PJ Star articles 2/28

[Lakeview Brave]

Wrong..................The main Duke accuser WAS a student.......at NC Central University (though some might use the term "university" loosely ).

Indeed. I stand corrected. )

[LG281]

Getting pretty heated over at the pjstar on the "Leave a Comment" section after Phil's column.

[LG281]

Getting pretty heated over at the pjstar on the "Leave a Comment" section after Phil's column.

Whoa it just got super-modded! Went from 16 (five pretty long posts, some very critical of the PJStar) to 11 really quick. I refreshed and it was gone.

[thefish7]

Yeah, I was also "not allowed to make a comment" in my first ever attempt at that site. Anyone who is "allowed," please point out to "meg" that Ruffin graduated after 4 years of study, and isn't "allowed" to study over the course of 5 years just because he's a "jock" getting special treatment.

[shaunguth]

I'm not seeing any post credited to "meg". I'm guessing that post was also pulled.

[thefish7]

Well, good then. Problem solved.

[BU_EMT128]

Yeah, I was also "not allowed to make a comment" in my first ever attempt at that site. Anyone who is "allowed," please point out to "meg" that Ruffin graduated after 4 years of study, and isn't "allowed" to study over the course of 5 years just because he's a "jock" getting special treatment.

I just flat out emailed him. I know my post wont stay up to long because it is critical of Phil's column. Anyone who would like to see my email (and hopefully Phil's reply) are more than welcome to send me a PM.

[Da Coach]

Here again is the column and the responses we are talking about--

http://pjstar.com/stories/022708/KIR_BFTAPJEE.077.php

It looks like they have removed comments from today, the most recent one is from last night.

[BU_EMT128]

Reply to Phil

Well i got several PM's and I think it will be easier for me to just post my reply to Phil here... as oppose to email it to everyone. So it is as follows....

Well Phil,
It is a sad day when I have to email you directly. If i were to post this in reply to your column, you or one of your interns at a computer somewhere would decide that I don't get my moment of free speech and delete it. I find it hard to believe that you can slather your bias all over this site (yes, I understand that this is what they pay you for, why they pay you for articles like this I continue to not understand). Yet the first time someone does not agree with you, the online post gets deleted. Anyway, you say "It's as if many BU faithful are throwing away their thinking caps, pulling their red sweaters over their heads and trying to hide from reality." No I think it is exactly the opposite Phil, You and your newspaper have made Alisha R. White your media darling from day one. Publishing such things as "Us women need to all stick together in times like this" thereby victimizing her and making her a beacon for domestic violence. However when you look at the facts, it does not seem that she is quite the victim you say she is. In fact, according to witness accounts, SHE is the aggressor. Yet even with these facts sitting on a desk in your department, you write a column yesterday scathing Bradley fans for supporting Daniel, when YOU knew the evidence was less than airtight. Yesterday you called Bradley fans "Red Sweatered Fanatics", and stated such journalism gems as "There's more to the university than just men's basketball" and
"What would be the tragedy? A player misses a few games? A team loses a few contests? BU doesn't get a tournament bid?". Are you honestly that naive? Do you honestly think that most intelligent Bradley fans really care about winning a game? No, we care about a young man, who the media, the Peoria journal Star, and YOU Phil, have already decided is guilty before the evidence is released. What happens when he is found, dare I say it, Not Guilty. Think of how his life has already been affected after a "writer" like you has dragged his name in the mud, called the fans who support him "Red Sweatered fanatics", and stated that this incident will ruin the schools reputation. It seems to me Phil that most Bradley fans are looking at this entire situation much more objectively than you, most Bradley fans are looking at facts as they are released by news agencies, and the majority of us were happy with the way the university handled the entire situation BEFORE he was reinstated. Do NOT say that we have been running to compare it to the Duke case, as I believe this is a conclusion that YOU would jump to... But it is much easier to say we Bradley fans are poking our heads out of our read sweaters to say "Duke". I hope you have the decency to apologize to Mr Ruffin if he is found not guilty, but I will not hold my breath.

I sincerely hope that you do not alienate all of your readers like this, or soon you wont have many left.

Nathan Monney

[Dallas Brave]

I don't really care how similiar or dissimilar the Bradley and Duke cases are to each other. Phil's article today is a simple red herring to divert discussion from the peice of **** article he wrote yesterday.

This guy doesn't still teach at Bradley does he? Those students are paying a lot of money to get a good edcuation and I hope for their sake that PL is not a member of the faculty. If he is, the students are not getting a good return on their investment.

[Scouter]

I don't really care how similiar or dissimilar the Bradley and Duke cases are to each other. Phil's article today is a simple red herring to divert discussion from the peice of **** article he wrote yesterday.

This guy doesn't still teach at Bradley does he? Those students are paying a lot of money to get a good edcuation and I hope for their sake that PL is not a member of the faculty. If he is, the students are not getting a good return on their investment.

Phil is still a faculty member at BU. I wouldn't call him the greatest professor I've ever had, but he's certainly nowhere near the worst. Overall I think he does a good job. Unless you're actually in his class it's not really fair for you to criticize his teaching skills.

Now, his writing skills you're more than welcome to criticize because that's out there for everyone to see. But to say his column today is was to divert attention from yesterday's article is a little silly, IMO. He basically said the same things Monday on his radio show.

[LG281]

I took his class...it was as crummy as his columns have been the last few days.

[SFP]

Question for the lawyers out there - Does the order of protection work both ways? Does this prevent the girl from stopping by Ruffin's apartment uninvited? I sure hope so.

DR can petition the court to also have a restraining order on the girl. So it can go both ways! I'm sure she's not going to stop by his apartment anytime soon!

[Grassman]

Duke case:
Scholarship athletes at a private university find themselves in a position with a female college student who visits the athlete's residence and who later claims she was assaulted. She changes her story as the case proceeds. The athletes claim they are innocent. The university does it's own review and suspends the athletes. The state's attorney pursues the case against the athletes, including promoting it through the media. Media reports and talk shows prematurely presume the athlete is guilty. The state's attorney conveniently leaves out key parts of the evidence that would have favored the defendants. Eventually the case is completely dismissed, and the state's attorney leaves office in shame.

Bradley case:
A scholarship athlete at a private university finds himself in a position with a female college student who visits the athlete's residence who later claims she was assaulted. She changes her story already. The athlete claims he is innocent. The university does it's own review and suspends the athlete. The state's attorney has already pursued his case against the athlete through the media. Media reports and talk shows prematurely presume the athlete is guilty. The police report has conveniently left out key parts of the story that would have favored the defendant. In the end, the case could likely be dismissed.


I think there are similarities, am I the only one who thinks so?

Agree. And I e-mailed Luciano a similar response. The Problem is, he has the Hammer! THE PJS. He WILL get the last word.

[BradleyBrave]

DR can petition the court to also have a restraining order on the girl. So it can go both ways! I'm sure she's not going to stop by his apartment anytime soon!

I wouldn't be so sure of that. She wasn't supposed to be there on Friday night either. If I were Ruff I would get the restraining order.