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UVA Rape Story Collapses; Duke Lacrosse Redux
Topic Started: Dec 5 2014, 01:45 PM (60,502 Views)
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http://www.newsadvance.com/news/local/rolling-stone-discrepancies-in-uva-rape-story-fraternity-responds/article_80eaee44-7cae-11e4-af34-2711fb40040f.html

Rolling Stone: 'Discrepancies' in UVa rape story; fraternity responds
Posted: Friday, December 5, 2014 1:42 pm

The Charlottesville Daily Progress

Rolling Stone editors say they no longer trust the story of a University of Virginia student who told them she was gang-raped at a campus fraternity.

In a letter posted on the magazine's website, Will Dana, managing editor of Rolling Stone, said there are "discrepancies in Jackie's account, and we have come to the conclusion that our trust in her was misplaced."

"We were trying to be sensitive to the unfair shame and humiliation many women feel after a sexual assault and now regret the decision to not contact the alleged assaulters to get their account," Dana wrote in the letter.

"We are taking this seriously and apologize to anyone who was affected by the story."

Dana stopped short of saying the woman, called "Jackie" in the story, was not telling the truth.

Capt. Gary Pleasants, of the Charlottesville Police Department, said the department has been investigating the rape accusations.

"We received a call from UVa requesting that we investigate an incident that may have occurred in 2012 and we are doing so," he said.

Pleasants said that his department will continue investigating the woman's allegations to determine if any criminal activity occurred.

“Our purpose is to find the truth in any matter and that’s what we are looking for here. These articles do not change our focus moving forward,” he said.

The article, "A Rape on Campus," was written by Sabrina Rubin Erdely and described the student being raped by seven men at the UVa chapter of Phi Kappa Psi during a party.

The story created a furor at UVa and other campuses, leading to protests, vigils and the creation of a zero-tolerance policy for sexual assault at the university. How that policy is to be implemented has yet to be determined.

Dana wrote that nothing about the woman's story gave the reporter or editors reason to doubt her veracity.

Phi Kappa Psi has responded with the following statement:

Over the past two weeks the Virginia Alpha Chapter of Phi Kappa Psi has been working tirelessly and openly with the Charlottesville Police Department as they investigate the allegations detailed in the November 19, 2012 Rolling Stone article.

We continue to be shocked by the allegations and saddened by this story. We have no knowledge of these alleged acts being committed at our house or by our members.

Anyone who commits any form of sexual assault, wherever or whenever, should be identified and brought to justice. In tandem with the Charlottesville Police Department’s investigation, the Chapter’s undergraduate members have made efforts to contribute with internal fact-finding.

Our initial doubts as to the accuracy of the article have only been strengthened as alumni and undergraduate members have delved deeper.

Given the ongoing nature of the criminal investigation, which we fully support, we do not feel it would be appropriate at this time to provide more than the following:

First, the 2012 roster of employees at the Aquatic and Fitness Center does not list a Phi Kappa Psi as a lifeguard. As far as we have determined, no member of our fraternity worked there in any capacity during this time period.

Second, the Chapter did not have a date function or a social event during the weekend of September 28th, 2012.

Third, our Chapter's pledging and initiation periods, as required by the University and Inter-Fraternity Council, take place solely in the spring semester and not in the fall semester. We document the initiation of new members at the end of each spring. Moreover, no ritualized sexual assault is part of our pledging or initiation process.This notion is vile, and we vehemently refute this claim.

It is our hope that this information will encourage people who may know anything relevant to this case to contact the Charlottesville Police Department as soon as possible. In the meantime, we will continue to assist investigators in whatever way we can.

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http://twitchy.com/2014/12/05/jessica-valenti-well-f-you-very-much-rollingstone/

Jessica Valenti: ‘Well f*** you very much, @RollingStone’
Posted at 2:10 pm on December 5, 2014 by Twitchy Staff | View Comments

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/act-four/wp/2014/12/05/rolling-stone-needs-to-come-clean-about-its-campus-rape-story/

Rolling Stone needs to come clean about its campus rape story
By Alyssa Rosenberg December 5 at 2:23 PM

After days of questions, Rolling Stone has finally answered the two big questions asked of its blockbuster story about sexual assault at the University of Virginia: Did reporter Sabrina Rubin Erdely try to contact the students who were accused of gang-raping Jackie, a student whose shocking story anchored the piece? And if not, why not?

