What did or didn't happen at Duke: a look at the case of an alleged rape at Duke University reveals the bias of the major media and the need for moral order to once again be upheld on college campuses.(CULTURAL CURRENTS)

What's the difference between an alleged rape at Duke University and an alleged rape at Fresno City College? The Duke case received dozens of stories in the New York Times. The other case didn't. Ditto for the Washington Post.

Another difference? At Duke, the accused are white and the victim is black. At Fresno, the accused are black and the victim is Hispanic--typical media bias.

But that typical media bias is just one disturbing aspect of a case that is disturbing all together, not only for what it says about media bias and race and crime, but also for what it says about the culture of college campuses.

When he was president of Washington College, Robert E. Lee said he would consider himself a failure if a student was graduated without becoming a Christian. If that standard were applied today, one might ask, how many college presidents would be considered failures?

The Duke Case

What happened at Duke is well known, but for readers who didn't have the benefit of having had the New York Times or Washington Post pound the story into their heads every day for a month, these are the facts:

On March 13, Duke lacrosse players threw a boozefest and invited two black strippers. One of them was a college student named "Precious," the alleged victim. Sometime after midnight during the party, the state claims, three Blue Devils raped the temptress. They threw in racial slurs for good measure.