| UVA Rape Story Collapses; Duke Lacrosse Redux | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Dec 5 2014, 01:45 PM (60,494 Views) | |
| Joan Foster | Dec 6 2014, 08:53 PM Post #136 |
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Well said.
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| jewelcove | Dec 7 2014, 01:19 AM Post #137 |
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It is interesting that in 2006 it took 1 year and IIRC $1M to get the media to admit that there had not been a crime, let alone a rape. In 2014 it took only 2 weeks for the MSM to figure it out. As Joan once said, "your agenda is showing", and this time everyone noticed. To quote President Lincoln, "You can fool all of the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time. But you can't fool all of the people all of the time." You can rarely fool a blog hooligan. The new media (bloggers included) was derided in 2006 and '07. Now it is respected. |
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| abb | Dec 7 2014, 05:57 AM Post #138 |
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http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2014/12/07/rolling-stone-uva-rape-story-disaster-for-all/sXnOfwEr4FMVrJBhLeAFNK/story.html#comments Rolling Stone’s UVA story a disaster for all By Yvonne AbrahamGlobe Columnist December 07, 2014 Well, this is awful. The Web blew up Friday afternoon with the news that Rolling Stone magazine no longer stands behind last month’s horrific, explosive story of a gang rape at a University of Virginia fraternity. A report in The Washington Post cast central elements of her story into serious doubt. Her friends and supporters now say they’re dubious, too. It’s disastrous for everybody involved. At this writing, the victim, Jackie, insists she was telling the truth about being raped by seven students. Whatever the truth, she must be in a world of pain right now, particularly if she tried to extricate herself from the magazine story before it was published, as she now maintains. The destructive fallout goes beyond one woman’s suffering. The Rolling Stone story, which had helped make it all but impossible to ignore the scourge of campus sexual assault, is now going to do the opposite. Because now, emboldened by this one possibly fabricated story of rape, the chorus of people who believe women routinely make these things up will grow louder. It already has. You could see them doing their happy dances in the comments below the Post story, which, a couple of hours after it went up, looked a lot like 1950. If it turns out to be entirely false, Jackie’s story will join other fake narratives — the Tawana Brawley debacle, the accusations against the Duke lacrosse players — as weapons for those moral cave-dwellers who would have you believe that women “cry rape” all the time for attention, or revenge. “No matter what the reality is, there is going to be the perception out there now that women lie about rape,” says Djuna Perkins, a former Suffolk assistant district attorney who investigates student sexual misconduct cases. “Every time somebody makes up a terrible crime, it does harm to the rest who tell the truth and don’t get believed.” That sucking sound? That’s us being dragged back into the last century. Can we please not go there? Jackie’s story might not be real, but a bigger one is. One in five women say they have been raped. One in 20 say they have experienced other forms of sexual violence. About 19 percent of undergrads say they experienced rape or attempted rape. In a fall survey of MIT students, one in six of the women who responded said they’d been sexually assaulted, but only 5 percent had reported it. It is everywhere, including at august New England universities. Even without Jackie’s story, there is plenty in the Rolling Stone story to alarm: UVA is one of scores of schools being investigated by the federal government — and one of 12 receiving extra scrutiny — for its handling of sexual assaults. Other UVA students described their own rapes in the article, and the alarming unresponsiveness of school officials who seemed more concerned with the college’s reputation than with student safety. Maybe all of these people are lying, too, you and Bill Cosby might argue. No. Various studies show false rape report rates ranging from 2 to 8 percent. There are no more fabricated reports of rapes than of other crimes, says Toni Troop of Jane Doe Inc., as much as some would like to believe otherwise. “People don’t want to believe rape happens in the first place,” says Troop, whose job just got harder. We are finally beginning to talk constructively about rape and its mind-blowing frequency. We are finally starting to blame those who commit it, rather than focusing on the character, demeanor, and clothing of victims. We have way more work to do, including coming up with ways to deal with campus sexual assault that protect all students. We can’t afford to back off because of one big lie and some woefully inadequate journalism. Campus rape is as real as a case like Jackie’s is rare. If only it were the other way around. Yvonne Abraham is a Globe columnist. She can be reached at abraham@globe.com and on Twitter @GlobeAbraham. |
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| abb | Dec 7 2014, 06:03 AM Post #139 |
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http://time.com/3620504/its-women-who-suffer-when-we-dont-ask-questions/ It’s Women Who Suffer When We Don’t Ask Questions Cathy Young @CathyYoung63 Dec. 6, 2014 Cathy Young is a contributing editor at Reason magazine. Perhaps the lessons of the UVA story will help us balance our support for victims with the presumption of innocence. The shocking Rolling Stone story of a brutal fraternity gang rape and administrative inaction at the University of Virginia has now unraveled, with a Washington Post investigative report disputing key parts of the account and the magazine issuing a partial retraction. While we may never know the whole truth behind the story, the controversy around it has once again raised the thorny question of when it is proper to doubt claims of sexual assault. More CBS and Dish Network Reach Deal to End BlackoutWhat Happened to the ‘Future Leaders’ of the 1990s?'Thanks to God': Typhoon Weakens on Tear Through Philippines NBC NewsDrone Strike Kills Key Al Qaeda Commander: Officials NBC NewsTear Gas and Smashed Glass: Protests Turn Violent NBC News In the past week, several critics have questioned the story’s authenticity and faulted author Sabrina Rubin Erdely for failing to seek a response from the alleged rapists or to corroborate the account provided by Jackie, the UVA student identified as the victim. Meanwhile, some commentators have blasted the skeptics for perpetuating a culture of sexist mistrust toward women’s reports of sexual violence. For many, believing and supporting accusations of rape is an essential feminist principle. But that principle is not only at odds with journalism; it is also gravely detrimental to justice—for the accused and, in the end, for victims. Popular Among Subscribers Interstellar, Where No Movie Has Gone Before Subscribe The Last Men of Steel Review: Interstellar’s Wonder of Worlds Beyond Slate journalists Allison Benedikt and Hanna Rosin, who followed up on the UVA story, found a strong belief among victim advocates on the campus that “questioning the victim is a form of betrayal.” This is a common attitude in activist ranks—and in the feminist media, as the response to critiques of the UVA story confirms. The New Republic’s Rebecca Traister noted bitterly that if Erdely’s story is discredited, this will boost the belief that “bitches lie.” Gawker’s Allie Jones acknowledged the weaknesses in Erdely’s research but slammed the critics as “disingenuous” and prejudiced against rape complainants. Salon’s Katie McDonough wrote that while Erdely’s article may have been “imperfect,” the backlash against it was part of “rape denial playbook,” the product of a culture “overwhelmingly inclined to think that victims are lying when they say they have been raped.” In a piece posted just two days before the story came undone, New York’s Kat Stoeffel not only deplored the resistance to “taking a traumatized young woman at her word” but argued that even if Jackie’s harrowing tale was made up or exaggerated, it was problematic to debunk it. In Stoeffel’s view, the benefits of believing the story—“forcing reform at UVA, encouraging other women to come forward”—outweighed any possible negatives, since no specific individuals had been accused and no innocents’ lives could be ruined. “To