Protestors carry signs and chant slogans in front of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity house at the University of Virginia late Saturday night, Nov. 22, 2014, in Charlottesville, Va. (AP Photo/The Daily Progress, Ryan M. Kelly)

In a statement that clarifies the conflicting accounts Erdely and her editor have given to numerous publications, editor Will Dana explains that:

Because of the sensitive nature of Jackie’s story, we decided to honor her request not to contact the man she claimed orchestrated the attack on her nor any of the men she claimed participated in the attack for fear of retaliation against her. In the months Erdely spent reporting the story, Jackie neither said nor did anything that made Erdely, or Rolling Stone’s editors and fact-checkers, question Jackie’s credibility. Her friends and rape activists on campus strongly supported Jackie’s account. She had spoken of the assault in campus forums. We reached out to both the local branch and the national leadership of the fraternity where Jackie said she was attacked. They responded that they couldn’t confirm or deny her story but had concerns about the evidence.

Dana also explains that, “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.”

Washington Post reporters also published a story that attempted to verify Erdely’s reporting, and to contact the man Jackie identified as her date on the night she said she was assaulted.

Among other details, The Post reports:

Overwhelmed from sitting through interviews with the writer, Jackie said she asked Erdely to be taken out of the article. She said Erdely refused and Jackie was told that the article would go forward regardless. Jackie said she finally relented and agreed to participate on the condition that she be able to fact-check her parts in the story, which she said Erdely accepted. Erdely said in an e-mail message that she was not immediately available to comment Friday morning.

This catastrophe for journalism — and for a conversation about sexual assault on college campuses that remains of critical importance — is in part of Rolling Stone’s own making.

I would not have made the agreement with Jackie that Erdely and her editors struck. But having done so, Rolling Stone ought to have been clear about their agreement with Jackie in the initial article, and explained in a clear and forthright way the efforts they made to speak with the fraternity. These details might have affected how credible some readers found Jackie’s account, but they would also have added context to her fears of retaliation and her sense of the campus climate.

Rolling Stone interviewed Emily Renda, another University of Virginia student who says she is a survivor of sexual assault, who is active in campus anti-rape advocacy, and who was also a target of the same retaliation that Jackie experienced. Erdely also spoke with Stacy, another student who reported being abused and successfully pursued a misconduct complaint through the UVA disciplinary process. So why did Erdely and Rolling Stone choose Jackie as the main character in “A Rape on Campus,” even though they had to agree not to contact the men she was accusing, and especially after she tried to withdraw her participation?

Was it that Jackie’s story was not simply an account of sexual assault, but a gang-rape, an attention-grabbing atrocity that seemed like it might generate more heat on the issue? Was it an opportunity to indict the institutional culture of fraternities by describing an assault that did not merely happen at a Phi Kappa Psi party, but that was presented as part of an initiation ritual? Whatever the choices Rolling Stone made in reporting and editing “A Rape on Campus,” the magazine would do itself and the effort to end campus sexual assault on campus a favor by publishing a full autopsy of its choices.

Alyssa Rosenberg blogs about pop culture for The Washington Post's Opinions section.
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http://www.mediaite.com/online/heres-how-the-university-of-virginia-reacted-to-rolling-stone-rape-report/


Here’s How the University of Virginia Reacted to Rolling Stone Rape Report
by Josh Feldman | 2:26 pm, December 5th, 2014 video

Rolling Stone today retracted its story on an alleged gang rape at the University of Virginia, and at this point it’s worth looking back at how exactly the university responded to the piece when it was first published.

The Rolling Stone report was published on November 19th. That very day, UVa President Teresa Sullivan issued a statement saying, in part, “The University takes seriously the issue of sexual misconduct, a significant problem that colleges and universities are grappling with across the nation. Our goal is to provide an environment that is as safe as possible for our students and the entire University community.”

The next day, November 20th, university rector George Martin issued a statement of his own announcing the appointment of an independent counsel to review campus policies on rape, sexual assault, and how the university currently addresses these topics. Initially, they appointed former federal judge Mark Flip, but he had ties to the fraternity mentioned in the Rolling Stone piece, so the university brought in someone else.

And speaking of fraternities, just two days later, Sullivan released another statement announcing the suspension of all fraternity activity until January 9th. She also said she’s asked the Charlottesville PD to investigate the specific allegation made in the Rolling Stone report.

Meanwhile, other UVa students had commented to Rolling Stone affirming that the kind of rape culture described in their report really does exist on campus. Martin at one point extended an apology to the girl who identified herself as a victim, as well as her family.

