A Rape on Campus: Difference between revisions
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Fraternity officials, who rejected the published allegations, noted a number of discrepancies with the story, including that there was no party held on the night of the alleged rape, as the accuser had claimed, that no fraternity member matched the description in the story of the "ringleader" of the rape, and that details about the layout of the fraternity house provided by the accuser were wrong. Fraternity officials also noted that, prior to the ''Rolling Stone'' story, there had never been a criminal investigation or allegation of sexual assault against an undergraduate member of the chapter.<ref>{{cite news |last=Shapiro |first=Rees |date=20 November 2014 |title=McAuliffe urges investigation at U-Va. after ''Rolling Stone'' depiction of sexual assault |url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/mcauliffe-urges-investigation-at-u-va-after-rolling-stone-depiction-of-sexual-assault/2014/11/20/21f45eac-70ec-11e4-8808-afaa1e3a33ef_story.html |newspaper=[[Washington Post]] |location= |accessdate=5 December 2014 }}</ref> Fraternity officials further disputed a claim in Erdely's piece that said the rape had occurred as part of a pledging ritual by observing that pledging on the UVA campus occurs in spring, not autumn as the story stated, and that there were no pledges resident in the fraternity at the time Erdely claimed.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.phikappapsi.com/news/updateuvapressrelease |title=Official Statement from the Virginia Alpha Chapter of Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity at the University of Virginia |last1= |first1= |last2= |first2= |date= |website=phikappapsi.com |publisher=Phi Kappa Psi |accessdate=5 December 2014}}</ref> |
Fraternity officials, who rejected the published allegations, noted a number of discrepancies with the story, including that there was no party held on the night of the alleged rape, as the accuser had claimed, that no fraternity member matched the description in the story of the "ringleader" of the rape, and that details about the layout of the fraternity house provided by the accuser were wrong. Fraternity officials also noted that, prior to the ''Rolling Stone'' story, there had never been a criminal investigation or allegation of sexual assault against an undergraduate member of the chapter.<ref>{{cite news |last=Shapiro |first=Rees |date=20 November 2014 |title=McAuliffe urges investigation at U-Va. after ''Rolling Stone'' depiction of sexual assault |url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/mcauliffe-urges-investigation-at-u-va-after-rolling-stone-depiction-of-sexual-assault/2014/11/20/21f45eac-70ec-11e4-8808-afaa1e3a33ef_story.html |newspaper=[[Washington Post]] |location= |accessdate=5 December 2014 }}</ref> Fraternity officials further disputed a claim in Erdely's piece that said the rape had occurred as part of a pledging ritual by observing that pledging on the UVA campus occurs in spring, not autumn as the story stated, and that there were no pledges resident in the fraternity at the time Erdely claimed.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.phikappapsi.com/news/updateuvapressrelease |title=Official Statement from the Virginia Alpha Chapter of Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity at the University of Virginia |last1= |first1= |last2= |first2= |date= |website=phikappapsi.com |publisher=Phi Kappa Psi |accessdate=5 December 2014}}</ref> |
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''[[Washington Post]]'' reporters later interviewed the accuser at the center of Erdely's story and two of the friends that ''Rolling Stone'' said she had met on the night of the incident. The accuser told the ''Post'' that she had felt "manipulated" by Erdely, and claimed she asked Erdely to be taken out of the article, a request Erdely refused. The two friends confirmed to the ''Post'' that they remembered meeting her on the night of the incident, that she was distraught but not visibly injured or bloodied, and that details she provided then were different from those in the ''Rolling Stone'' article. One friend, pseudonymed as "Andy" in ''Rolling Stone'' told the ''Washington Post'' that he had never spoken to any reporter from ''Rolling Stone'', despite Erdely claiming him as a source to corroborate the accusers story.