what end are we scrutinizing?” wondered Stoeffel—a startling question for a journalist to ask. The answer is simple: Because journalism is about facts and truth-telling. To defend a possible lie that may have social utility is not journalism but propaganda. Besides, in this case, the potential for harm was obvious. If Jackie’s horrifying story of being ambushed in a dark room during a fraternity party, pinned down, punched in the face, and brutally raped by seven men for three hours was widely believed to be true, but no perpetrators were ever brought to justice, it would have sent a terrible message to the community and especially to women; it would have also casts a shadow of suspicion on all men who were members of the fraternity, Phi Kappa Psi, during the period described in the article. (Indeed, the names of possible suspects were already circulating online.) Now that the Rolling Stone story has come undone, will its collapse hurt the credibility of genuine victims of rape? If the negative publicity discourages victims from coming forward, that will be tragic indeed. One hopes that no sane person would take the discrediting of one very extreme account of sexual violence to mean that campus rape doesn’t happen, or that most women who report being raped are lying. But when believing all such reports is treated as an article of faith, every allegation exposed as false becomes deeply damaging. That is why “believe the survivor” dogma must inevitably backfire: While no one knows exactly how common false rape allegations are, it is a fact that they happen. New York’s Stoeffel writes sympathetically of “feminists who believe in believing women”—among whose number she clearly counts herself. But such faith is arguably bad feminism, putting women on a pedestal rather than on the same footing as men; it’s certainly bad justice and bad journalism. (“If your mother says she loves you, check it out” is still a good principle.) Erdely and her Rolling Stone editors chose to stake a major story on believing one young woman’s account—a trust that the magazine now acknowledges was “misplaced.” Commentators across the political spectrum have expressed concern that Rolling Stone’s sloppy journalism will damage what Bloomberg View columnist Megan McArdle calls “the righteous fight for rape victims.” But despite its righteous goals, the crusade against rape has leaned too far toward promoting the dangerous idea that accusation equals guilt and that to doubt an accuser’s word is heresy. Finding the balance between supporting victims and preserving the presumption of innocence is a difficult line to walk. Perhaps the lessons of the UVA story will help steer the way toward such a balance. |
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| abb | Dec 7 2014, 06:19 AM Post #140 |
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http://hamptonroads.com/2014/12/bad-reporting-leaves-uva-dig-out-under-rolling-stones-mess Bad reporting leaves U.Va. to dig out from under Rolling Stone's mess By Kerry Dougherty The Virginian-Pilot © December 7, 2014 Now that Rolling Stone is backing away from its sensational University of Virginia rape story, we are left with a painful question: Where does Virginia's flagship university go to reclaim its reputation? During the two-plus weeks that the magazine article was eagerly accepted as gospel by much of the public, the fraternity house at the heart of the scandal was vandalized, rumors about suspected rapists were reportedly blasted around cyberspace, and some gifted high school seniors and their alarmed parents may have decided to shun the school. Yet the story began falling apart shortly after it was published, when The Washington Post and Slate magazine questioned the quality of its reporting. Finally, on Friday, after The Post contradicted significant details in the Rolling Stone story and showed that there was apparently little or no effort to contact the alleged perpetrators, the magazine issued an anemic retraction. Instead of taking responsibility for sloppy reporting, the editor initially blamed the alleged victim, saying its trust in her was "misplaced." Sheesh. Later, he fled to Twitter to offer a more complete mea culpa: "That failure is on us - not on her." It sure is. Someone needs to remind editor Will Dana that the job of a publication that purports to publish nonfiction isn't to "trust" people with compelling tales. It's to report on them. That means approaching all sources - no matter how emotional or believable - with skepticism. It appears that Rolling Stone and contributing editor Sabrina Rubin Erdely didn't do that. Now the magazine looks foolish, unprofessional and worse - agenda-driven. The well-written story was compelling. I wrote a column about it, cautioning that parts of the piece seemed "authentic. Other parts, not so much." I wrote that "if" the administration had been cavalier toward sex crime victims, that needed to change. Oh, and I also said victims of sexual assault need to call the cops, immediately. Squishy sessions with therapists or college deans can come later. Rape is a crime. It needs to be reported promptly. On the upside, Rolling Stone's conduct in publishing this thinly reported piece will serve as a cautionary tale for generations of journalism students. Sadly, Rolling Stone's article played into the fear and loathing of many toward elite academic institutions and fed the prejudices of those who detest Greek life on campus. It also threw the university into a dither. The administration had already admitted that the school - like many other universities - had a problem with sexual assault. But this uncorroborated allegation of a two-year-old gang rape triggered hysteria, causing some faculty members to demand an extended ban on all fraternities and some officials to suggest that police act essentially as bouncers at off-campus fraternity parties. Administrators and members of the media seemed afraid to question the veracity of the Rolling Stone piece, even after holes began to appear. In fact, many activists tried to thwart any criticism of the article by trotting out supposed statistics showing that rape allegations are rarely false. That may be true, but try telling that to the Duke lacrosse players who spent about a year under an ugly cloud of suspicion, or the men in the Tawana Brawley case. Rape is a serious, disgusting crime. But being accused of rape is gravely serious, too. Let's never forget that. Oh, and before accepting a harrowing story of rape that's guaranteed to gin up readership and cause an international splash, editors and writers need to ensure that every facet of the story is the truth. Kerry Dougherty, 757-446-2306, kerry.dougherty@cox.net PilotOnline.com/Dougherty |
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| abb | Dec 7 2014, 06:20 AM Post #141 |
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http://www.ocregister.com/articles/story-644396-stone-rolling.html Carl Cannon: Rolling Stone stumble far from journalism's finest hour BY CARL M. CANNON / Staff columnist Published: Dec. 5, 2014 Updated: 3:09 p.m. Even before issuing its lame apology Friday for its flimsy story on campus rape, Rolling Stone magazine presented Americans with a disturbing dilemma. I felt acutely torn. Out of solicitude for college-age women, I found myself praying that the magazine’s shocking – but thinly sourced – tale of gang rape at a University of Virginia fraternity party was greatly exaggerated, even fabricated. Yet, because I value journalism so highly, part of me hoped that every word of that horrifying tale was true. We can’t afford another scandal in our profession right now, I thought. But deep down I knew better. So did many journalists, including the Washington Post reporters who attempted to verify Rolling Stone’s sensationalist account. Like any parent, I worry about the young women who leave home for the uncertainty and potential peril of the outside world. Our youngest is a college sophomore whose safety has been entrusted to complete strangers in another state. At the same time, my life’s work has been devoted to journalism. I believe, unblushingly, that a free, fair, and honest press is the bulwark of liberty. In a career spanning 3 1/2 decades, I still cherish the principles espoused by Joseph Pulitzer: “[F]ight for progress and reform, never tolerate injustice or corruption, always fight demagogues of all parties, never belong to any party, always oppose privileged classes and public plunderers, never lack sympathy with the poor, always remain devoted to the public welfare.” I assume Rolling Stone’s editors believed