Slaying fallout: UVA, Casteen, lacrosse weathering a PR nightmare
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UVA President John Casteen, Allen Groves, Craig Littlepage and Patricia Lampkin held a press conference two days after Yeardley Love’s death.PHOTO BY HAWES SPENCER
On May 2, the University of Virginia men’s lacrosse team was the toast of the collegiate sports world, and university president John Casteen was preparing to preside over his final graduation. A day later, one student-athlete lay dead with another student-athlete accused of killing her. And that has changed lives on the two lacrosse teams— and at the helm.
“I think he’s suffering,” says University spokesperson Carol Wood, noting that Casteen, the father of three daughters, “wants to find appropriate ways to prevent something like this from ever happening again.”
Casteen had certainly made conquering the scourge of binge-drinking a hallmark of his 20-year presidency. After a notorious 1997 stairway death, Casteen helped launch a variety of responsible drinking programs including securing a $2.5 million donation four years ago to convince students that drinking to oblivion is not normal.
Ironically, fourth year lacrosse player George Huguely, who, according to an affidavit, has admitted to the violence that led to the death of women’s lacrosse player Yeardley Love, has a history of drinking problems. With revelations that his coach knew about at least one act of drink-fueled violence, UVA may be facing the most serious PR emergency in Casteen’s soon-to-end presidency.
“They need to protect their reputation and also have people understand that there’s zero tolerance that the school has for conduct as extreme as that,” says New Jersey-based public relations expert Chris Rosica.
Getting that message out may have been the main purpose of a suddenly arranged press conference on Wednesday, May 5, for which media members received only an hour’s notice. At that event, Casteen joined athletic director Craig Littlepage and other top administrators to answer reporters’ questions, and, it seemed to some, to deflect blame from the school for apparently not knowing anything about Huguely’s criminal record.
That record includes a pair of November 2008 misdemeanor convictions for public drunkenness and resisting arrest in an altercation with a female police officer in Lexington that escalated to the point the officer used her Taser to subdue the 6′2″ 209 pound athlete— something Huguely later didn’t remember.
One person notably absent from UVA’s press event was men’s lacrosse Coach Dom Starsia. From a PR perspective, says Rosica, Starsia’s absence was a mistake.
“It does send a message that they’re trying to conceal something,” notes Rosica, “regardless of whether they are or not.”
Spokesperson Wood, however, says Starsia has the university’s “full support” and notes that women’s lacrosse coach Julie Myers also wasn’t present. The absences, Woods says, were not about avoiding the press.
“The coaches’ first priority has been their student-athletes,” says Wood. “As you can imagine, this is a very difficult time for the players of both the women’s and men’s teams, and they need the full attention of their coaches.”
Indeed, the men’s team won the ACC championship with a victory over archrival Duke and with a Saturday, May 15 victory over Mount St. Mary’s in their first match of the NCAA tournament, the team retains a strong chance of winning its fourth title. That victory came a week after Coach Starsia suffered a further loss with the death of his 86-year-old father on Friday, May 7. He broke his media silence Sunday, May 9, after NCAA tournament selections and talked about the pain of the week.
“It’s hard to put into words what this week has been like,” Starsia told sports reporters.“It’s been tragic on so many levels. I was glad to be able to at least consider the lacrosse part of this again today.”
Myers broke her silence to offer a eulogy at Love’s May 8 funeral, for which several UVA men’s lacrosse players served as pallbearers in what many saw as a sign of unity between the remaining members of the men’s and women’s teams. The men’s team has also helped create a $500,000 scholarship fund, and both teams during their first NCAA tournament match wore t-shirts and uniform patches bearing Love’s name. The women’s team was also victorious in its opening match against Towson.
Yeardley Love is the cover story of last week’s People magazine, and as the weeks go on, says Rosica, the media scrutiny may ebb and flow, but it won’t disappear.
“The scrutiny can last weeks and even months depending on the case,” says Rosica, noting the potential for a lengthy criminal prosecution, “There are different phases that generate new opportunities for publicity.”
To counteract the negative press, says Rosica, author of Authentic Brand, UVA needs to raise awareness of domestic violence.
“I’d suggest that they create a genuine education effort to try and prevent this from happening in the future,” says Rosica, noting that it won’t be a quick fix. “They need to make sure it’s sustained and that it’s long term policy for the university.”
Nearly two weeks into this crisis, outspoken UVA student activist Madeleine Conger says the school was too slow to stress domestic violence awareness in emails they sent to students. An email sent out by UVA Vice President Patricia Lampkin the day after the slaying, for instance, focused on safety tips to avoid stranger violence— “relatively useless” and “utterly irrelevant,” says Conger.
“Locking your doors and walking home with a friend,” she notes, “will do little to help a victim if the friend that walks her home is the one who will later beat or kill her.”
