The opinions were valid. Their names? Bogus.
The two young Duke students I interviewed outside the Bryan Center on campus yesterday were messing with me. It happens. We had a good conversation about the university's decision to end its Tailgate event, a booze-soaked blowout preceding home football games.
They had interesting views on the university's decision, but apparently weren't interested in having their names in the paper. The names they gave, which I won't publish here, weren't in the Duke directory, on Facebook, or pretty much anywhere else that I could find through a series of Internet searches.
So I kept their comments out of the story.
But in this space, I'm going to introduce an idea one of the young women brought up because it was interesting.
She and her friend defended the Tailgate and felt Duke's administration had been looking for any reason to end it because it created an image problem.
But more to the point, this young woman said, Duke has had, in recent weeks and months, a cavalade of bad press for things that she felt were distinct, individual events that shouldn't reflect on the entire student body.
First, there's Karen Owen, the recent Duke graduate who, while a student, kept what you might call a very active social calendar. She documented her sexual conquests and wrote it up as a mock master's thesis. Naturally, it wound up on the Internet.
And then there's the Duke fraternity members whose less-than-gentlemanly party invitations wound up - you guessed it! - on the Internet.
Link all that up with the recent death of popular student Drew Everson, and the Duke student body has been the subject of quite a bit of attention lately.
"In the backdrop of everything," mystery student told me Tuesday, commenting on Duke ending the Tailgate event. "It's a last-straw scenario."
And here's the kicker. This student and a couple others I spoke with said students were offended enough by the decision to revolt in some way, probably with an unofficial tailgating party.
"I think it's unwise," she said of the administration's decision. "I think that whatever happens this Saturday will be worse than what happens at Tailgate."