their 9,000-word story about college rape, written by Sabrina Rubin Erdely adhered to Pulitzer’s values. I didn’t. When it comes to reporting, good intentions are not enough. Facts are paramount. Fairness and accuracy aren’t niceties, they are necessary elements of arriving at the truth. Erdely opened her story with a horrific scene. An innocent college freshman is lured to a party by an upper classman who orchestrates her three-hour gang rape, apparently as a fraternity initiation rite. After Jackie (Erdely identifies her source by her first name) relates this crime to three “friends,” they dissuade her from reporting it out of fear Jackie will be ostracized – and they won’t be invited to future Greek functions. The school’s administrators are equally clueless. In the aftermath of publication, Greek life at U-Va. was put on hold, demonstrations held, the offending fraternity house defaced with graffiti. The usual talking heads emerged, decrying “rape culture” while demanding structural changes at the university. To skeptics, the salacious story evoked two other infamous cases: the false sexual assault allegations against the Duke University lacrosse team in 2006, and the Tawana Brawley hoax in 1987. But as Rolling Stone began explaining its cursory reporting and fact-checking methods, it brought to my mind an instance of notorious journalistic excess: the case of Steven Hatfill, wrongly railroaded in the 2001 anthrax attacks. At first, Rolling Stone’s critics expressed skepticism about Jackie’s account itself: an assault by seven men lasting three hours? That’s ritualized torture more akin to a war crime amid ethnic cleansing than college “date rape.” Nobody at the frat house saw anything? Nobody called the cops? I wasn’t as dismissive. As a young police reporter, I covered depraved crimes, including one in which a young woman and her date were kidnapped in San Diego at gunpoint by five gang members who beat the man and raped the woman before stuffing them in a car trunk, which they riddled with bullets, paralyzing the woman from the neck down. So, evil exists in the world, and on college campuses, too. What bothered me about the Rolling Stone story were the explanations Sabrina Erdely and her editor provided to the doubters: • The magazine didn’t attempt to interview the men they accused of rape because of an agreement with Jackie. • They neglected to corroborate Jackie’s recollections with her three erstwhile “friends.” |
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| abb | Dec 7 2014, 06:27 AM Post #142 |
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http://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/untrue-so-what-its-useful-journalism-erdely-rape/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=untrue-so-what-its-useful-journalism-erdely-rape Untrue? So What; It’s Useful Posted By Rod Dreher On December 7, 2014 @ 2:26 am In | No Comments Consider this amazing passage from a Politico essay by UVA student Julia Horowitz [1], who is — get this — the assistant managing editor of the campus newspaper: This is not to say that it does not matter whether or not Jackie’s story is accurate. There is now a police investigation into the incident. Brothers of Pi Kappa Psi were moved out of their house after students threw bricks through the windows. Dean Nicole Eramo has received death threats. And it is becoming increasingly clear that the story that blew the lid off campus sexual assault has some major, major holes. Ultimately, though, from where I sit in Charlottesville, to let fact checking define the narrative would be a huge mistake. Re-read that last sentence. It was written by a senior campus journalist, someone in training now to become a professional journalist. And she doesn’t think facts are of primary importance in the narrative. Only what is useful to the cause, it would appear. Consider that the lies Jackie told and that Rolling Stone publicized have resulted in fraternity men having to move out of their house because it was being physically attacked, and a college dean having to deal with death threats. Sabrina Rubin Erdley has destroyed her own career with this story, and Rolling Stone should fire every editor who approved her reporting. And yet, this journalist-in-training still has the utter lack of professional self-awareness to write that “to let fact checking define the narrative would be a huge mistake.” Heaven help anyone who gets in Julia Horowitz’s professional crosshairs. And heaven help any newspaper or magazine that hires a journalist more committed to ideology than to truth and fairness. Here’s a strong blog entry [2]by Washington Post media writer Erik Wemple, who calls Rolling Stone’s story a case of “real media bias”. Using a quote from an interview Sabrina Rubin Erdely, the reporter, gave to Michael Smerconish, Wemple shows that her malice towards the fraternity men was toxic: Under the scenario cited by Erdely, 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. Anyone who touched this story — save newsstand personnel — should lose their job. The “grooming” anecdote indicates not only that Erdely believed whatever diabolical things about these frat guys told to her, she wanted to believe them. And then Rolling Stone published them. Wemple rightly praises Post education reporter T. Rees Shapiro, who destroyed the devastating RS story by doing basic gumshoe reporting. Says Wemple: After the Rolling Stone piece began to surface fissures, Washington Post local staff deployed to familiar turf, seeking out the folks that Rolling Stone had bypassed. The effort called on a week’s worth of reporting by Shapiro, the work of two researchers and the oversight of two editors. If Erdely had chosen some other campus, perhaps her skewed reporting wouldn’t have attracted such scrutiny. Shapiro ought to get a Pulitzer for Local Reporting for his work here. He continues to bounce the Rolling Stone rubble [3], reporting tonight (thanks Ryan Booth for catching this) that he’s found a second of Jackie’s friends, who, according to Rolling Stone, told her not to report her rape to police because it would hurt her social life on campus. From the latest WaPo report: “It was not anything like what happened that night,” said the friend, who is identified in the story as “Cindy” and spoke anonymously because of the sensitivity of the subject. “That night was not very significant. I remember it, but it was not very dramatic.” She said the students met Jackie near the U-Va. dorms, more than a mile from the campus fraternities. “Cindy” said that Jackie appeared distraught that night but was not hurt physically and was not bleeding. The student said Jackie made no claims of a gang rape and did not identify the fraternity where she said she had partied. “Cindy” said Jackie told one of the friends there that a group of men had forced her to perform oral sex. The student said there was never any discussion among Jackie and the group involving how their reputations or social status might be affected by seeking help. The student said that when she read the Rolling Stone account, she felt betrayed. “It’s completely false,” she said, noting that she was not contacted or interviewed by a Rolling Stone reporter. Jackie, in several recent interviews with The Post, stood by her account that she was gang raped at Phi Kappa Psi after she attended a party there with a date. Her version of events during those interviews was substantially similar to the Rolling Stone account. Not contacted or interviewed by a Rolling Stone reporter. Unbelievable. And yet, the lesson Julia Horowitz takes from this horrifying episode of journalistic malfeasance is that fact checking ought not to define the narrative. No wonder people hate the media. |
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| abb | Dec 7 2014, 06:30 AM Post #143 |