Two days later, Lampkin sent a second email to students, this time focused on the dangers of domestic violence and offering information on the school’s domestic violence prevention resources— a move that Conger applauds.
“I’d rather see the university be more proactive than reactive and err on the side of more information than secrecy,” Conger says, acknowledging the school is walking a tightrope.
UVA isn’t the only school to struggle with how to handle a sports-related crisis. The so-called Duke lacrosse scandal in 2006 thrust the entire team into the spotlight after three men’s lacrosse team members were accused— falsely as it turned out— of raping a stripper the team had hired for a party.
Duke Coach Mike Pressler, forced to resign at the height of the media frenzy, sued the school, as did the three accused players, who demanded $30 million. All reached settlements of undisclosed sums. In 2008, 38 other former Duke players sued the school, the City of Durham, and various individuals for the alleged harm inflicted on them by the rush to judgment.
One of the 38 plaintiffs is a former Charlottesville resident, who says his thoughts are with the “entire UVA lacrosse family” as they struggle to perform under intense scrutiny.
“We are all hurting for the entire UVA lacrosse family during this heartbreaking situation,” says Edward “Bo” Carrington. “I hope that the media and everyone else will allow the justice system to do its job and in the mean time, focus on remembering and honoring Yeardley Love.” Carrington declined further comment citing the pending litigation.
Those Duke suits may be weighing on the minds of UVA administrators, says legal analyst David Heilberg, explaining that they serve a good legal reason for the school to withhold judgment of Coach Starsia’s leadership until all the facts are out, even as many news stories are asking if Starsia should have known Huguely was prone to violent outbursts.
“Everybody wants you to do something,” says Heilberg of the pressure UVA may feel to leap into action. “But sometimes the courageous thing is to wait and not rush to judgment.”
The facts of the case will undoubtedly continue to come out as a group of newspapers have filed legal motions to unseal court documents relating to the investigation, and as Huguely heads to a preliminary hearing in June. For UVA, says Rosica, preparing for a long road of unwanted national coverage is key.
“It’s not just going to be gone,” he says. “It’s going to continue to rear its head.”
It’s worth asking everyone one more time, and this includes the local media.. Why the hell would the UVA administration be allowed to suggest that they would have done something about Huguely’s arrest in in Lexington in 2008 when they cover up and do nothing about similar arrests of their students on their own campus – and do a perfect job of making sure that the local media does not cover any of it?
Somebody on the Cavalier Daily site actually took the time to go right to the UVA Police’s website and find their specific policy - and thus the administration’s own policy - on these matters:
“The University does not record statistics for crimes involving students that occur in other jurisdictions and are investigated by other local police agencies. Such criminal offenses are recorded by the jurisdiction where the crime occurs, however the University maintains good communication with other departments and tries to monitor incidents involving students in other local jurisdictions.”
http://www.virginia.edu/uvapolice/stats.html
There’s their own policy that Casteen & co. were hoping nobody would find, and proof of their lies in that press conference the other day. Note too that the local media “missed” it also. Missed as in, very purposely and obediently.
I’ll give the Hook credit for daring to step out of line with Casteen regarding the Harrington investigation and actually print some evidence in a missing person’s case as news - albeit late and reluctantly. That’s more than you can say for Cathy Harding and the uber obedient C-Ville Weekly, or the other paper and networks in town. But even the Hook “misses” the really obvious stuff. They still, somehow, think a 21 year old student dropping dead in a frat house 6 weeks ago is, um, not news.. No, of course not. Why would that be news?
ssshhhhhhh….. just don’t say anything… The Creep of Carr’s Hill is almost outta here, and will be selling cigarettes to teenagers soon. Those folks on the west range of the lawn just have a few days left, too.
The stated policy that you quote does not contradict what was said in the press conference. It says that U.Va. does not keep statistics of crimes committed by students in other jurisdictions, unlike statistics for crimes committed on-grounds.
A GW student died over the weekend. I’m sure that you think its coverage or lack thereof is part of some massive U.Va. coverup. After all, who wouldn’t want to read endless coverage about a death in a U.Va. fraternity house?
Casteen made no attempt to contact the Lexington Police Department before he pretended in the press conference that he would have done anything other than what he usually does with such information: cover it up to protect the image of “he university.” The entire “strikes me as odd” statement is a lie, plain and simple. They had no idea Huguely was a UVA student. Ask any UVA cop off the record and they will gush with details of how many drunk in public arrests have involved UVA students resisting arrest right here on campus.
Name for all of us a SINGLE incident where a UVA student HERE in Charlottesville has been publicly named in a DIP and/or violent incident that did NOT end with a dead body.. Are you seriously suggesting there have been NONE in the past two decades??