Fast-forward to this week, when Sullivan told Time Magazine about other proposals she wants to see implemented on campus. For example, locking bedroom doors during frat parties, requiring beer only be served out of the original container, and that beer actually be the only drink offered at these parties.

The university has yet to comment on Rolling Stone‘s retraction today.

You can watch CNN’s report on the retraction here:
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http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/394084/rolling-stone-crumbles-jonah-goldberg

Rolling Stone Crumbles
By Jonah Goldberg
December 5, 2014 2:21 PM

Forgive a moment of personal privilege here. I’ve spent the week being called a rape apologist and pro-rape for publicly calling Rolling Stone’s story false, so I’m going to admit to schadenfreude about this. I do feel bad for Jackie. Either something terrible happened to her or something terrible didn’t. But either way she clearly has issues to work out. I have no sympathy whatsoever for Sally Kohn, Diana Crandall, or the legions of twitter and email trolls who’ve attacked my decency and insisted that questioning this story amounts to the patriarchy protecting our rape privileges.

One thing that will be great fun to watch: the coming lawsuit. Maybe UVA won’t sue. But Phi Kappa Psi will be like Luca Brasi after Vito Corleone was shot. Nothing can or should hold them off. At least I hope that’s the case. Rolling Stone accused the members of that fraternity of being members of an evil, ongoing, criminal enterprise. I actually want to get work on a screenplay or maybe TV series treatment for a comedy a where a fraternity gets to own Rolling Stone magazine. I’m picturing a scene where the fraternity brothers rush into the office like the caddies during open pool hours in Caddyshack, just grabbing any stuff they want. “I call dibs on Hunter Thompson’s typewriter!” Zac Efron call your agent!

Oh one last thing. Rolling Stone’s statement and this Washington Post piece appeared after I sent in this week’s G-File, so my apologies for what turned out to be a lot of dead-horse kicking. I will try to update it for tomorrow’s online version.
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http://www.bustle.com/articles/52516-the-rolling-stone-uva-article-apology-shouldnt-distract-from-our-campus-sex-assault-epidemic

The 'Rolling Stone' UVA Article Apology Shouldn't Distract From Our Campus Sex Assault Epidemic
Jenny Hollander @_JennyHollander
30 minutes ago News

When Rolling Stone published a deeply harrowing article on an alleged gang-rape at the University of Virginia on Nov. 17, it reignited a national conversation about rape on college campuses throughout the United States and administrations’ — in particular, the University of Virginia’s — abject inability to appropriately respond to the issue. These facts, in broad strokes, still stand; but on Friday, Rolling Stone published a formal apology note about the article, entitled “A Note To Our Readers.”

Rolling Stone, and in particular writer Sabrina Rubin Erdely, had come under fire for not mentioning that the alleged rapists at Phi Kappa Psi had denied the claims. Erdely was also widely criticized for not speaking to any of the accused. Erdely and Rolling Stone had maintained that the magazine had tried to reach out to the accused, and that Erdely had spoken to two officials at the fraternity in lieu of the accused rapists. “I’m satisfied that these guys exist and are real,“ Rolling Stone editor Sean Woods told the Washington Post.

In its formal “note to readers,” Rolling Stone did not touch on specific claims or facts that were in dispute. It blamed the victim, “Jackie,” for the “discrepancies” and went some way to defend the magazine’s writers and editors, which has been widely interpreted as victim-blaming.

Last month, Rolling Stone published a story titled “A Rape on Campus” by Sabrina Rubin Erdely, which described a brutal gang rape of a woman named Jackie at a University of Virginia fraternity house; the university’s failure to respond to this alleged assault – and the school’s troubling history of indifference to many other instances of alleged sexual assaults. The story generated worldwide headlines and much soul-searching at UVA. University president Teresa Sullivan promised a full investigation and also to examine the way the school responds to sexual assault allegations.

Because of the sensitive nature of Jackie’s story, we decided to honor her request not to contact the man she claimed orchestrated the attack on her nor any of the men she claimed participated in the attack for fear of retaliation against her. In the months Erdely spent reporting the story, Jackie neither said nor did anything that made Erdely, or Rolling Stone’s editors and fact-checkers, question Jackie’s credibility. Her friends and rape activists on campus strongly supported Jackie’s account. She had spoken of the assault in campus forums. We reached out to both the local branch and the national leadership of the fraternity where Jackie said she was attacked. They responded that they couldn’t confirm or deny her story but had concerns about the evidence.

