Anonymous wrote:NP here. I think the retention rate issue is a bit of an exaggeration. I am an alum, and we've been very supportive of the school throughout the years, but after the Lax incident, I no longer felt comfortable supporting the institution. When I was there 20 or so years ago, there was some tension between the faculty and the students, especially the student athletes, which I chalked up to jealousy/liberal loathing of the "rich" on the profs' part. However, the Lax incident just showed me the animosity and intense, seething hatred that the profs must have for the students, well some profs and some students anyway. I no longer feel comfortable with those profs having access to and influence over my children, and so we will not be applying. I'm sure they have enough qualified applicants without my DC's of course, but I've discussed this with numerous old friends and it's hard for many of us to see what our Dear Old Duke has become.

Anonymous wrote:Duke has changed profoundly in the wake of the infamous lacrosse case of 2006, when Ms Mangum falsely accused three Duke lacrosse players of rape—and eighty-eight Duke professors rushed to condemn the innocent students in the Chronicle of Higher Education. Faculty and administrators are still fixated on “race, gender, and class.” In the wake of the “rape” charade, Duke adopted a new, draconian sexual misconduct policy that “can render a student guilty of nonconsensual sex simply because he or she is considered ‘powerful’ on campus." The retention rate has gone down as incoming students discover the reality of what Duke has become.