Thanks for pointing out how deaths of students at every other university in the country get covered by bringing up the tragedy at GWU a few days ago: Full coverage in a national newspaper, cause of death included, within 36 hours.
But not here!
6 weeks later. ZERO coverage in the C-Ville Weekly, the Hook, NBC29, or the Daily Progress. One very carefully worded 5 sentence blurb buried in the Newsplex and UVA websites.
In order for coverage to ever become “endless,” it needs to actually begin. Casteen & co. have only one priority at present: deflect attention away from what they have been doing for 20 years around here, and get the hell out before too many people find out about all of it.
“the University maintains good communication with other departments and tries to monitor incidents involving students in other local jurisdictions.”
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Where’s the lie, Sean?
The entire “strikes me as odd” statement is a lie, plain and simple.
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Where’s the lie, Sean?
They had no idea Huguely was a UVA student.
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Who? Lexington police? So they were supposed to notify U.Va. even though they didn’t know that he was a U.Va. student? Or Casteen was supposed to be clairvoyant and know the legal status of all 20,000 U.Va. students?
Ask any UVA cop off the record and they will gush with details of how many drunk in public arrests have involved UVA students resisting arrest right here on campus.
Name for all of us a SINGLE incident where a UVA student HERE in Charlottesville has been publicly named in a DIP and/or violent incident that did NOT end with a dead body.. Are you seriously suggesting there have been NONE in the past two decades??
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There have been plenty of cases of U.Va. students involving alcohol and violence that get reported. They usually are U.Va. athletes because most people have no desire to continually read accounts of college students being arrested for public intoxication. It’s not a cover-up, just lack of interest in a banal story.
Women need to learn how to choose boyfriends from their mothers. This is not the schools responsibility. As much as I despise the coverup the school can only go so far. If parents do not instill proper valuee in their daughters they will continue to choose losers.
The school needs to step in when these losers cross boundaries. The parents need to send their daughters to school with the judgement it takes to avoid animals.
If these guys didn’t get their way they would change their methods.
You know, many college students would be embarrassed to be thoroughly provincial and uneducated.
Not Sean at U.Va.!
Many college students would be ashamed if they could not write or formulate coherent arguments.
Not Sean at U.Va.!
Most people would get the hint if their reporting was considered to be sub-par even for the Cavalier Daily.
Not Sean at U.Va.!
Sean isn’t a UVa student. His name is Sean Cannan and he’s pretty ragefully obsessed with John Casteen. Hmm, rage + obsession…
Can’t come up with a single name, can you guys??
Of course you can’t. You have NEVER read one in this town. Casteen’s comments in the press conference were in direct contradiction to his own policy. Plus he made no attempt to even contact the Lexington Police even after this incident happened. He does what he usually does instead. Just try and divert people’s attention elsewhere. And the local media goes along with it. The Hook won’t even dare mention UVA’s own stated policy regarding incidents in other jurisdictions. Perhaps this would be a good time to look on top of this web page and have look at those advertisements flashing in and out. Casteen is not responsible for Ms. Love’s death. But the culture of cover up and the “we got your back” tradition at UVA is all his. And that includes the massive fraud in medical misinformation given out at student health.
Instead of perhaps debating how a college president contradicting his own policy and trying to blame a police department for not telling him something they never knew in the first place… Instead of coming up with a single name of a locally arrested UVA student… instead of reminding themselves that Huguely’s record has been public information that UVA could have gotten anytime they cared to look online for it… the diversion even among those whose priority remains keeping bad news about UVA out of the media is very predictable. Just shoot the messenger.
Does ANYONE honestly believe that Casteen EVER called ONE college and told them about a drunk in public arrest here of one of their students? Does ANYONE really believe that UVA students have been involved in ZERO drunken, violent arrests on the corner or downtown in the past 20 years besides the two that have dead bodies at the end of them?
No, of course not. Nobody is silly enough to believe either of those things. The point is that there are a LOT of people in this town that are AOK with any and all cover ups so long as they keep this fantasy notion of UVA’s superiority and studious, academic reputation alive in their own minds - and think others around the country are still buying it. If that has been true at any time the last 20 years, it sure isn’t anymore. And that is what really embitters them. Huguely had every reason to believe that he would get away with beating Ms. Love to within an inch of her life. Zero other assaults by UVA kids make news around here - and that is far from any kind of accident.
Meanwhile, there is no lacrosse coach at the press conference. Of course not. There is no discussion of Huguely’s fraternity, or what happened there that could have alerted everyone to how out of control he was. There is just yet another big secret to be kept, and there are plenty of students who were there that night keeping it. None of them will dare step forward and take on this hushed madness, even now.
There is no interest in perhaps finding out which fraternities held parties recently at the farm where Morgan Harrington’s body was found. There is no interest or pressure for anyone on the west range of the lawn to volunteer for a lineup or a DNA test. There is not even any coverage at all in 3 newspapers and one TV network of an otherwise healthy 21 year old student dropping dead.