<ref name="wapo1">{{cite news |last=Wemple |first=Erik |date=8 December 2014 |title=Updated apology digs bigger hole for Rolling Stone |url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-wemple/wp/2014/12/07/updated-apology-digs-bigger-hole-for-rolling-stone/ |newspaper=[[Washington Post]] |location= |accessdate=8 December 2014 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Shapiro |first=T. Rees |date=5 December 2014 |title=Key elements of ''Rolling Stone''’s U-Va. gang rape allegations in doubt |url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/u-va-fraternity-to-rebut-claims-of-gang-rape-in-rolling-stone/2014/12/05/5fa5f7d2-7c91-11e4-84d4-7c896b90abdc_story.html?Post+generic=%3Ftid%3Dsm_twitter_washingtonpost |newspaper=[[Washington Post]] |location= |accessdate=5 December 2014 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Shapiro |first=T. Rees |date=6 December 2014 |title=U-Va. remains resolved to address sexual violence as ''Rolling Stone'' account unravels |url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/u-va-remains-resolved-to-address-sexual-violence-as-rolling-stone-account-unravels/2014/12/06/66c0c780-7d64-11e4-84d4-7c896b90abdc_story.html |newspaper=[[Washington Post]] |location= |accessdate=7 December 2014 }}</ref> |
''[[Washington Post]]'' reporters later interviewed the accuser at the center of Erdely's story and two of the friends that ''Rolling Stone'' said she had met on the night of the incident. The accuser told the ''Post'' that she had felt "manipulated" by Erdely, and claimed she asked Erdely to be taken out of the article, a request Erdely refused.<ref name="wapo1"/> Jackie had requested that her assailants not be contacted, and Rolling Stone agreed.<ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/03/us/magazines-account-of-gang-rape-on-virginia-campus-comes-under-scrutiny.html Magazine’s Account of Gang Rape on Virginia Campus Comes Under Scrutiny], By Ravi Somaiya, New York Times, Dec. 2, 2014.</ref> Bruce Shapiro, Columbia University, said that an engaged and empathetic reporter will be concerned about inflicting new trauma on the victim. “I do think that when the emotional valence of a story is this high, you really have to verify it.” Experienced reporters often only work with women who feel strong enough to deal with the due diligence required to bring the article to publication, he said.<ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/08/business/media/rolling-stone-tries-to-regroup-after-campus-rape-article-is-disputed.html Rolling Stone Tries to Regroup After Campus Rape Article Is Disputed], By Ravi Somaiya, New York Times, Dec. 7, 2014.</ref> |
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The two friends confirmed to the ''Post'' that they remembered meeting her on the night of the incident, that she was distraught but not visibly injured or bloodied, and that details she provided then were different from those in the ''Rolling Stone'' article. One friend, pseudonymed as "Andy" in ''Rolling Stone'' told the ''Washington Post'' that he had never spoken to any reporter from ''Rolling Stone'', despite Erdely claiming him as a source to corroborate the accusers story.<ref name="wapo1">{{cite news |last=Wemple |first=Erik |date=8 December 2014 |title=Updated apology digs bigger hole for Rolling Stone |url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-wemple/wp/2014/12/07/updated-apology-digs-bigger-hole-for-rolling-stone/ |newspaper=[[Washington Post]] |location= |accessdate=8 December 2014 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Shapiro |first=T. Rees |date=5 December 2014 |title=Key elements of ''Rolling Stone''’s U-Va. gang rape allegations in doubt |url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/u-va-fraternity-to-rebut-claims-of-gang-rape-in-rolling-stone/2014/12/05/5fa5f7d2-7c91-11e4-84d4-7c896b90abdc_story.html?Post+generic=%3Ftid%3Dsm_twitter_washingtonpost |newspaper=[[Washington Post]] |location= |accessdate=5 December 2014 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Shapiro |first=T. Rees |date=6 December 2014 |title=U-Va. remains resolved to address sexual violence as ''Rolling Stone'' account unravels |url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/u-va-remains-resolved-to-address-sexual-violence-as-rolling-stone-account-unravels/2014/12/06/66c0c780-7d64-11e4-84d4-7c896b90abdc_story.html |newspaper=[[Washington Post]] |location= |accessdate=7 December 2014 }}</ref> |