Now, the fraternity in question — so reviled on campus that there were demonstrations outside the house, and fraternities were temporarily shut down — will reportedly say publicly that there was no party on the night that “Jackie,” the anonymous victim in the Rolling Stone story, was assaulted, and that several other notable facts of her story are in dispute, according to the Washington Post.

The big takeaway? As Rolling Stone writes, the fact that one women’s story turned out to not be entirely consistent with the truth — again, this is not to say that Jackie was not raped, just that there were “discrepancies” between what Jackie told Erdely and what happened — could possibly damage the credibility of sex assault victims everywhere. Regardless of Jackie and her personal story, and quite regardless of Rolling Stone and its reporting, sex assault is a widespread problem on college campuses across the United States, and the fear of not being believed is what leads many young victims to not report their assaults. Amid all the back-and-forth over this single story, we cannot forget that.

From Rolling Stone’s note:

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. We were trying to be sensitive to the unfair shame and humiliation many women feel after a sexual assault and now regret the decision to not contact the alleged assaulters to get their account. We are taking this seriously and apologize to anyone who was affected by the story.
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http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-Texas/2014/12/05/Rolling-Stone-Admits-Discrepancies-in-UVA-Rape-Story

Rolling Stone Apologizes Over UVA Gang Rape Allegation Story
by Sarah Rumpf 5 Dec 2014, 11:23 AM PDT post a comment

The managing editor of Rolling Stone, Will Dana, issued a statement on Friday apologizing to readers and all but admitting that a story in the November issue was false. The story in question, "A Rape on Campus," described a horrific gang rape that a student they identified as "Jackie" claimed happened to her at a fraternity party on the University of Virginia campus.

After publication, Jackie's story failed to hold up to media scrutiny and as Dana wrote, "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."

The main weakness in the Rolling Stone story was that the writer, Sabrina Rubin Erdely, had not attempted to contact any of the men that Jackie claimed raped her. Once Erdely's story made national headlines, major contradictions came to light. The Washington Post published a detailed article earlier Friday that described, among other discrepancies in the Rolling Stone story, the fraternity's claim that they had not had a party on the night identified in the article, that none of their members were employed at UVA's Aquatic Fitness Center where Jackie claimed to have met the ringleader of her attack, and no member of the fraternity matched the physical description of Jackie's rapist.

This incident marks the second major rape allegation in the mainstream media to be debunked this week. On Thursday, Breitbart News' John Nolte published the results of his investigation into claims made by HBO star Lena Dunham in her autobiography that a Republican student named "Barry" had raped her when she was in college at Oberlin. Dunham gave enough details in her book to clearly point to one student at the small college, and many other aspects of her story contradicted each other. Law professor Eugene Volokh wrote in the Washington Post that "Barry" likely had a good case against Dunham for libel and defamation.

Full text of Rolling Stone Managing Director Will Dana's statement:

To Our Readers:

Last month, Rolling Stone published a story titled "A Rape on Campus" by Sabrina Rubin Erdely, which described a brutal gang rape of a woman named Jackie at a University of Virginia fraternity house; the university's failure to respond to this alleged assault – and the school's troubling history of indifference to many other instances of alleged sexual assaults. The story generated worldwide headlines and much soul-searching at UVA. University president Teresa Sullivan promised a full investigation and also to examine the way the school responds to sexual assault allegations.

Because of the sensitive nature of Jackie's story, we decided to honor her request not to contact the man she claimed orchestrated the attack on her nor any of the men she claimed participated in the attack for fear of retaliation against her. In the months Erdely spent reporting the story, Jackie neither said nor did anything that made Erdely, or Rolling Stone's editors and fact-checkers, question Jackie's credibility. Her friends and rape activists on campus strongly supported Jackie's account. She had spoken of the assault in campus forums. We reached out to both the local branch and the national leadership of the fraternity where Jackie said she was attacked. They responded that they couldn't confirm or deny her story but had concerns about the evidence.

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. We were trying to be sensitive to the unfair shame and humiliation many women feel after a sexual assault and now regret the decision to not contact the alleged assaulters to get their account. We are taking this seriously and apologize to anyone who was affected by the story.

Will Dana

Managing Editor


Photo credit: Ryan Kelly/AP.