Nah..
Not here.. That only happens everywhere else when young women are murdered.
And that is just fine with most people on the western end of this town.
Personal protection. Every little bit helps and can get you out of some very sticky situations. Even if your mother approved of your choice of partner, she does not know about the potential dark side of that idividual. His was obvious by looking at his past, but there are others who you don’t find out about till something tragic happens. http://www.highteksecurity.com
“Name for all of us a SINGLE incident where a UVA student HERE in Charlottesville has been publicly named in a DIP and/or violent incident that did NOT end with a dead body.”
Didn’t the QB in 2008, Peter Lalich, get a an alcohol related charge in C’ville?
The university is a provider of services..nothing more, nothing less. They bear no more responsibility than the best buy that sold GHV his iphone. If he were under 18 or living on campus, the dynamic changes, but absent that, they bear NO responsibility. If people don’t like that, kick UVA out of Charlottesville and see what happens to this town. GH V did a horrible thing, but there are horrible people out there, and they’re going to do what they do regardless. GH V was an adult, living on his own, and he is solely responsible for his actions.
“Women need to learn how to choose boyfriends from their mothers. This is not the schools responsibility. As much as I despise the coverup the school can only go so far. If parents do not instill proper valuee in their daughters they will continue to choose losers.”
Although I agree that schools are not responsible for “teaching” us poor, meek little girls how to choose boyfriends, do you really think mothers are responsible for “instilling values” that will help us? What college-aged girl wants to date a guy her mommy would approve of? And apparently he was an “ex”. Is it her fault she didn’t choose wisely? No- must have been her mother’s.
I’m confused…how are Casteen’s comments in “direct contradiction” with UVa’s policies that you quoted? Maybe my grasp of English isn’t what it used to be, which would be rather unfortunate considering I teach English.
“Name for all of us a SINGLE incident where a UVA student HERE in Charlottesville has been publicly named in a DIP”
I wasn’t aware there was such a demand to know the names of all the persons in a college town cited for alcohol violations…lol. Other than athletes or prominent students (maybe class presidents) I don’t see how it would be at all worthy of mention.
Looks like the UVA Cover Up trolls are working around the clock to keep Casteen’s legacy and UVA’s reputation in tact. Good luck with that.
Winning at any cost is costly. Cover ups only suppress things for so long.
The truth will out . . . it always does, just takes some time.
The outside media is going to keep at this until they get to the bottom of it, then good bye UVA’s “stellar” reputation.
@Dude
“Or Casteen was supposed to be clairvoyant and know the legal status of all 20,000 U.Va. students?”
No, but Littlepage, Miller, Oliver and ALL UVA coaches are supposed to know what’s going on with their student-athletes — in school, out of school, on the field, etc. — 24/7. There are NCAA rules, there are team rules, there’s the honor system, there’s the law, etc. The folks in the Athletic Department OWN that responsibility. Turning a blind eye or accepting bad behavior is problematic and they should be held accountable.
Many other coaches UVA coaches do their job. Why not Starsia?
And if Starsia wasn’t doing his job, then Littlepage, Miller and Oliver are on the hook for that.
Given all the past problems with football players and some other UVA student-athletes, one would think they would have been on top of what the student-athletes were up to. Apparently not . . . too busy worried about reassigning seats, dwindling season ticket sales, falling attendance, twisting arms to raise money, etc. Simply too busy, busy, busy to make sure that student-athletes do not behave in a manner that reflects poorly on the University.
This business about requiring police departments in other jurisdictions to notify UVA (or any college in Virginia)about arrests of their students has interesting implications. What about jurisdictions in other states, e.g. a UVA student gets arrested for public intoxication out-of-state during spring break or while on vacation overseas? How can you require those police departments to notify UVA (assuming they or even in-state PDs even knew the arrested individual is a UVA student)? Why stop at notifying colleges? Why not require PDs to notify employers of all those they arrest? How about churches those arrested belong to? What about the presumption of innocence until proven guilty in a court of law? Can you imagine the lawsuits against PDs, employers or colleges if the arrested individual gets fired or kicked out of school and is later found not guilty or the case is dismissed? All these knee-jerk reactions after a tragedy like this are probably normal given the benefit of 20/20 hindsight and the need to “do something” to prevent a similar event in the future.
Liberty: “poor meek little girls” is not what we are talking about. She was hardly poor little or meek, but she was no match for a 6 foot 210 pound man.
Women have been taught to think they are safe because of 911, the only problem is… how are you going to get to the phone when an animal has you by the throat.
Sigfreid and Roy got attacked by a tiger… that they voluntarily got into the ring with. 911 wouldn’t have helped them either.