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Another questionable passage refers to "Cindy" whom Erdely characterizes (without attribution) as a promiscuous hook-up queen, who suggests that the described assault could have been fun, and was an instigator of Jackie's abandonment.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Davidson|first1=Amy|title=What Rolling Stone Did to "Cindy"|url=http://www.newyorker.com/news/amy-davidson/rolling-stone-cindy-uva-rape-story|publisher=The New Yorker|accessdate=12 December 2014|date=11 December 2014}}</ref> In the aftermath, "Cindy" (Kathryn Hendley) told ABC News a different story, and states no effort was made by ''Rolling Stone'' to interview her, despite her being a central witness.<ref name="ABCNews"/> Sandra Menendez, another student who claimed to have been interviewed by Erdely but who was not directly quoted in the piece, told [[CNN]] that she and others became uncomfortable after speaking with the reporter, concluding she had "an agenda." <ref>{{cite news |last=Stelter |first=Brian |date=7 December 2014 |title=''Rolling Stone'' apologizes for rape article: What now? |url=http://money.cnn.com/2014/12/07/media/rolling-stone-crisis/ |newspaper=[[CNN]] |location= |accessdate=7 December 2014 }}</ref> |
Another questionable passage refers to "Cindy" whom Erdely characterizes (without attribution) as a promiscuous hook-up queen, who suggests that the described assault could have been fun, and was an instigator of Jackie's abandonment.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Davidson|first1=Amy|title=What Rolling Stone Did to "Cindy"|url=http://www.newyorker.com/news/amy-davidson/rolling-stone-cindy-uva-rape-story|publisher=The New Yorker|accessdate=12 December 2014|date=11 December 2014}}</ref> In the aftermath, "Cindy" (Kathryn Hendley) told ABC News a different story, and states no effort was made by ''Rolling Stone'' to interview her, despite her being a central witness.<ref name="ABCNews"/> Sandra Menendez, another student who claimed to have been interviewed by Erdely but who was not directly quoted in the piece, told [[CNN]] that she and others became uncomfortable after speaking with the reporter, concluding she had "an agenda." <ref>{{cite news |last=Stelter |first=Brian |date=7 December 2014 |title=''Rolling Stone'' apologizes for rape article: What now? |url=http://money.cnn.com/2014/12/07/media/rolling-stone-crisis/ |newspaper=[[CNN]] |location= |accessdate=7 December 2014 }}</ref> |
Revision as of 08:27, 15 December 2014
"A Rape on Campus" is the name of an article that appeared in the December 2014 issue of Rolling Stone (first available in November 2014) by Sabrina Erdely. The article alleged a vicious gang rape at a fraternity at the University of Virginia against a victim identified as "Jackie." It was subsequently criticized due to questions regarding the way Erdely researched the story and its overall accuracy. After intense media scrutiny, Rolling Stone issued multiple apologies for the report and some have suggested legal action against the magazine by persons accused of the rape may result.
The story
In 2014, Erdely has said, she set out to find a sexual assault story at an elite school.[1] Her resulting story for Rolling Stone, titled "A Rape on Campus" and published in the December 2014 issue of that magazine (first available in November 2014), alleged that seven members of Phi Kappa Psi at the University of Virginia gang-raped a student at that fraternity house on September 28, 2012.[2] The article described the school administration's response to the incident as insufficient, and provided detail of the alleged crime so graphic that Erik Wemple later criticized it as hard to believe due to the "diabolical" description Erdely penned.[3]
When yet another hand clamped over her mouth, Jackie bit it, and the hand became a fist that punched her in the face. "Grab its motherfucking leg," she heard a voice say. And that's when Jackie knew she was going to be raped. She remembers every moment of the next three hours of agony, during which, she says, seven men took turns raping her, while two more – her date, Drew, and another man – gave instruction and encouragement. As the last man sank onto her, Jackie was startled to recognize him: He attended her tiny anthropology discussion group. He looked like he was going to cry or puke as he told the crowd he couldn't get it up. "Pussy!" the other men jeered. "What, she's not hot enough for you?" Then they egged him on: "Don't you want to be a brother?" "We all had to do it, so you do, too."