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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 U-Va. remains resolved to address sexual violence as Rolling Stone account unravels By T. Rees Shapiro and Nick Anderson December 6 at 7:17 PM CHARLOTTESVILLE — Many people in the University of Virginia community remain outraged about the Rolling Stone account of a gang rape at a campus fraternity house that unraveled into a journalistic debacle Friday. But Tommy Reid, the president of U-Va.’s Inter-Fraternity Council, said Saturday that he had other concerns. Reid said he wants to keep attention locked onto efforts to reform the Greek system and the university as a whole to stop sexual violence. “My biggest fear is that students and the rest of the community will struggle over the minutiae of the specific Rolling Stone article and discontinue the momentum toward addressing the issue of rape on college campuses,” said Reid, 21, a senior. A chorus of student activists, politicians, faculty and administrators were mobilizing Friday and Saturday to sustain that momentum despite the emergence of doubts about key elements of the shocking narrative of an alleged gang rape of a freshman in 2012. As The Washington Post reported finding significant flaws in the story and the fraternity released a rebuttal of key facts contained in the allegations, Rolling Stone apologized Friday for discrepancies in the Nov. 19 article and said its trust in the student had been “misplaced.” “Virginians are now left grasping for the truth, but we must not let that undermine our support for survivors of sexual assault or the momentum for solutions,” Virginia Attorney General Mark R. Herring (D) said in a statement. “Months before the Rolling Stone article, the commonwealth, the nation, and the university itself had begun addressing sexual violence on campus as a crisis. Nothing should or will distract from that critical work.” Rolling Stone has published a note to readers apologizing for an article about an alleged U-Va. sexual assault, saying new information shows discrepancies in the victim's story. (Reuters) Herring has named an independent counsel to review sexual violence issues at the university raised by the Rolling Stone article. The lawyers include Walter Dellinger, a former acting U.S. solicitor general. On Nov. 22, as furor grew over the allegations that seven fraternity men had raped a student and that the university’s response to such attacks was lackluster, U-Va. President Teresa A. Sullivan announced a suspension of Greek activities until the beginning of January. There was no sign Saturday that her decision will be revisited. Reid said the suspension is not a concern for him. “Practical implications of the ban are negligible,” he said. “We are heading into exams and will not return to school until after Jan. 9. The suspension itself is not something the IFC is particularly focused on.” University spokesman McGregor McCance declined to say whether the suspension would be lifted. “President Sullivan’s message to the university community remains our focus at this time,” he wrote in an e-mail Saturday. “Our foremost concern is the care and support of all students, and especially, any survivor of sexual assault. U-Va. will continue to focus on our practices, policies and procedures, and remains committed to taking action as necessary to bring about meaningful cultural change.” Edward D. Miller, a member of the university’s governing Board of Visitors, said doubts raised about the Rolling Stone article did not change his view of what needs to be done. Students held a candlelight vigil to raise awareness on sexual assault Friday night as Rolling Stone cited “discrepancies” in an article that reported a gang rape in a campus fraternity. (Reuters) “Right from the get-go, I have said we need an outside group to come in and find out what the real facts are,” Miller said Saturday. He said he was motivated by accounts of other victims of sexual assault that have emerged in recent days. Miller said he wants to know “what is the culture, what is really going on — and get to the heart of it.” Ashley Brown, 23, a senior who heads a sexual violence prevention group called One Less, said U-Va. must remain resolved to address the problem. Brown said she and others met with Sullivan on Friday morning to discuss ideas about how to set reforms in motion. One proposal is to use written agreements between the university and social organizations, including fraternities. “Change is on the horizon,” Brown said, “with or without the details of the story that are being contested.” Brown also said she was appalled at Rolling Stone’s handling of the story, especially the student named Jackie who was at the heart of it. “The onus is on Rolling Stone to get the facts,” she said. Doubts about the accuracy of the Rolling Stone account continued to mount Saturday. A second U-Va. student who was among a group of three friends who came to Jackie’s aid after her alleged sexual assault during the fall semester of 2012 told The Post that details in the story were flawed. The Rolling Stone account said that Jackie summoned three friends to help her after she was brutally raped at the Phi Kappa Psi house on Sept. 28, 2012. The article said that Jackie was bleeding and was wearing a blood-spattered dress and that she met her friends in the shadow of the looming fraternity house. It also claims that Jackie’s friends persuaded her not to report the attack for fear of it harming their social lives, a critical part in the article. “It was not anything like what happened that night,” said the friend, who is identified in the story as “Cindy” and spoke anonymously because of the sensitivity of the subject. “That night was not very significant. I remember it, but it was not very dramatic.” She said the students met Jackie near the U-Va. dorms, more than a mile from the campus fraternities. “Cindy” said that Jackie appeared distraught that night but was not hurt physically and was not bleeding. The student said Jackie made no claims of a gang rape and did not identify the fraternity where she said she had partied. “Cindy” said Jackie told one of the friends there that a group of men had forced her to perform oral sex. The student said there was never any discussion among Jackie and the group involving how their reputations or social status might be affected by seeking help. The student said that when she read the Rolling Stone account, she felt betrayed. “It’s completely false,” she said, noting that she was not contacted or interviewed by a Rolling Stone reporter. Jackie, in several recent interviews with The Post, stood by her account that she was gang raped at Phi Kappa Psi after she attended a party there with a date. Her version of events during those interviews was substantially similar to the Rolling Stone account. U-Va. was under scrutiny for its handling of sexual assault long before the Rolling Stone article. A federal investigation of U-Va.’s response to sexual violence, begun in June 2011, continues. It is one of the longest-running active probes of its kind in the nation. U-Va. is one of the most prominent of 90 colleges and universities facing such investigations by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights. Sullivan laid out a detailed road map last week for a comprehensive review of campus culture, touching on sexual assault, alcohol, Greek life and university oversight. “Now our university has been placed at the center of this crisis,” Sullivan said, speaking of rape. “We will not shrink from it. We will lead. I will make periodic reports to the community on what we are doing, and you can hold me accountable for our efforts.” Federal statistics show the rising salience of the issue at U-Va. There were 27 reports of forcible sex offenses on the campus in 2013, up from 11 the year before. Experts say it is generally a positive sign when reports of sex offenses rise at a school. That indicates victims feel comfortable stepping forward and the issue is not being buried. |
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| abb | Dec 7 2014, 06:34 AM Post #144 |