Women need to learn the risk/reward ratio for dating losers like this.
It just might save their life.. or even someone elses if the guy decides to change.
While everyone here has some good points..it all points back to the individual. HE made the decision to go to Yeardley’s house that night, HE made the decision to hit her, etc, etc. Did the coaches, friends, faculty and staff KNOW he is capable of such an act? The jury is still out on this one…20/20 on hindsight says yes, but all the facts are not known by us. While we would all like to have “laws” and “rules” in place to “keep this from ever happening again”, the sad part is that it will regardless of the laws and rules with complete disregard of the social status of either individual. Can we at least try? Sure!!! We can hold the athletes to a higher standard as they should be. They should be an example for ALL the student body. So if they go around boozing and druging all the time, what message are they sending? We can hold the coach accountable for the athlete’s actions if there is a known issue (especially if the coach tells the players “Keep your drinking to one night a week”…is that a proper message to send???)…We actually can “what if” ourselves to death and lock things down so tight we penalize the innocent in an attempt to keep the guilty from acting out. And that is exactly what it will be, an attempt. If a person’s brain is wired to do this type of thing (and we can see that George’s seemed to be that way) then they will act out REGARDLESS of the consequences. So in closing, I like the most of you, are extremely angry that this happened at all. I would LOVE to give the creep about 10 mins in a cell, completely helpless to defend himself just as Yeardly was and let the rest of the girl’s lacross team beat the crap out of him for vengence. But it won’t bring Yeardley back and it probably won’t change George either. And I agree he has some SERIOUS issues that SHOULD have been identified and dealt with. I do think that having a class that is required for BOTH females and males (there are female abusers too) to be able to recognize the traits of an abuser would be beneficial and hopefully would prevent such horrible crime from repeating itself. As things move forward, I hope that all find a peace in this and wish rest of the graduating class of 2010 Godspeed for healing and remembering this lovely girl the way she would want to be remembered…as Yeardley Love.
Speaking of Lalich, he transferred to Oregon, and was just arrested for drunken boating in Shasta Lake in Northern California. Google it.
@Matt - just googled it..yet another young talented athlete gets in trouble due to alcohol….wonder if they will ever learn the word “moderation”…..I doubt it. Thanks for the info, will be interesting to see what OSU coach does.
To me this seems like no one else’s fault but George Hughley’s, he’s the monster that killed an innocent girl, he’s the one with the problems. Everyone just wants a higher system to blame than just a person. Absent mind control or time machines, there’s not much UVA can do to stop crimes before they happen.
Sad, disgusting crimes such as this are a fact of life and happen everywhere, unless the government finds some way to monitor every house, person, pet, and brain cell, it’s going to stay that way.
This situation is messed up beyond all control, it’s not UVA lacrosse’s fault, it’s not campus police’s fault, it’s not Casteen’s. It George Hughley’s fault and he’s going to have to live with it the rest of his life in a jail cell.
A young, beautiful, talented girl is dead for no reason, can we focus on that fact, instead of passing blame and dwelling on theoreticals?
My heartfelt condolences to the Love family, I can’t imagine the pain you must be going through, your loss is felt by all of us whether we show it or not.
WHY won’t the police tell us what was in Huguely’s bloodstream that night. We all know they had to have tested it when they took him in. WHO do you think is making that become an “unstory” in this town like he has made so many other things an “unstory?”
THREE very young adults have died needless, tragic deaths at UVA this year. But the Casteen Cloaking Device is working overtime to make sure that graduation weekend is all about only one of them. The one they can put some political spin on and call “gender violence.” Nevermind all the other factors that contributed they don’t want you to think about, including the “we got your back, Big Guy” tradition.
UVA’s rampant drug culture, the “drink till blackout and whatever happens between 10 pm and 4 am never happened” culture, and the culture of arrogance, elitism, and the revolting sense of entitlement will remain as it has been the last 20 years.
NOTHING will change. Come the third week of August, the same frat house where Huguely attacked Love will be filled to the gills with eager 17 and 18 year old freshman girls from the dorms competing for the chance to hook up with Huguely’s BMOC friends while getting trashed on endless amounts of free liquor, marijuana, and cocaine.
The media in town are already back to doing what he tells them to. The only hope for positive change at this point is even ONE independent national journalist who can get a cop, a medical examiner, or someone inside Casteen ’s War Room to tell him or her the truth.
WHY won’t the police tell us what was in Huguely’s bloodstream that night. We all know they had to have tested it when they took him in. WHO do you think is making that become an “unstory” in this town like he has made so many other things an “unstory?”
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Gee, maybe those test results will be used as evidence in a criminal trial.
The media in town are already back to doing what he tells them to. The only hope for positive change at this point is even ONE independent national journalist who can get a cop, a medical examiner, or someone inside Casteen ’s War Room to tell him or her the truth.