According to Erdely, the story was based on her interviews with the alleged victim whom she identified as "Jackie," as well as interviews with several of Jackie's friends, whom she assigned the pseudonyms "Andy" (whose name was later revealed to be Alex Stone), "Cindy" (whose name was later revealed to be Kathryn Hendley) and "Randall" (whose first name was later revealed to be Ryan).[4]
Reaction
In the aftermath of the report, the University suspended all fraternities on campus, and English professor Allison Booth declared "the whole [fraternity] culture is sick." [5][6] In a nationally published op-ed Colin Downes, a law student at the University of Virginia, called for fraternities to be treated as "criminal street gangs" and subject to asset forfeiture.[7] On November 20, 2014, the Phi Kappa Psi house was vandalized as unknown person or persons spray-painted graffiti and broke windows.[8] As a result of the attacks, as well as death threats made against members, residents of the fraternity abandoned their house. Meanwhile, anonymous persons angered by the alleged rape and the university's purported indifference, also threatened to kill Associate Dean Nicole Eramo.[9] On November 22, a march organized by Victoria Olwell and other University of Virginia faculty protested outside the Phi Kappa Psi house.[10] Four protesters were arrested outside the house on the same day.[11]
The University of Virginia Interfraternity Council, in a statement released on its website, responded to the accusations by noting, in part, that "an IFC officer was interviewed by Rolling Stone regarding the culture of sexual violence at the University. Although the discussion was lengthy, the reporter elected not to include any of the information from the interview in her article."[12]
Story "unravels"
Questions emerge
Richard Bradley, editor in chief of Worth magazine, was the first mainstream journalist to question the Rolling Stone article, in a blog entry written on November 24, 2014.[13] After an interview Erdely gave to Slate, in which she appeared to offer evasive responses about the way in which she investigated the piece, some commentators escalated questioning the veracity of the story. It was later revealed Erdely had not interviewed any of the men accused of the rape.[14][15][16] Erdely defended her decision not to interview the accused by explaining that the contact page on the fraternity's website "was pretty outdated."[17] Washington Post media critic Erik Wemple rejected Erdely's statement on why she had not interviewed the accused, explaining that the severity of the accusations she was reporting required "every possible step to reach out and interview them, including e-mails, phone calls, certified letters, FedEx letters, UPS letters and, if all of that fails, a knock on the door. No effort short of all that qualifies as journalism."[18]
Fraternity officials, who rejected the published allegations, noted a number of discrepancies with the story, including that there was no party held on the night of the alleged rape, as the accuser had claimed, that no fraternity member matched the description in the story of the "ringleader" of the rape, and that details about the layout of the fraternity house provided by the accuser were wrong. Fraternity officials also noted that, prior to the Rolling Stone story, there had never been a criminal investigation or allegation of sexual assault against an undergraduate member of the chapter.[19] Fraternity officials further disputed a claim in Erdely's piece that said the rape had occurred as part of a pledging ritual by observing that pledging on the UVA campus occurs in spring, not autumn as the story stated, and that there were no pledges resident in the fraternity at the time Erdely claimed.[20]
Washington Post reporters later interviewed the accuser at the center of Erdely's story and two of the friends that Rolling Stone said she had met on the night of the incident. The accuser told the Post that she had felt "manipulated" by Erdely, and claimed she asked Erdely to be taken out of the article, a request Erdely refused.[3] Jackie had requested that her assailants not be contacted, and Rolling Stone agreed.[21] Bruce Shapiro, Columbia University, said that an engaged and empathetic reporter will be concerned about inflicting new trauma on the victim. “I do think that when the emotional valence of a story is this high, you really have to verify it.” Experienced reporters often only work with women who feel strong enough to deal with the due diligence required to bring the article to publication, he said.[22]
The two friends confirmed to the Post that they remembered meeting her on the night of the incident, that she was distraught but not visibly injured or bloodied, and that details she provided then were different from those in the Rolling Stone article. One friend, pseudonymed as "Andy" in Rolling Stone told the Washington Post that he had never spoken to any reporter from Rolling Stone, despite Erdely claiming him as a source to corroborate the accusers story.[3][23][24]