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http://www.timesdispatch.com/news/state-regional/legislators-say-nothing-s-changed-in-campus-sexual-assault-debate/article_d068786a-a3c4-5454-a90b-da022815ae9b.html Legislators say 'nothing's changed' in campus sexual assault debate By MICHAEL MARTZ Richmond Times-Dispatch | Posted: Saturday, December 6, 2014 10:30 pm uva rotunda 2014 State legislative leaders aren’t backing off plans to tackle reporting of sexual violence on university and college campuses, even though Rolling Stone magazine has cast doubt on its account of a fraternity gang rape at the University of Virginia. “Nothing’s changed,” said Senate Minority Leader Richard L. Saslaw, D-Fairfax, in response to an apology issued Friday by Rolling Stone magazine that questioned details in a Nov. 19 article about a horrific rape suffered two years ago by a U.Va. student named Jackie. “Rolling Stone may have a problem, but that’s not my problem,” he said Saturday. Saslaw said he will forge ahead with his plans to introduce legislation in the coming General Assembly session that would require campus administrators at state colleges and universities who know about alleged rapes to report them to law enforcement within 24 hours. “There isn’t anybody saying this isn’t happening,” he said. Saslaw and other legislative leaders say the assembly cannot duck the issue of unreported and unpunished sexual assaults on college and university campuses, or leave the responsibility for investigating such crimes to administrators or campus police. “Universities don’t do a good job of investigating crimes,” said Del. David B. Albo, R-Fairfax, a U.Va. graduate who chairs the Courts of Justice Committee in the House of Delegates. Albo and two other U.Va. graduates, Del. Robert B. Bell, R-Albemarle, and Del. C. Todd Gilbert, R-Shenandoah, are co-sponsoring legislation requiring colleges and universities to report complaints of violent crimes against students to local law enforcement, and ensure that campus police departments report them to local prosecutors. Del. Eileen Filler-Corn, D-Fairfax, also has vowed to introduce a bill requiring campus police to report criminal complaints of violence against students to local commonwealth’s attorneys. Albo additionally intends to ask for a presentation by the State Council on Higher Education in Virginia to the courts committee on Jan. 16, two days after the assembly convenes, on current protocol used by universities and colleges to investigate allegations of sexual assaults and other violent crimes against students. Peter Blake, director of the higher education council, said he expects an extensive debate on the issue of mandatory reporting requirements, which advocates warn could discourage victims of sexual assaults from coming forward with their stories until they are emotionally ready to do so. “The whole mandatory reporting approach is one I’m sure is going to get a full hearing and a lot of debate,” Blake said Saturday. Blake also is a member of the Task Force on Combating Campus Sexual Violence appointed by Gov. Terry McAuliffe in August and led by Attorney General Mark R. Herring. He is a member of the task force committee on response to complaints of sexual violence, which is expected to meet in mid-December. The full task force is scheduled to meet Jan. 8. Legislative leaders say they are aware of the concerns about unintended consequences for people who have been sexually assaulted, but they are concerned about preserving evidence and ensuring a prompt response to complaints of rape. “I have wondered whether this incident would have turned out totally differently had the police been involved in the investigating at the time of the incident,” said Del. David J. Toscano, D-Charlottesville, the House minority leader, who added he had no information on “the extent of the investigation, if any” at the time of Jackie’s complaint to U.Va. administrators. Toscano said apparent discrepancies in the Rolling Stone story might have been avoided if the incident had been fully investigated. “The irony is, of course, that in an effort to prevent being further victimized, that’s exactly what happened in this case,” he said. Rolling Stone issued its statement Friday in response to a story by The Washington Post that day reporting discrepancies in the account provided by Jackie to the magazine about her alleged rape by seven men at the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity house on Sept. 28, 2012. The fraternity issued a statement Friday that denied the allegations and said it had not hosted a party that weekend, and had no members fitting the description of the student who allegedly took her to the house. Jackie stood by her account, although The Post reported that some of her friends also have begun to question the story. Legislators weren’t swayed by the Rolling Stone apology and statement. “Nobody has said the girl wasn’t raped,” Saslaw said. Albo, a lawyer, said he has been careful not to judge the allegations in the Rolling Stone article. “That’s why I never wanted to comment on the facts of the case,” he said. Even if the gang rape story “turns out to be a lie,” Albo said, legislative action is needed because the problem of unreported and unpunished sexual assaults is a concern that has come to the attention of the State Crime Commission and other legislative bodies before. “We will still proceed on this because it’s a good idea,” he said. |
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| abb | Dec 7 2014, 06:38 AM Post #145 |
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http://www.cavalierdaily.com/article/2014/12/student-leaders-respond-to-rolling-stone-inaccuracies-push-for-broader-advocac Student leaders respond to Rolling Stone inaccuracies, push for broader advocacy Advocates insist focus must remain on developing strong policy, culture changes to combat sexual assault by Kelly Kaler | Dec 06 2014 | 12 hours ago unnamed Rebecca Lim | The Cavalier Daily Several student leaders and advocates held a press conference last month to discuss the ongoing advocacy efforts at the University to combat sexual assault. Student leaders responded to a statement issued Friday by Rolling Stone magazine, in which managing editor Will Dana apologized to readers for "discrepancies" in an article published last month detailing the alleged gang rape in Sept. 2012 of a then-first year student Jackie by at least one member of the University chapter of Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. Phi Kappa Psi has listed at least three specific details from its internal investigation which refute Jackie’s account. The fraternity’s statement, along with Dana's comment that the magazine’s trust in her was “misplaced,” have raised questions about the incident as a whole. Third-year College student Sara Surface, chair of the Sexual Violence Prevention Coalition, said the experience of a sexual assault is often so traumatizing that victims have trouble remembering details. “Trauma does a lot of things to the brain and to memory,” she said. “It is not uncommon for details to not 100 percent match up with what people believe to be a reasonable story. The thing is, most people don’t have to [be] hounded by reporters about that.” This lack of recollection does not mean their stories are entirely false, she said. “Are we going to say then, because you can’t confirm 100 percent all of these details because of emotional duress, [that] you were lying that you were ever attacked?” she said. The article, “A Rape on Campus” by Sabrina Rubin Erdely, provided a detailed account of a gang rape that took place in the Phi Kappa Psi house. It recounts Jackie's narrative of being invited to a date function by a third-year student, "Drew" — identified as a Phi Kappa Psi brother who worked as a lifeguard with Jackie. Phi Kappa Psi's statement Friday says there were no fraternity brothers employed at the Aquatic and Fitness Center during the fall 2012 semester and no date function or other social event took place at the house on the night in question — Sept. 28, 2012. Surface, a third-year College student, said doubts about details in the story do not change the overall significance of the crime that has been reported or the need for awareness about gender-based violence on Grounds and in the Greek system. “We’re not sure it's Phi Psi — it still easily could have been in a fraternity house," she said. "I’m not trying to villainize [fraternities], but we need to examine the structures of our system and look to improve them. I would hope we’d be doing that anyway, and the article has only increased those efforts.” Brian Head, a fourth-year Commerce student and president of One in Four — a student sexual assault prevention advocacy group — echoed this sentiment, pointing to the severe effects of trauma on memories of sexual and non-sexual traumas. “The inaccuracies of a Rolling Stone article that had a caricature depiction of our school doesn’t change the fact that we need to believe our friends if they come to you and say they’ve been sexually assaulted," he said. "People were horrified by the reported reaction of Jackie’s friends in that article.” By Rolling Stone’s account, when Jackie recounted her experience to friends, they did not encourage her to seek help from the police, and told her that her social reputation might suffer if she did decide to report the rape. However, the Washington Post reported that Jackie’s friend “Andy” finds fault in the way Jackie’s story was recounted in the original article. “‘Andy’ said Jackie said she had been at a fraternity party and had been forced to perform oral sex on a group of men, but he does not remember her identifying a specific house," the Post reports. "He said he did not notice any injuries or blood but said the group offered to get her help. She, instead, wanted to return to her dorm, and he