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Sean, you’re exhibiting all of the classic signs of paranoia. And pray tell, why won’t any “independent national journalists” break this incredibly important story and expose this massive cover-up orchestrated by sinister forces? A small paper in Virginia recently won the Pulitzer for public service for exposing corruption. Maybe you can save us, Sean, with your amazing reporting and writing and win a Pulitzer in the process!
Hmmm, you’re exhibiting all the characteristics of someone who very much wants everything to just be swept under the rug and never talked about. Three very young adults died at UVA this year, and all you are focused on is knowing as LITTLE as possible about all three. Hmmm, indeed.. Perhaps you could get a job at C-Ville Weekly - or NBC 29 ?
Toxicology results are routinely given to the media by prosecutors when it supports their case that the perp was out of control. Cops and prosecutors tend to get along. Hell, we even know what was in Michael Jackson’s blood long before the trial starts.
But graduation is this weekend, after all.. Nobody at news desks around here wants to know what was in Huguely’s blood. And Mr. Casteen does not want them to report on it if they do. He has 5 days left to keep the focus entirely on “gender violence,” and what a hero he is saying it’s bad. But Morgan Harrington won’t be getting any such consideration. Mr. Casteen refused even to sign the Letter of Condolences that the VT president penned after her body was found at a remote farm where UVA frats had parties. Even the Cavalier Daily dared to cover that tidbit. Nobody else dared. I suspect you are quite happy with that.
If you have alternate reasons as to why the Harrington sighting on the lawn, the Pantera shirt found on 15th., a fraternity guy dropping dead on Rugby Road 6 weeks ago, or Huguely’s BAC was of no interest and not news to TV networks and newspapers in a small city - then perhaps you could share that with us all. Please be specific, and include whether or not you were happy that these stories (evidence in 2 murder investigations at UVA and a 21 year old dropping dead at UVA) were not covered here as they would have been anywhere else.
Trust me… we’re still pushing for any and all information about the Love (and for that matter the Harrington) stories, but are being blocked by police and prosecutors with zero interest in sharing those details and little to no legal leverage for us to do anything about it.
Witness today’s hearing about the secret order to seal *normally public* documents in the Love-Huguely matter… and a judge who is delaying any decision about the legality of it for another week.
I don’t expect everybody to appreciate what we do and how we do it; but to suggest we’re in the pockets of UVA is a laugh.
Does it really matter what Huguely’s BAC was? Being drunk is no excuse for murder. He was 21 and could purchase/consume booze/beer/wine legally and, if he did, wasn’t even on UVA property when he did so. As if any of that matters other than the doubtful possibility he was too drunk to legally waive his Miranda rights. He’s gonna pay big time and no amount of fictional pressure from his out-of-state parents on local prosecutors (like they’d really give a rat’s rump what those parents say) will make a damned bit of difference. Especially with national attention to be focused on this case, the Commonwealth’s Attorney will not be made a fool.
In-Town Journalist,
Thanks for your candor, but really now….. WHO would it be that would be making sure you are all stonewalled until 2 days after graduation ??? Al Weed? Sissy Spacek? The Tooth Fairy?!
(pssst..take a look at who is giving the commencement address)
Please take a stab at the questions I asked Hmmm in my previous post also. How is it that YOUR news team somehow missed a 21 year old dropping dead in a frat house at UVA? Or a shirt exactly matching that of a missing woman in danger found in UVA-land?
gee….. Lots of crazy coincidences where news that would be BIG news anywhere else just simply vanishes around here, huh?
Did you see Cathy Harding’s gushing praise for Casteen in this week’s C-Ville Weekly issue?
We could have done better with the 21 year old. We covered the shirt. And lots more. I can’t speak for Cathy.
Who Cares,
I’ve heard it was a whole lot more than alcohol. Keep in mind Casteen and Littlepage are on record as saying they drug test their lacrosse players. Everyone at UVA knows that is not true, but NONE of them will dare come out and say it. The lacrosse team has had a well earned rep for many years. It was the middle of lacrosse season with the ACC tournament looming.
I for one never blamed Ms. Love for her own death or even Casteen for that matter. But the coverage vs. cover up quotient remains the same here as it did with Morgan Harrington: Distract, divert, manipulate, make sure things don’t end up in the media that might cast the university in a bad light.
So what to do? Well, what you always do.. Just make sure nobody finds out. Or, in this case, that these revelations come after graduation and after you’ve moved out of town to go sell cigarettes to teenagers.
ITJ,
Unless you work for the Hook (who waited a long time as it was), you did NOT cover the shirt until the cops confirmed it was hers! Nobody did except the Hook.