Another questionable passage refers to "Cindy" whom Erdely characterizes (without attribution) as a promiscuous hook-up queen, who suggests that the described assault could have been fun, and was an instigator of Jackie's abandonment.[25] In the aftermath, "Cindy" (Kathryn Hendley) told ABC News a different story, and states no effort was made by Rolling Stone to interview her, despite her being a central witness.[4] Sandra Menendez, another student who claimed to have been interviewed by Erdely but who was not directly quoted in the piece, told CNN that she and others became uncomfortable after speaking with the reporter, concluding she had "an agenda." [26]
Rolling Stone apologizes
Erdely stood by her story, stating "I am convinced that it could not have been done any other way, or any better."[5]
On December 5, 2014, Rolling Stone published an online apology stating there appeared to be "discrepancies" in the accounts of Erdely's sources and that their trust in the accuser was misplaced.[27] A subsequent tweet sent by Rolling Stone editor Will Dana offered further comment on Erdely's story: "we made a judgement -- the kind of judgement reporters and editors make every day. And in this case, our judgement was wrong."[28] On December 6 Rolling Stone reworded its online apology without mentioning it had been updated. In the new apology, the magazine appeared to again change its story, saying the mistakes and errors in the article were the fault of Rolling Stone and not of its sources.[29]
According to the New York Observer, Rolling Stone's deputy managing editor Sean Woods tendered his resignation to the magazine's owner, Jann Wenner. Wenner, who was reportedly "furious" at Erdely's story, declined to accept the resignation.[30]
Backlash
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1a/Sabrina_Erdely2012.jpg/150px-Sabrina_Erdely2012.jpg)
Media reaction
Media indictment of Rolling Stone and Erdely was swift and fierce. A number of commentators accused the magazine of setting rape victims "back decades," while the Washington Post described the Rolling Stone story as a "catastrophe for journalism."[16][31][32] Natasha Vargas-Cooper, a columnist at The Intercept, said that Ederly's decision not to interview the accused fraternity members showed "a horrendous, hidden bias ... the premise that none of these guys would tell the truth if asked," while a staff editorial in the Wall Street Journal charged that "Ms. Erdely did not construct a story based on facts, but went looking for facts to fit her theory."[33][34] Lauren Kling of the Poynter Institute criticized Rolling Stone for "blaming [the] source" instead of taking ownership of their own errors.[35] Anna Merlan, a writer for Jezebel who had earlier called Reason columnist Robby Soave an "idiot" for expressing skepticism of the Rolling Stone story declared "I was dead fucking wrong, and for that I sincerely apologize."[36]
On December 6, the Washington Post's media critic Erik Wemple called for all Rolling Stone staff involved with the story to be fired. Wemple posited that the claims presented by the magazine were so incredible that editors should have called for further inquiry before publication. "Under the scenario cited by Erdely," Erik Wemple wrote, "the Phi Kappa Psi members are not just criminal sexual-assault offenders, they’re criminal sexual-assault conspiracists, planners, long-range schemers. If this allegation alone hadn’t triggered an all-out scramble at Rolling Stone for more corroboration, nothing would have."[3] An editorial in the Boston Herald declared "a fifth-grader would’ve done some basic fact-checking before potentially ruining men’s lives" before repeating the call for the firing of Rolling Stone staff involved in the story.[37]
Journalist Caitlin Flanagan, who wrote an expose in Atlantic Magazine titled "The Dark Power of Fraternities: A yearlong investigation of Greek houses", told On the Media she was concerned Erdely's article could inhibit reforms of the Greek System, "I think we've gone backwards 30 years. And I think the level of devastation that this Rolling Stone report that's now looking to go from a misremembered event to perhaps an actual hoax." Flanagan went on to note that "what Rolling Stone has pushed me into is that I have now become someone who is on the side of fraternities and defending fraternities." [38]
Local reaction
Students at the University of Virginia expressed "bewilderment and anger" following Rolling Stone's apology for its story, with one female student declaring "Rolling Stone threw a bomb at us." Virginia Attorney-General Mark Herring said he found it "deeply troubling that Rolling Stone magazine is now publicly walking away from its central storyline in its bombshell report on the University of Virginia without correcting what errors its editors believe were made."[39]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/dd/Pavilion_VIII_at_the_Lawn_UVa_2010.jpg/220px-Pavilion_VIII_at_the_Lawn_UVa_2010.jpg)
