updated 3:31 p.m. ET April 7, 2006

DURHAM, N.C. - A lacrosse player’s e-mail rant about killing and skinning strippers in his Duke University dorm room has led to his coach’s resignation, the season’s cancellation and an internal probe into the school’s response to alleged violence by athletes.

Wednesday’s cascade of events was the latest fallout from allegations that three players on the lacrosse team raped a stripper at an off-campus party on March 13.

No charges have been filed in the case, but sophomore Ryan McFadyen, 19, of Mendham, N.J., the player who wrote the e-mail has been suspended, and Duke President Richard H. Brodhead promised a “very, very serious self-study” of campus culture.

“I pledge that Duke will respond with appropriate seriousness when the truth is established,” he wrote in a letter to the community.

Students and townspeople have marched almost daily since the alleged attack on the stripper, a student across town at North Carolina Central University. The woman, who is black, claims three white players pulled her into a bathroom and assaulted her.

Protesters are angry over the school’s handling of the allegations and the team members’ refusal to cooperate with police. Investigators have said the athletes are sticking together and keeping silent.

Authorities have taken DNA samples from the team’s 46 white players. The sole black player has been ruled out. District Attorney Mike Nifong has said that he is “pretty confident that a rape occurred,” but that he does not expect to file charges until next week.

NBC VIDEO NAACP vows to watch Duke scandal April 6: The North Carolina chapter of NAACP vows to watch the investigation closely into whether three players on the lacrosse team raped a stripper at an off-campus party. NBC’s Martin Savidge reports. MSNBC

The team’s co-captains have acknowledged hiring the stripper and serving alcohol but have denied that anyone was sexually assaulted at the party.

On Wednesday, authorities unsealed documents stating that less than two hours after the alleged rape, McFadyen sent an e-mail saying he was planning an encore to “tonights (sic) show.” The message, addressed “To whom it may concern,” said, “however there will be no nudity.”

“I plan on killing the bitches as soon as the(y) walk in and proceding to cut their skin off,” wrote McFadyen, a 6-foot-6, 225-pound Atlantic Coast Conference honor roll player who was one of five Duke players from the exclusive Delbarton School in Morristown, N.J., adding in vulgar terms that he would find the act sexually satisfying. The e-mail was signed with McFadyen’s jersey number, 41.

McFadyen’s name, however, does not match the three names the woman gave to police as those of her attackers.

N.C. Central Chancellor James Ammons called the e-mail “very disturbing” and cautioned students not “to seek retribution or take matters into their own hands.”

“I am encouraging our students to continue to show support for the alleged victim and to continue to plan events that better educate individuals about sexual violence and racism,” Ammons said in a statement.