and the friends spent the night with her to comfort her at her request.” Andy's identity has not been disclosed. One in Four released a statement Friday night imploring students to remain focused on survivor support and bystander intervention, even as Jackie's narrative is called into question. “We remain unwavering in our feelings regarding this issue: no matter what is brought to light, we as a community have experienced the strongest emotion, the greatest desire for change, and the farthest step forward in the history of our University towards ending sexual assault,” the statement said. Student Council President Jalen Ross, a fourth-year Engineering student, said the important dialogue surrounding this article has never been based on the specific details of the case. “The details of the story could turn out to be any number of things," he said. "That doesn’t change the problem that we’re trying to fix.” Ross said possible inaccuracies in the article are an example of the danger that comes in pinning the issue of sexual assault exclusively on fraternities. “We need to be exceptionally careful about pinning this problem on any one group of people. I’ve always been concerned about the vitriol that was aimed at fraternities in this problem,” he said. “That being said, you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who is committed to and educated about this issue to say that fraternities don’t have work to do.” The Inter-Fraternity Council released a brief statement Friday asking students to remain focused on the larger picture of sexual assault, instead of focusing on the alleged inaccuracies in Jackie's story. “The IFC would like to emphasize that the facts of this specific article do not change the broader reality we face as a University,” the statement reads. "We ask that our community does not become mired in details of one specific incident, but rather that we continue relentlessly pursuing institutionalized survivor support, the promotion of bystander awareness, and a safe and healthy environment for all U.Va. students." Head emphasized that the conversation about sexual assault prevention has been an ongoing effort since the beginning of the school year. “You’ve seen a marked increase in attention [to] this issue over the whole semester, even before this article came out, and we must address it with as much rigor as we did before [the Rolling Stone retraction]," he said. "I don’t see why this has to slow down policy change, education, and advocacy at the University.” Whatever the facts are determined to be in this case, Surface said, survivor support organizations like One Less are not investigative bodies, nor is it appropriate for them to be. “As an advocate its not my job to be an investigator, and its my job to support survivors, and I will contribute to support their voices and any processes of recovery,” she said. Ross echoed this sentiment, saying the story has given the University the energy it needed to address sexual violence head-on. “It has never been about the details of this story. It has been about every story, and every survivor,” Ross said. “From top to bottom, we are still committed to solving this problem. This is about so many more of our classmates than just Jackie.” |
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| abb | Dec 7 2014, 06:40 AM Post #146 |
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http://www.bostonherald.com/news_opinion/columnists/adriana_cohen/2014/12/adriana_cohen_apparently_this_rolling_stone_gathers_no Adriana Cohen: Apparently, this Rolling Stone gathers no facts Sunday, December 7, 2014 Print Email 7 Comments By: Adriana Cohen Rolling Stone magazine has blown it again. First it outraged New Englanders by putting a photo of the accused Boston Marathon bomber on its July 2013 cover — after the horrific terror attack that killed three people and injured more than 260 — that made him appear like a sultry, tousled-hair rock star. If that wasn’t reason enough to cancel one’s subscription, now Rolling Stone has backpedaled on its story about a woman allegedly gang-raped at a Phi Kappa Psi frat party at the University of Virginia in 2012. In a 9,000 word expose, one of Rolling Stone’s freelance writers told a story based on interviews with a female UVA student by the name of “Jackie” who claimed that seven frat boys gang-raped her. Instead of fact-checking the serious allegations by doing common sense things such as interviewing the accused — or verifying if the frat party even took place — Rolling Stone ran the damning story without doing its homework. And now Rolling Stone has issued an apology. “In the face of new information, there now appear to be discrepancies in Jackie’s account, and we have come to the conclusion that our trust in her was misplaced,” Will Dana, the magazine’s managing editor, wrote on its website. Memo to Rolling Stone: A fifth-grader would’ve done some basic fact-checking before potentially ruining men’s lives. Hello lawsuits. This is media sloppiness at its worst. In America, one is supposed to be innocent until proven guilty by a jury of one’s peers, in a court of law where both sides are adequately represented. Rolling Stone effectively found the fraternity brothers “guilty” without due diligence or due process. This is dead wrong and warrants — at minimum — public condemnation. In response to the serious allegations, Phi Kappa Psi issued a statement saying, “The organization did not host a party on Sept. 28, 2012, the night the attack allegedly occurred.” Fraternity officials also said that no members of the fraternity worked at the university’s Aquatic Fitness Center at the time, as “Jackie” claimed, and that no room in the fraternity house matches Jackie’s description. Rolling Stone has hurt not only the young men who were accused and the university, but also campus rape victims all over America whose stories may not be believed. The owner of Rolling Stone magazine should fire both the writer and its editor today. Then lawyer up. Adriana Cohen is a columnist and talk show host for the Boston Herald. Go to adrianacohen.com, and follow her on Twitter @AdrianaCohen16. |
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| abb | Dec 7 2014, 06:42 AM Post #147 |
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http://www.businessweek.com/news/2014-12-07/university-of-virginia-gets-a-stark-lesson-in-journalism-101 University of Virginia Gets a Stark Lesson in Journalism 101 By Nina Glinski December 07, 2014 On the somber campus of the University of Virginia, students are preparing for final exams while getting a crash course on journalistic ethics. “Punish Rolling Stone not the entire UVA Greek system” is scrawled in chalk on University Avenue, a block from the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity house. The Charlottesville school was catapulted onto the national stage by a Nov. 19 Rolling Stone article that told of the fraternity gang rape of a woman named “Jackie.” The story unraveled two days ago when the magazine apologized citing “discrepancies” in its account. “I’m not angry, more like shocked about all this,” said Joslin Markowski, a second-year student who said she’s friends with Jackie. The now-discredited story cast aspersions on UVA, from its administrators to its lifeguards, prompting protests, a ban on fraternities and vandalism at Phi Kappa Psi, where the alleged attack was said to have taken place. Most students are reluctant to talk to the press, saying they’ve had enough of reporters. They expressed disappointment with Rolling Stone and the media for getting it so wrong. “No one has denied that something tragic happened,” said Philip Tan, a second-year biomedical engineering graduate student. Tan said he was saddened that Rolling Stone wasn’t “more careful,” particularly for the sake of sexual assault victims. “Lots of people noticed discrepancies in the original article.” Trust ‘Misplaced’ In a letter to readers, the magazine said its trust in Jackie was “misplaced,” and the publication regretted failing to contact the alleged assailants. It apologized “to anyone who was affected by the story.” The statement sparked anger from students and media critics, who said the magazine was blaming a source for its own lack of due diligence. The hashtag #IStandWithJackie cropped up on Twitter in support of the third-year student at the center of the controversy. “Instead of owning up to the journalism and what they chose to put out there, they seem to be scapegoating Jackie and putting all of the blame on her,” said Ryan Gillies, 19, a UVA freshman. Rolling Stone Managing Editor Will Dana