Emily Renda, the university's project coordinator for sexual misconduct, policy and prevention declared that "Rolling Stone played adjudicator, investigator and advocate and did a slipshod job at that."[40] Sociology professor W. Bradford Wilcox, meanwhile, tweeted that "I was wrong to give it [the Rolling Stone story] credence."[41] Writing in Politico two days after the "story fell apart," Julia Horowitz, deputy editor of the university's campus newspaper, described the feeling among students: "The campus — relatively oversaturated with emotion after a semester of significant trauma — feels as if it is on stand-by, poised in anticipation of where the next torrent of news will take us."[9]
Response of fraternity and sorority groups
Within days following the "unraveling" of the Rolling Stone story, the North American Interfraternity Conference, the National Panhellenic Council, and the Fraternity and Sorority Political Action Committee demanded that the University of Virginia "immediately reinstate operations for all fraternity and sorority organizations on campus" and issue an apology to Greek students.[42] On December 8, the University of Virginia confirmed the suspensions would be lifted on the resumption of classes in the new term, on January 9.[43]
Accuser scrutinized
On December 8, 2014, ABC News reported that the person quoted by Erdely as alleging a rape at Phi Kappa Psi had retained an attorney. Quoting its legal consultant Mark Eiglarsh, the network reported that if Jackie "allegedly lied and that perpetrator suffered injury as a result, she could be sued for damages."[44]
On December 10, 2014, the Washington Post published an updated account of its inquiry into the Rolling Stone article. The Post account strongly implied Jackie's tale of rape had been fabricated in an attempt to win over "Randall" who had previously rebuffed her romantic advances.[45][46] Emily Renda, who was a University of Virginia student at the time of the alleged attack and in whom Jackie also confided, said she had become suspicious as to the veracity of Jackie's story prior to the Rolling Stone report, commenting to a Washington Post editor that "I don’t even know what I believe."[3]
Key discrepancies in Jackie's allegation, according to ABC News
- In Erdely's story, Jackie sinks into depression after the alleged rape, and holes up in her dorm room. Not so, say her friends, who told ABC News she seemed fine after the alleged assault.
- Also in Erdely's story, Jackie tells her three friends the night of the alleged event that she was raped by seven men over a three-hour period while rolling on a mat of broken glass. The three friends disclosed to ABC News their actual names and went on record that on the night of the alleged event Jackie told them she was forced to perform oral sex on five men while a sixth stood by.[47]
Key discrepancies in Jackie's allegation, according to Washington Post
- In Erdely's story, the rape was supposed to have occurred during a party at Phi Kappa Psi as part of a pledging ritual. Phi Kappa Psi countered by noting there had been no party held on the night of the alleged attack and no pledges resident in the house at that time of year. In response to those revelations, Jackie's father declared Phi Kappa Psi had been misidentified and the attack had occurred at a different fraternity, though he did not elaborate as to which one. However, that statement seemed to contradict an earlier assertion the accuser had made to the Washington Post in which she stated that "I know it was Phi [Kappa] Psi, because a year afterward, my friend pointed out the building to me."[48]
- In Erdely's story, Jackie positively identified, to friends Cindy, Andy, and Randall, the identity of her date to the fraternity party and said he was the ringleader of the rape. Later media analysis of photos Jackie showed her friends of her date showed instead that they were pictures taken from the public social media profile of a former high school classmate of Jackie who was not a student of the University of Virginia, did not live in the Charlottesville area, and was out-of-state at an athletic competition the day of the alleged attack.[49]
- Jackie's friends Cindy, Andy, and Randall had become suspicious as to whether Jackie's date to the fraternity party where she was allegedly raped was a real person. Prior to the date, they attempted to locate him in a student directory and were unable to find evidence he existed. The trio also sent text messages to a phone number Jackie said was the mobile phone of her date and were surprised that he primarily responded with flattering messages about Randall, on whom Jackie was known to have had a crush.[50]
- In 2012 Jackie told her friends she had been accosted by five men, though she later testified to Erdely she had been attacked by seven, with two more directing and encouraging the rape.[49]