You see, black shirts for females featuring an OLD, not so popular heavy metal band like Pantera just grow on trees around UVA. All the sorority girls go crazy for 50 year old metal rockers!
right ?
or is it something else?????
The people, support the State. The State and University system is under review. Not only do you have athletics and the handling of the Morgan Harrington case in the public eye, you have the entire system under review.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37217425/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/
Virgina Tech has been found in violation.
“The Department of Education said Tech violated the Clery Act’s requirement of a timely warning. About an hour and 20 minutes elapsed between the shootings of two students at a dormitory and an e-mail alert to the campus about a possible danger.”
We now see judges not sealing documents that the defense ask for, but instead for the request of the County / State with the UVA student murder.
We have a Educator a Doctor no less not understanding the deference between homicide and murder in the Morgan Harrington case.
People in Virgina should stop blaming the other 49 states and start looking within for answers. Do you really believe you are served well?
“Name for all of us a SINGLE incident where a UVA student HERE in Charlottesville has been publicly named in a DIP and/or violent incident that did NOT end with a dead body.. Are you seriously suggesting there have been NONE in the past two decades??”
One year over two decades (1989)- when I was a first year student, our Honor Committee Chair had to step down due to at least one DIP, accompanied by assaulting a police officer and maybe a DUI. It was covered in the Washington Post and locally. There were no dead bodies.
Peace
But…I guess that was not under Casteen. My apologies.
POST TODAY FROM FINDMORGAN.COM from Gil Harrinton
Maybe they are starting to get it. To listen to the clamor of voices that ask for/demand acknowledgement and justice for the crimes against them.
I love the “white ribbon campaign against violence” to be distributed at graduation at UVA this week. There must be more attention given to violence on campus, and 25 thousand white ribbons is an awful lot of stuff to sweep under the rug.
Kent State, 4 dead changed the direction of the nation. At UVA 6 dead, nothing. How can this be? Here in Virginia we literally are having kids heads placed at our feet and we do….nothing?
One factor sociologists use to evaluate the development of a culture is to assess how that group cares for its women and children. Your statistics on this don’t look good. Parents send their precious children to college to gain skills for life; not to have their lives snatched away.
A prestigious degree is nice, but we as parents need to factor into the cost of that prestigious degree, will our kid make it out alive?
2 4 1
cat:
Would you like to explain how the 6 dead came to pass? Are you or Gil suggesting that UVA is somehow responsible for all 6 or that
this statement from a blog has a PR firm addressing all 6 deaths?
[WHY won’t the police tell us what was in Huguely’s bloodstream that night. We all know they had to have tested it when they took him in. WHO do you think is making that become an “unstory” in this town like he has made so many other things an “unstory?”]
It will come out. He was obviously drunk and maybe on coke too.
re: Uva’s “blackout culture”….if thats what you want to call it fine, but UVa has no monopoly on college kids who drink. “College’s ‘balckout culture’” would be more accurate. (Also, I would bet that the majority of UVa students have never blacked out in their life.)
Speaking of college social life, check out this story on the Pi Phi’s formal at Miami (of Ohio). Pretty absurd
http://deadspin.com/5534166/miami-university-had-the-pukiest-poopiest-sexiest-spring-formal-ever
“I’ve heard it was a whole lot more than alcohol. Keep in mind Casteen and Littlepage are on record as saying they drug test their lacrosse players. Everyone at UVA knows that is not true, but NONE of them will dare come out and say it.”
EVERYONE knows its true, eh? And NO ONE will dare come out and say it…except you???
All DIV I athletes are subject to drug testing by the NCAA. Should UVa have its own drug testing system in addition to that? Not exactly cheap.
Sealed documents protecting people from knowing what Huguely was flying on arranged by a secret order on behalf of someone (Casteen).. ANOTHER murder investigation suddenly shrouded in secrecy, and the media “being blocked by police and prosecutors with zero interest in sharing those details and little to no legal leverage for us to do anything about it.”
And what is the response of this local media to being stonewalled AGAIN? Well, a gushing, glowing, front page interview with none other than Casteen himself - of course!
Casteen has achieved a kind of North Korean despot’s control over this town, and especially it’s media.
@Sean “There is no interest in perhaps finding out which fraternities held parties recently at the farm where Morgan Harrington’s body was found”
Which fraternities had parties there and when? These events might only exist in Sean’s delusions.
“It’s fair to say that if you’re a student, be that [at] U.Va. or any other university for that matter, and you participated in any other activities that involved Anchorage Farms, please call the number that I gave,” Rader said, adding that relevant activities may have taken place in years past. Hunting has taken place on the property, Rader said. He did not deny that fraternity parties may have occurred there or that activities may have occurred without the permission of the owners.
