Well, well, well. The three Duke men’s lacrosse players are innocent of all charges. How could so many forces seem to relish the attack on these three college students?

A lot of people now have egg on their faces, and they should be pursued with equal savagery.

This so-called district attorney, Mike Nifong, should at a minimum be disbarred, and the parents of the players should initiate a civil lawsuit as soon as possible. This unethical person should be ruined financially and reputation-wise.

The police who were involved in the case and exhibited unprofessional behavior should be sued and removed from the force at once.

I am talking specifically about the officer(s) who made attempts to intimidate witnesses.

An African-American cab driver who signed a sworn affidavit clearing Reade Seligmann was subsequently arrested on a shoplifting charge that occurred more than two years ago.

He wasn’t even the shoplifter but was simply accused of driving the shoplifters in his cab. As soon as he said to the police that he had nothing new to say about the lacrosse case, he was taken straight to court.

How about the accusing liar, Crystal Gail Mangum? Quite a model mother, right? It turns out that there was no DNA evidence found on her from the three Duke students, but there was evidence of at least five other males.

At a minimum, the child should be taken from her; she should go to jail and the proceeds from any future book or movie deal she subsequently makes should go to offset the legal expenses of the students’ families.

Most disturbing of all, to me at least, was the behavior of the Duke faculty. I am referring to the "Group of 88" who, through a signed statement published in the Duke Chronicle, accused, tried and convicted these three young men without any evidence.[an error occurred while processing this directive]

Weren’t they supposed to be constantly seeking truth in an intellectual, scholarly manner? Give me a break.

These individuals are anything but intellectuals. They were simply a lynch mob, stirring the pot and encouraging protests. Now, they cowardly hide behind their right to free speech.

Would you really want these pseudo-intellectuals teaching your child? Dennis Miller said it best when he referred to Duke and similar colleges as "the last bastion of aging hippies and their radical, leftist agendas. The �elite’ universities are the repositories of the worst of these kinds."

Now, what about targeting and stereotyping student-athletes? Have you ever seen the names of these three students referred to without reference to lacrosse players in general?

I have been asking some student-athletes, male and female, their opinions on this situation, and some have referred to athletes being held to a higher standard than other students.

They also feel that they are looked down upon and even resented in some cases. There is still the "dumb jock" mentality among some professors whose opinion can’t be changed.

Why the resentment? Student-athletes are young men and women who have a gift and a talent for a sport and simply want to pursue it beyond high school, nothing more. They put in hundreds of grueling hours to improve themselves and to represent the college in a distinguished fashion.

Still, their cumulative averages exceed that of the college as a whole. Their coaches are underpaid and put in countless selfless hours themselves, helping these individuals become all they are capable of. They are every bit as responsible for an individual’s academic maturation as the professor and should be considered as important.

In the case of the Duke athletes, some members of the faculty described them using the words elitist, wealthy, pampered, spoiled and coming from wealthy families. Is this jealousy and resentment speaking? I wonder how they think their salaries are going to be paid unless it is by those who can afford Duke’s $50,000 annual costs.

I can only speak from my experience. The Division I students I have had in my classes have been some of the most disciplined, dedicated, respectful, and hardworking individuals I have ever taught.

Many of the Division I and III student-athletes are among my highest achievers, and all, without exception, have worked their hardest to achieve.

They are also fortunate to have dedicated coaches, all of whom I greatly respect. The coaches have backed me 100 percent whenever I came to them with an issue. The students are fortunate to have them as mentors.

My final observation is this: If you show these young men and women respect for all they do on behalf of the college, they will respect you back.

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Tom Sears is a professor of accounting at Hartwick College in Oneonta. He can be reached at SearsT@hartwick.edu. His column appears every other week.