Duke students play nice in town  Incidents drop off after
lacrosse case  Staff WriterAugust 30, 2007       Continued
police enforcement has helped students think twice about their
actions, said Christine Pesetski, Duke's assistant dean of
mediation and off-campus services.  Also significant, she said,
was the university's purchase of 13 homes near campus that had
been rented to students.  Some of those houses had been the
scene of loud, drunken parties in previous years. One of them,
on Buchanan Boulevard, was the location of a lacrosse team party
in March 2006, after which an escort-service dancer accused team
members of raping her. Three players were charged with sexual
assault but were later exonerated.  Pesetski's office handled
212 cases in 2005-06 and gave out 156 sanctions. Most of those
punishments were warnings. Last year, there were 48 cases with
74 students facing sanctions, which were mostly warnings and
probation.  "The short-term conclusion is perhaps students are
making better choices and stude