later said the magazine made a judgment that turned out to be wrong. “That failure is on us -- not on her,” Dana said on Twitter, referring to Jackie. Boarded Up Windows at Phi Kappa Psi are still boarded up, with shattered glass lying beneath them and signs reading “Private Property, No Trespassing” taped to the building. Four columns at the front are adorned with Christmas lights. Giant black banners displaying a passage from Ernest Hemingway’s “For Whom the Bell Tolls” still hang from UVA’s most prominent buildings, where they were placed on Dec. 1. “This is a story of complicity,” a laminated letter posted in front of each banner says. “With whom should we be angry if not ourselves?” Markowski said the article and its aftermath has brought the campus closer together. At the school’s admissions office, Peabody Hall, Post-It notes express support for victims of violence. On Friday night, Charlottesville high school students held a candlelight vigil at McIntire Amphitheatre. The ordeal seems to have hardened the resolve of students who say the magazine’s mishandling of the issue doesn’t change the commitment of those who have worked to raise awareness of sexual assault and the treatment of women at UVA. “I think people will be more aware of looking out for each other,” Tan said. To contact the reporter on this story: Nina Glinski in Washington at nglinski@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Lisa Wolfson at lwolfson@bloomberg.net Chris Staiti |
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| abb | Dec 7 2014, 06:48 AM Post #148 |
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http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/07/us/after-retreat-on-rolling-stone-article-virginia-campus-still-uneasy.html?_r=0 After Retreat on Rolling Stone Article, Virginia Campus Still Uneasy By ALAN SCHWARZDEC. 6, 2014 CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Two days before the final exam for her course on the fall of the Roman republic, Mary Strunck took a study break on Saturday afternoon to discuss the staggered University of Virginia. A junior history major at the university, Ms. Strunck has, like the rest of the 15,000 undergraduates here, endured a tumultuous semester: the disappearance of a sophomore who was later found dead and ruled the victim of a homicide, two student suicides and, most recently, a Rolling Stone article about an alleged 2012 gang rape at a fraternity house that put the university in the crosshairs of a national debate over sexual assault on college campuses. When those allegations appeared to lose some credibility on Friday, with Rolling Stone apologizing for relying on unverified information and for how the story was generally handled, debates and tension remained. If there was one developing consensus it was that, at the very least, the embattled campus might begin to regain some semblance of normality. As Gary DePalo, a sophomore, put it: “There’s a general sense of ‘I just want this semester to be over.’ ” Mr. DePalo and Ms. Strunck were among a dozen students peering at their laptops at Greenberry’s Coffee inside Alderman Library on Saturday. Ms. Strunck, who transferred to Virginia this semester from a nearby community college, said that she hoped she would soon feel safe to show pride in her school again. “This semester has had a lot of confusing things happen, a lot of things to wrap your head around and be concerned about,” she said. “But I feel the University of Virginia has definitely been singled out and gotten a bad rap. When I have talked with friends at other schools, I’ve always had to defend us. I love this place and the students here.” Virginia’s campus was relatively quiet on Saturday afternoon; a cold drizzle kept many students indoors, where most either watched the Cavaliers men’s basketball team beat Virginia Commonwealth on television or studied for finals that begin Monday. There would be no fraternity parties that night, as all Greek functions remained suspended by the university in light of the Rolling Stone article, which portrayed the college’s fraternity culture as not just dangerous for women but also coddled by the university, sparking outrage and violent protests. But after Rolling Stone’s acknowledgment that some aspects of the article could not be verified, people on both sides of emotional debates — Are fraternities out of control? Are rape allegations always credible? — had to reassess what they could derive from recent events. Many students who were approached declined to be interviewed about their reactions. Some said that groups they were affiliated with, from fraternities to sports teams to the campus tour office, had told them not to speak to reporters. Others said that the news on Friday had proved that facts can change so fast that their feelings at one moment might not be their feelings the next. Sam Odi, a junior from Augusta, Ga., said he belonged to a fraternity — not Phi Kappa Psi, the one accused in the Rolling Stone article, he said — but spoke on condition that its name not be disclosed because the chapter president disapproved of his speaking with the news media. He felt no vindication from Friday’s news, he said, because sexual assault on campus remains a problem that he wants to see addressed, but “some relief” that outsiders, even his own family, might regain some confidence in fraternities as an institution. “The uproar here was fueled by misguided stereotypes,” Mr. Odi said. “They think that that’s all we do — frat boys, drunken parties, dim lights, sketchy dance floor — and that’s not true. People miss the point of the brotherhood and the bond that we share.” He added: “It was difficult. I came home for Thanksgiving break and my family — maybe they weren’t judging me per se, but they were judging Greek life and UVA, just like most people in America.” Ms. Strunck said that she had devoted many long phone conversations insisting to her increasingly fearful mother that the Charlottesville campus was safe enough for her to roam after dusk. Ms. Strunck said she has always felt safe, and that the only uncomfortable moment she had experienced was a few days after the Rolling Stone article appeared, when she stood on a street corner with a male friend. She said a car drove by with someone shouting out the window at her, “Be careful! UVA students rape!” “I’d say that all males here have been pretty badly treated at times,” she said. Mr. DePalo, from Commack, N.Y., said Saturday that his mind was less on the aftermath of the Rolling Stone article than on the university’s tragedies early in the semester. He said that he was about to attend a memorial service for Peter D’Agostino, one of the two classmates who had committed suicide, and that he was also helping to form a new student group called Buddies on Call, which will provide students with escorted walks at times they feel unsafe. That effort, he said, came in response to the case of Hannah Graham, the sophomore who disappeared in mid-September and was found dead a month later. But many students said their thoughts remained on the fallout from Rolling Stone’s admission about its reporting flaws and how that might set back discussion of sexual assault not just in Charlottesville, but also nationwide. Emily Powell, a senior from Haymarket, Va., and a campus advocate for changing the methods of dealing with sexual assault survivors, said that she was struggling to study for a final that was less than 48 hours away. “It’s a little hard sometimes to remember I’m a student,” Powell said. “All this stuff just means added stress, and it makes me worried about the grades that I’m going to get. But I can’t push this subject aside. Even if I could, I wouldn’t want to.” |
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| abb | Dec 7 2014, 06:49 AM Post #149 |