Follow Sarah Rumpf on Twitter @rumpfshaker.
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http://thinkprogress.org/health/2014/12/05/3600261/uva-gang-rape-disputed-details/

by Tara Culp-Ressler Posted on December 5, 2014 at 2:37 pm

"Rolling Stone, Journalistic Integrity, And The Fight Against Campus Rape"

Certain details of a University of Virginia student’s story of an alleged gang rape at a college frat house are coming into dispute, leading the magazine that published the account to conclude that its trust in its source was “misplaced.”

Rolling Stone’s story about a horrific assault that was allegedly perpetrated against a student identified as Jackie — her real first name — has made national headlines over the past two weeks. The controversy prompted the UVA administration to temporarily suspend all fraternity activity.

But that story has also sparked some harsh criticism, since the reporter who interviewed Jackie did not make an attempt to include the perspective of the accused. Some critics suggested that Jackie’s account of being gang raped and penetrated with a beer bottle by several members of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity sounded too horrific to believe. Others didn’t make a definitive assessment about the veracity of Jackie’s story, but suggested the Rolling Stone didn’t do its due diligence to fact-check the details.

On Friday, the Washington Post reported that the lawyer for the Phi Kappa Psi brothers plans to rebut the accusations that Jackie made in Rolling Stone. The fraternity maintains that it did not a host a party on the night in 2012 that Jackie alleges she was raped. They also say that some identifying details about the accused that were published in the story — the fact that several of them were employed at UVA’s Aquatic Fitness Center at the time — is inaccurate.

Some of Jackie’s close friends who spoke with the Washington Post also said that some specific details of her account have changed over time. They say they believe “something traumatic happened to her,” but they have “not been able to verify key points of the story in recent days.” For instance, Jackie disclosed the name of one of her accused attackers for the first time this week, but that man has never been a member of Phi Kappa Psi.

The emerging details prompted the Rolling Stone, which has recently come under considerable fire from other media outlets, to issue a statement suggesting that Jackie wasn’t as reliable of a source as the magazine initially thought.

“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,” managing editor Will Dana wrote. “We were trying to be sensitive to the unfair shame and humiliation many women feel after a sexual assault and now regret the decision to not contact the alleged assaulters to get their account.”

False rape allegations are difficult to quantify because so many sexual assault go unreported. But the best research in the field estimates that they are extremely rare. Estimates put the rate of false rape reports around 2.2 percent, and the women who file false claims often receive punishments that are far worse than the consequences for actual college rapists.

For victims of sexual assault who choose to speak out, the proverbial deck is often already stacked against them. They’re up against the societal assumption that they must just want to take down popular frat boys — a narrative solidified by the infamous Duke lacrosse case — and, on top of that, they often aren’t able to tell their stories in believable ways.

Research has found that victims of sexual assault often display erratic behavior, like expressing no emotion, mixing up the chronological order of events, or laughing at inappropriate times. Police officers often interpret that as evidence that they’re not telling the truth. But that behavior actually reflects the disjointed way that the brain processes trauma, not a carefully constructed lie.

Other aspects of Jackie’s story that some observers were skeptical about, like the fact that she says she was raped by multiple fraternity members in a premeditated attack, are not necessarily unheard of. A widely acclaimed 1990 book entitled Fraternity Gang Rape: Sex, Brotherhood, and Privilege on Campus detailed the intersection between Greek life and gang rape, arguing that fraternity brothers sometimes perpetrate acts of violence together that they would never think of committing by themselves. Other gang rapes have been reported at colleges like Johns Hopkins University, William Paterson University, and Vanderbilt University, as well as among high schoolers.

According to the Washington Post, Jackie is standing by her story. She says that her account is true, although she also indicated that some of the details in the Rolling Stone article might not be accurate.

Sexual assault prevention advocates on UVA’s campus are concerned about the potential discrepancies in Jackie’s story, and particularly the fact that the unraveling of the Rolling Stone article threatens to validate the pervasive narrative that rape victims are always lying. This attitude toward women who speak out about sexual violence prevents many victims from coming forward, and ensures that sexual assault is a vastly under-reported crime.

“This feels like a betrayal of good advocacy if this is not true,” Emily Renda, a recent UVA graduate who now works as a sexual assault awareness specialist for the school, said. “We teach people to believe the victims. We know there are false reports but those are extraordinarily low.”

