

"Who in the world wants any of this horror?" asked Wahneema Lubiano, a Duke associate professor of African and African-American studies.

Hoping for an end

Durham residents want an end to the negative stereotypes tossed around by reporters who have swooped into the city. Duke's neighbors want peace and quiet; they also want the university to take their concerns about student behavior more seriously.

Frank Crigler lives in the Trinity Park neighborhood where a woman sent by an escort service to dance at a party said she was raped and beaten last month. He said Duke and Durham should not allow the case to divide people further.

"The vast majority of people don't want anything like that," he said. "They want a satisfactory, rational end to this. That isn't an easy thing to get."

During a news conference Tuesday morning, the president of the state conference of the NAACP counseled patience and tolerance. The Rev. William Barber Jr. warned against "vigilante justice."

Barber, who graduated from N.C. Central University as well as Duke's divinity school, said the NAACP would keep watch over the proceedings.

"After all of these weeks of speculation, the demeaning of [the accuser] by defense lawyers and sometimes misinformation in the press, now we have the indictments," Barber said. "We hope to be satisfied as we move forward. The indictments are not the end of our monitoring."

Duke President Richard Brodhead said in a statement that the case "has brought pain and suffering to all involved, and it deeply challenges our ability to balance judgment with compassion."

On the Duke campus, students said they were weary of the battering that their school has taken. They say the university's prestige has been tarnished, perhaps permanently. They find themselves constantly having to defend Duke when home for break, hanging out in Durham or talking to friends at other colleges.

"This has defamed Duke University; it's just sad," said Roger Diebold, a senior. "It doesn't reflect on 99.9 percent of the population, and I don't want to have to deal with [lacrosse players'] ridiculous behavior."

Duke students are media-fatigued, yet many admitted to following the case's every twist. At the student center Tuesday, a large group stared at a ceiling-mounted TV with a CNN broadcast about the rape arrests.

Lubiano, the professor, said people can't imagine that the woman could have made a false rape allegation; nor does anyone want to believe it really happened.

"In order to not be depressed, you sort of bury this to get through the day," Lubiano said. "Our students are telling us, 'It's not buried, and we're having a hard time getting through the day.' "

'Catalyst for change'

For students at N.C. Central, where the accuser is a student, the arrests meant the case was finally moving forward. But some said they are not so sure there will be any positive result.

"By the end of the year, everyone will forget about the whole situation," said Charles Edwards, a NCCU junior. "The lacrosse team will get back going, and everything will be back to normal."

Starsha Brown, an NCCU sophomore, said she used to think of prestige when she saw a Duke vanity license plate. "Now whenever I see a Duke plate, I think negative thoughts," she said.

Several Duke students said they think some good can come of the event. University committees are investigating the lacrosse program, the student disciplinary system and campus culture in general.

"This is going to be a catalyst for change," Diebold said, "and they are going to take advantage of it."

Donna Dagavarian, a Trinity Park resident, said the legal proceeding could disperse a cloud of fury that encompasses race, class and sexual violence. "There's been a lot of speculation and a lot of anger," she said. "It'll be good to move forward with it and let the process take its place instead of dwelling on everyone's theories about what happened."

Durham Mayor Bill Bell said he has not been surprised by the rallies, protests and broad community reaction. "Durham is an activist community," he said.

But the cameras will vanish soon.

"That's what I'm trying to prepare our people for," Bell said. "What happens the day after that."

(Staff writers Stanley B. Chambers Jr. and Anne Blythe contributed to this report.)