- According to Erdley, Jackie regained conciousness alone in the fraternity after 3 a.m. and fled the building blood spattered and bruised, phoning three friends for help. They arrived "minutes later" and found her on the corner next to the building. According to the Washington Post, however, the friends reported getting called at 1 a.m. and meeting Jackie a mile away from the fraternities. They also said that she appeared physically uninjured, despite reporting having been raped over a period of three hours on "broken glass" and punched in the face at least once. [49]
Legal and social consequences of story
Due to increased social skepticism about the prevalence of sexual assault created by the unraveling of Erdely's Rolling Stone report, the Military Justice Improvement Act will be "much harder" to enact, according to Margaret Carlson.[51] Lindy West said that female rape victims will probably be less likely to report sexual assaults for fear of being questioned by "some teenage 4channer."[52] Froma Harrop issued a call for media outlets to begin to publicly name rape accusers, explaining that "reporters and editors should expand their sensitivities to include the reputations of those accused, not always justly."[53]
Several commentators observed that allegations of rape against Bill Cosby, which surfaced at the same time as the publication of A Rape on Campus, would be less damaging to the comedian as a result of the seeming collapse of the Rolling Stone story. Writing for Bloomberg, Zara Kessler observed that, "suddenly, every Cosby accuser is a potential "Jackie"—although we don’t yet know precisely what it means to be a "Jackie." How honest are the intentions of Cosby's accusers?"[54]
In Los Angeles, street artist Sabo papered Hollywood with posters styled like a Rolling Stone cover featuring the headline "Rape Fantasies and Why We Perpetuate Them." The poster featured an image of Lena Dunham, whose own allegations of rape had recently come under scrutiny, and included a sidebar reference to A Rape on Campus that read "Our UVA Rape Apology: Ooops, we did it AGAIN!!!"[55]
The North American Interfraternity Conference and the National Panhellenic Council, meanwhile, have announced they have retained the services of Squire Patton Boggs to lobby the U.S. Congress to take action to ensure that Greek-letter organizations are protected from future accusations of the kind leveled in Erdely's article.[56]
National Review columnist Jonah Goldberg has called for Phi Kappa Psi to sue Rolling Stone, while at least one legal expert has opined there is a high likelihood of "civil lawsuits by the fraternity members or by the fraternity itself against the magazine and maybe even some university officials." [57][58] ABC News has reported the accuser, "Jackie," herself might be sued.[44] By December 5, 2014, Christopher Pivik, a former member of Phi Kappa Psi at the University of Virginia, had retained attorney Andrew Miltenberg.[59] According to Miltenberg, he specializes in "defamation and complex internet and First Amendment issues."[60]
External Links
References
- ^ Goldberg, Jonah (1 December 2014). "Rolling Stone rape story sends shock waves -- and stretches credulity". Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles, CA. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
- ^ Sabrina Rubin Erdely," A Rape on Campus: A Brutal Assault and Struggle for Justice at UVA", Rolling Stone, November 19, 2014, http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/features/a-rape-on-campus-20141119, consulted 12/5/2014.
- ^ a b c d e Wemple, Erik (8 December 2014). "Updated apology digs bigger hole for Rolling Stone". Washington Post. Retrieved 8 December 2014. Cite error: The named reference "wapo1" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
- ^ a b "New Questions Raised About Rolling Stone's UVA Rape Story". ABC News. 11 December 2014. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
- ^ a b "Magazine's Account of Gang Rape on Virginia Campus Comes Under Scrutiny". New York Times. 2 December 2014. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
- ^ McDonald, Michael (3 December 2014). "UVA Faculty Propose Extending Frat Ban Through School Year". bloomberg.com. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
- ^ Downes, Colin. "Greek Gangs". Slate.
- ^ "UVA Fraternity House Vandalized". WVIR-TV. 20 November 2014. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
- ^ a b Horowitz, Julia (6 December 2014). "Why We Believed Jackie's Rape Story". Politico. Retrieved 7 December 2014.
- ^ Seal, Dean (23 November 2014). "Hundreds protest at UVa; student says memorial to victims vandalized". The Daily Progress. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
- ^ Dickerson, Jenna (22 November 2014). "Protest outside Phi Kappa Psi house leads to four arrests". Cavalier Daily. Charlottesville, VA. Retrieved 6 December 2014.
- ^ "The Governing Board of the Inter-Fraternity Council at UVa" (PDF). UVa Interfraternity Council. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
- ^ "Shots in the Dark". richardbradley.net. Retrieved 8 December 2014.
- '^ Shapiro, Rees (5 December 2014). "Key elements of Rolling Stones U-Va. gang rape allegations in doubt". Washington Post. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
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