“While the details of this one case may have been misreported, this does not erase the somber truth this article brought to light: Rape is far more prevalent than we realize and it is often misunderstood and mishandled by peers, institutions, and society at large,” Alex Pinkleton, a survivor of assault and a close friend of Jackie’s, added.
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Quasimodo

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One thing that will be great fun to watch: the coming lawsuit. Maybe UVA won’t sue. But Phi Kappa Psi will be like Luca Brasi after Vito Corleone was shot. Nothing can or should hold them off.


Be nice. But in the American court system one can never be sure. OTOH, perhaps Judge James Beaty won't be presiding.

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http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/12/college-campus-rape-sexual-assault-stats-rolling-stone-uva

Don't Let the Rolling Stone Controversy Distract You From the Campus Rape Epidemic
1 in 5 women is sexually assaulted in college. Just 1 percent of attackers are punished.

—By Dave Gilson
| Fri Dec. 5, 2014 2:36 PM EST
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Quasimodo
Dec 5 2014, 02:48 PM
Quote:
 
One thing that will be great fun to watch: the coming lawsuit. Maybe UVA won’t sue. But Phi Kappa Psi will be like Luca Brasi after Vito Corleone was shot. Nothing can or should hold them off.


Be nice. But in the American court system one can never be sure. OTOH, perhaps Judge James Beaty won't be presiding.

Depends upon the lawyers that are hired.
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I would give rolling stone magazine a choice. Be sued for an ungodly amount of cash or shut down. Their choice.
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http://www.wric.com/story/27558983/uva-fraternity-releases-statement-denying-sexual-assault-claims


Accused UVa. Fraternity Releases Statement Denying Sexual Assault Claims
Posted: Dec 05, 2014 1:35 PM CST Updated: Dec 05, 2014 1:48 PM CST
By WRIC Newsroom
Connect

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WRIC) - The University of Virginia fraternity accused of being involved in a gang rape alleged in a Rolling Stone magazine article has spoken out today, denying the claims.

Rolling Stone magazine reported alleged incidents of rape and sexual misconduct involving a UVa fraternity two weeks ago. The article described one student's allegations that she was assaulted and that she did not receive help from school administration.
Phi Kappa Psi says they've "been working tirelessly and openly" with Charlottesville Police since the allegations emerged in the article.
Just before the release of the frat's statement, Rolling Stone magazine released a statement, saying they "misplaced confidence" in the source who wrote a scathing article alleging rape at a University of Virginia fraternity.

Read the full statement below:


"Over the past two weeks the Virginia Alpha Chapter of the Phi Kappa Psi has been working tirelessly and openly with the Charlottesville Police Department as they investigate the allegations detailed in the Nov. 19 Rolling Stone article. We continue to be shocked by the allegations and saddened by this story. We have no knowledge of these alleged acts being committed at our house or by our members. Anyone who commits any form of sexual assault, wherever or whenever, should be identified and brought to justice.

In tandem with the Charlottesville Police Dept's investigation, the Chapter's undergraduate members have made efforts to contribute with internal fact-finding. Our initial doubts as to the accuracy of the article have only been strengthened as alumni and undergraduate members have delved deeper. Given the ongoing nature of the criminal investigation, which we fully support, we do not feel it would be appropriate at this time to provide more than the following:

First, the 2012 roster of employees at the Aquatic and Fitness Center does not list a Phi Kappa Psi as a lifeguard. As far as we have determined, no member of our fraternity worked there in any capacity during this time period.

Second, the Chapter did not have a date function or a social event during the weekend of Sept. 28th, 2012.

Third, our Chapter's pledging and initiation period, as required by the University and Inter-Fraternity Council, takes place solely in the spring semester and not in the fall semester. We document the initiation of new members at the end of each spring. Moreover, no ritualized sexual assault is part of our pledging or initiation process. This notion is vile, and we vehemently refute this claim.

It is our hope that this information will encourage people who may know anything relevant to this case to contact the Charlottesville Police Department as soon as possible. In the meantime, we will continue to assist investigators in whatever way we can."
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MikeZPU

Rolling Stone was so desperate to believe Jackie's story;
they didn't want to contact anyone who might detract
from such a perfect narrative.

And, again, this is profiling: pure and simple.

In their warped PC minds, frat boys at the premier frat
of a somewhat elite school such as UVA, it is totally believable
to them that they would do what Jackie described.

This is exactly what happened in the Duke Lacrosse Case.
The media have learned nothing from what happened there.

Edited by MikeZPU, Dec 5 2014, 02:55 PM.
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https://twitter.com/JamesHillABC/status/540949247885996032/photo/1

Phi Kappa Phi letter
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