People familiar with North Garden or Anchorage Farms are encouraged to call 434-709-1685, Rader said.
http://www.cavalierdaily.com/2010/02/08/harrington-brief/
The Casteen Cloaking Device, enabled before your eyes. Watch Huguely Toxicology report and other details in ANOTHER student murder investigation vanish, right before your eyes..
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/crime-scene/from-the-courthouse/court-battle-over-sealed-recor.html
“The order explaining why those records are closed to the public was itself sealed by a judge — an action that violates state law and Virginia Supreme Court guidelines, according to a petition filed May 11 by The Washington Post and other news organizations.”
Sean, the newspaper’s line (”He did not deny that fraternity parties may have occurred there”) doesn’t make for a state policeman’s affirmation that fraternity parties were indeed held on the farm. You can see the difference, right? It’s a logical fallacy.
Get real, man.
See what I mean, folks? Even if the cops are asking STUDENTS to call them and give them info about who was at Anchorage Farm the last few years… Even if they are talking about frat parties there…..
then that, of course, means that the cops don’t know what they are talking about! Because, of course, there is no way that there could be a murderer going to UVA. Oh, wait, we gotta amend that now to “more than one murderer per year” going to UVA..
OK. Got it.
See what I mean, folks? Sean takes a student reporter’s paraphrase of a policeman’s non-denial of an internet rumor to be a proven fact.
This strikes me as the same sort of web-based expression of paranoia that characterizes the birthers, the 911 truthers, the Freepers, and other wing nuts _ad nauseum_.
ITJ,
Unless you work for the Hook (who waited a long time as it was), you did NOT cover the shirt until the cops confirmed it was hers! Nobody did except the Hook.
***
Sean, you’re wrong (surprise, surprise). The C-ville Weekly first published a piece on their website saying that the shirt had been discovered. It was right after Harrington’s body was discovered but before police confirmed that the shirt was Harrington’s.
http://www.c-ville.com/index.php?cat=1991704080566501&act=post&pid=12032901101847453
http://readthehook.com/blog/index.php/2010/04/15/pantera-find-shirt-on-15th-street-was-morgan-harringtons/
If they covered, then tell us what issue was the article was printed in? What date? What page?
Same goes for covering a student dropping dead in the SERP house 6 weeks ago.
What issue, what date, what page?
C-Ville Weekly is the worst of the local bunch pretending for a moment that they are journalists. Note their glowing, gushing editorial about him last week - and their front page interview with the creep this week.
Casteen’s very consistent and continuing support for in house abortions at his publicly funded school and cover ups of all drug use at same is what really makes the eyelashes flutter in appreciation of him in the C-Ville Weekly offices.
Sean,
Bloom is 100% right. A denial does not equal an affirmation by any stretch of the imagination. ASKING if anything occurred there doesn’t mean things DID occur there, that’s the entire POINT in asking.
Well, in addition to the online posts, it looks to be:
Issue #22.05 :: 02/02/2010 - 02/08/2010
http://www.c-ville.com/index.php?cat=121304064644348&z_Issue_ID=11800102102613640&Year=2010
Oh, and let me get this straight, U.Va. Medical Center performs medical procedures? The insight just keeps coming from Sean.
Ok, Sean. Nice little vendetta you have going there. You sure you took your psych meds? I am sure Casteen personally called the judge, demand the order sealed, called the police to “cover-up” all UVA arrests even though Judiciary Committee here sees these cases consistently, called the media to demand their silence. You sure make a lot of sense.
I love that people like Sean feel ENTITLED to know what Huguely’s toxicology report says, as if it has any bearing whatsoever on his life. Sean can’t handle the fact that at the end of the day these details are simply none of his business. Your own morbid curiosity isn’t the concern of a prosecutor or a judge.
Wait until the trial. Patience is a virtue. If you want to be on the inside, join the police academy, the Department of Forensics Science, or become a prosecutor. Otherwise, chill out.
Sean was ranting about Casteen covering up the death of a fraternity member a few months back, saying Casteen was making sure the results of the medical examination were being covered up and had prevented all media outlets from covering the death. Apparently, the irony of making such a claim under an article about the death that appeared on the FRONT PAGE of the Cav Daily escaped our valiant keyboard warrior. In the midst of making said accusations over multiple posts, he also made statements regarding illegal drug use, drug addiction, and other such things even though he doesn’t know the kid or anyone in his frat.
The father of the deceased young man later came on the thread to tell Sean he came home to find his wife crying hysterically after reading all of Sean’s posts under the article about her deceased son (which of course all of her relatives and friends probably read). The boy’s father(who happens to be a medical professional), while expressing his anger and disbelief, also pointed out that it takes 3-5 months before results are available in cases that are not suspected homicides.
Keep it up, Sean. You’ll get a medal one day
What Sean doesn’t realize is that there are only two Department of Forensic Science labs in the entire state and they’re backlogged.