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http://pjmedia.com/eddriscoll/2014/12/06/msm-gang-raped-the-truth/ The MSM Gang-Raped the Truth This Week December 6th, 2014 - 1:23 pm The MSM rarely acquits itself well on its best days, but this week it seemed like a particularly huge implosion by the legacy media. First up, in order to advance the narrative, and get a little payback for their bosses’ shellacking in the midterms, the media had a collective frenzy over a little-known Republican operative’s Facebook page post on the decorum of the semi-retired president’s daughters. This despite the media’s own previous obsession over GWB’s daughters. (For the MSM, mankind’s collective history now begins on January 20, 2009.) On Wednesday, Big Journalism’s John Nolte poked massive, potentially fatal holes in Time-Warner-CNN-HBO-employed actress Lena Dunham’s claim, as written in her autobiography, that she was raped at Oberlin. We’ll come back to that in a moment. This was followed on Thursday by “Facebook Prince” Chris Hughes blowing up the venerable leftwing but usually semi-sane New Republic, and re-purposing it as another BuzzFeed/Vox /click-bait Website, resulting in almost the entire TNR senior staff resigning en masse. As Stacy McCain’s co-blogger Smitty quips, “This is another suck-is-the-new-cool call from the manor house down to the the peasants working the fields. Dig it, lackeys.” But the real fireworks occurred yesterday, involving Rolling Stone, Jann Wenner’s almost-equally venerable ripoff of AARP Magazine. (Wait, it may be the other way around. I find the two magazines virtually interchangeable, at least based on who’s on their covers.) As John Hinderaker wrote yesterday at Power Line on the Dunham and Rolling Stone fiascos, It’s been “A Bad Week for Rape Culture”: The author of the article, Sabrina Rubin Erdely, now says that it doesn’t matter so much whether “Jackie’s” story was really true. (This is a common theme among liberals these days.) The real point of the article, she says, is that the University of Virginia didn’t respond forcefully enough to the incident. But this is a transparent bait and switch. The university’s reaction was inadequate only if the story was true. If it was false, then the university over-reacted, for example by closing down the entire fraternity system. (As William S. Burroughs said in a different context, “After a shooting spree, they always want to take the guns away from the people who didn’t do it.”) There are no valid lessons to be drawn from a lie. Then we have the case of the appalling Lena Dunham. If you have no idea who she is, you are lucky. But she wrote an autobiographical memoir (at age 28, much like her idol Barack Obama, for whom she filmed a commercial in 2012) titled Not That Kind of Girl. (It’s none of my business, but since she brought it up, she does appear to be that kind of girl.) In her book, she claimed to have been “raped by a Republican” when she was a student at Oberlin. The party designation, for her, was obviously of the essence. She described her purported rapist as a fellow Oberlin student named Barry, who was a prominent Republican on campus, had a radio show and wore a mustache. As Hinderaker notes, there is indeed a man named Barry who went to Oberlin, sans mustache and radio show. “I agree with Eugene Volokh that Barry has a good libel case against Dunham, should he choose to bring it,” he adds. But back to Rolling Stone and the University of Virginia. As Chris Bray of the Daily Caller writes, Sabrina Rubin Erdely, the story’s author, was “rape shopping,” perhaps the ultimate example of a “journalist” starting with a sensational narrative she wanted to trumpet in a big glossy national publication, and then finding the facts to support it, and failing that, pushing the truth through the Play-Dough Fun Factory to produce the desired outcome: [Erdely was] going from campus to campus auditioning rape victims, contacting advocacy groups and asking for introductions. But the rapes she found at Harvard, Yale, Princeton and Penn didn’t have the right narrative feel. They were just rapes, and she needed a cover-worthy rape. So she kept shopping until she found someone who would tell her a version of the story she had already decided to tell. She needed a big rape — something splashy, something with wild details and a frat house. She needed a rape that would go viral. You can’t do that with just some regular boring rape. Bray concludes: Meanwhile, real problems go unreported, because boooooring. Look again at how casual the discard pile is: “She talked to people at Harvard, Yale, Princeton and her alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania. None of those schools felt quite right.” Get better rapes, Harvard, Yale, Princeton and Penn. Let’s face it: For magazine journalism, yours just aren’t colorful enough. Jonah Goldberg of National Review took particular heat for his column, which first ran on Tuesday in the L.A. Times, for doubting the veracity of Erdely’s Rolling Stone article. In his G-File yesterday, written before Rolling Stone walked the story back, he responded to one of his critics at the L.A. Times: First of all, we aren’t talking about “a rape allegation” we are talking about this rape allegation. Crandall is simply wrong to say I can’t “appreciate the very real fear of being chastised for reporting a rape.” Her mind-reading skills notwithstanding, I can testify here and now that I can. What Crandall and countless others, including Sabrina Erdely, her editors, and their defenders can’t appreciate is that as onerous as the stigma on rape victims may or may not be, the stigma against rapists is worse. No, really, it’s true. There’s a well-documented tendency for known or suspected — and especially convicted — rapists to be stigmatized. They’re shunned by polite society. They have trouble finding work. They often have to register as sex offenders and — oh yeah — they very often are sent to jail for very long periods of time. And this is as it should be. But this fact is also why I am deeply skeptical of the story. Most of the UVA students I’ve met — and I’ve met a lot — are the sorts of kids who worry a lot about their permanent records. That makes sense; UVA is a truly great school with an impressive academic culture. And so while I can certainly believe sexual assaults and rapes happen there — drunk and sober — I simply cannot believe that nine men sat around soberly and plotted a brutal gang rape that would land them all in jail for decades — never mind hinder their chances of working at Goldman Sachs! At least not as presented in Erdely’s story. Indeed, it wouldn’t just be nine men, because you can’t keep such plans a secret in a fraternity when the rape is an initiation ritual. You need to make sure all of the kids are down with committing a heinous felony. You need to make sure they all know where to wait to commit the deed. And you need to make sure no one blabs to that one guy who isn’t totally and completely down with “rape culture.” That requires conversations, lots of conversations. And lots of conversations make secrets hard to keep. What baffles and infuriates me is that I am supposed to be pro-rape and a rape apologist because I want to get to the truth. If this story is true, these men (and, frankly, the dean) should go to jail. The whole fraternity should be prosecuted for running a criminal enterprise. Honestly, as a matter of justice I’d have no problem seeing Drew hang. Meanwhile the heroic enemies of rape and rape culture are outraged that anyone would want these men exposed and brought to justice. That’s bananas. I understand why most of the debate in the press about the Rolling Stone piece is about journalistic ethics. That’s fine. But my complaint isn’t that she didn’t talk to the alleged rapists. My complaint — or at least my claim — is that the story isn’t true. The fact she didn’t get quotes from the alleged rapists isn’t Erdely’s crime, it’s evidence of it. The left (sorry, I can’t call it “liberal,” and there’s nothing “Progressive” anymore about this century-old ideology) has a strange and exceedingly toxic push-pull dynamic to it. Those with keyboards and a byline have long ago exited the journalism profession, to transform themselves into “Social Justice Warriors.” Everything is a toxic hotbed of racism and sexism, from Hollywood to video games. College campuses, despite being the most left-leaning places in America outside of Bernie Sanders’ living room, are, from the SJW perspective, concentration camp-level rape factories. And if you don’t believe them, your brain is suffering from a false consciousness and needs to be “trained in a different way,” as the original Marxists first started claiming over a century ago. |
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| Quasimodo | Dec 7 2014, 08:08 AM Post #150 |
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And 47 members of a team knowing about a gang rape would all keep quiet about it (not even telling parents) and no one would come forward to make a plea deal with the DA; and the accuser was someone who had made a previous false claim of gang rape; and the entire team was cleared by DNA testing before the first arrests were made... and that STILL was not enough to convince the MSM that the case was a fraud because the agendistas wanted and needed that kind of case |
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