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UVA Rape Story Collapses; Duke Lacrosse Redux
Topic Started: Dec 5 2014, 01:45 PM (60,463 Views)
Quasimodo

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De Bruyn said the “pause” in Greek activities “is not a punishment of any kind,


Another page from the Brodhead playbook...




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http://reason.com/archives/2015/01/04/the-rolling-stone-uva-story-eden-and-med


The Rolling Stone UVa Story, Eden, and Media Exploitation

Noah Berlatsky|Jan. 4, 2015 8:00 am

The media reports a brutal, dramatic sexual assault, prompting widespread condemnation and calls for institutional change. Before too long, though, contradictory details emerge, and the original account is called into question. The veracity of the victim is challenged, resulting in a welter of charges and counter-charges, confusion, and unanswered questions.

This could be a brief summation of the controversy surrounding Sabrina Rubin Erdely's exposé of sexual violence at the University of Virginia, which ran in November at Rolling Stone. But it could just as easily serve as a thumbnail description of the narrative around Eden, a 2012 indie film directed by Megan Griffiths supposedly based on the real life experiences of sex trafficking victim Chong Kim.

Erdely's article was centered on the story of Jackie, a young woman who described a gang rape at a fraternity house at UVA during her freshman year. The brutality and extremity of Jackie's story helped Erdely's report go viral—until inconsistencies in the account led Rolling Stone to print an apology and admit that they had failed to do sufficient fact-checking. Eden, too, was widely praised initially for its "excruciating vision"—a story depicting dozens of underage young women held in a brutal trafficking ring in the Southwest run by a marshall. It took longer for Chong Kim's story to be called into question, but two years after its release much of its narrative is in doubt. The Seattle newspaper The Stranger, which had championed Eden when it first came out, published a lengthy article earlier this month chronicling the charges and making a strong case that, whatever Eden is, it is not a true account of trafficking in the United States.

The Washington Post reported that Jackie tried to remove herself from the Rolling Stone story, but Erdely insisted on keeping her in the piece. If true, as Maya Dusenberry points out, is "a clear violation of ethical journalism guidelines for reporting on sexual assault," and seems to suggest that Rolling Stone was more focused on the riveting scoop than its ethical obligations. Similarly, while Chong Kim's story seems to have changed over time, the version in Eden, despite a "based on a true story" note at the beginning, appears to be pretty obviously fictionalized. Among other things, the film shows Kim killing one of the bad guys—which, if it happened, seems like it would expose her to murder charges. In both cases, then, protecting or helping the victim seems to take a back seat to the desire to craft an exciting narrative.

It's quite possible that both Chong Kim and Jackie experienced some kind of sexual assault or abuse—but simple, routine sexual assault isn't the story the media wanted to hear They also wanted to tell a gripping, riveting story—and sex and violence make a gripping, riveting story. More, the media goals of highlighting injustice and telling a gripping story often blur, so it's hard to tell which is which. As Jessica Luther, a journalist with a forthcoming book on football and sexual assault, told me:

We are saturated by a culture that sexualizes women but also demonizes them, that celebrates fuzzy consent and certainly doesn't punish it, that blames victims for the sexual violence done to them, that is sometimes willing to ask people to intervene but is never willing to directly say to men that they should not rape. This kind of saturation makes it so people don't really want to hear another story about a woman being sexually assaulted—and even if someone is willing to listen to story after story, what has to change to make it so these kinds of violent acts don't happen with such regularity feels insurmountable. So there is this idea then that to get people to care, the story of that violence that you share (either as a journalist or a survivor) has to shock people so that they say, "Damn, even in THIS culture that doesn't care much for women, THAT is bad."

As Luther says, people often don't want to hear about victims of sexual assault unless the stories are too horrible to ignore or brush aside. The painful flip side of that, though, is that, while there can be an impulse to minimize sexual violence, there's also a cultural enthusiasm for consuming it and packaging it as entertainment. If Eden were marketed as fiction, and without any other changes, it could be just another exploitation film. In stories about sexual violence the distinction between appealing to people's prurient instincts and appealing to their moral outrage can wear very thin.

Again, the impulse in looking for, and publicizing, sensational stories is often to wake people up, and to help victims. But the result can be the opposite. Most obviously, false accusations can damage the reputations of people who are innocent, and can make those who have been assaulted less likely to come forward, and less likely to be believed.

Beyond that, focusing on sensational stories can damage victims in other ways. Focusing on gang rapes by strangers can make it seem like that is the only sexual violence that counts as stranger violence, when most rapes are perpetrated by non-strangers, and a large percentage by friends, acquaintances, or intimates. There's perhaps an even more poisonous dynamic for sex workers, where narratives of sex trafficking, like those in Eden, are used to justify criminalizing prostitution, which puts the women involved at more, rather than less, risk.

"Eden was created to justify oppressive actions of law enforcement," according to Mistress Matisse, a Seattle dominatrix and sex-worker's rights activist who was one of the first to raise questions about the film. "It seeks to direct public money and resources away from real people who are truly suffering and asking for help, and towards sex-negative, sexist, racist, and generally repressive political agenda. The people most likely to be harmed by anti-trafficking policies are poor women, and most often women of color. They are most likely to be arrested and incarcerated, and to have their lives ruined by people who claim they are 'saving victims' by arresting them."

Sexual violence or victimization usually doesn't fit into exploitation tropes. The violence most sex workers face routinely is being harassed, arrested, and (sometimes) assaulted by police. When trafficking does happen, it's generally not a giant conspiracy involving U.S. marshalls but small-scale, petty, cruel cases of individual blackmail—an unphotogenic nightmare, as in the documentary A Civil Remedy. Similarly, Erdely's well-documented discussion of the ways in which UVa's bureaucracy fails to provide adequate resources or options for everyday victims of sexual assault was buried by the sensationalism of, and backlash against, Jackie's story.

"It's possible that the truth of sexual violence is too messy to fit within journalism's narrative preference for perfect victims and villains," Maya Dusenberry argues. I think that's right—but it's not just a desire for perfect victims and villains that makes it difficult to report on these issues. There's also a desire for exploitation itself, both on the part of the media and on the part of their audiences. For those who want to save victims and those who want to blame them, there is, or can often be, an investment in the narratives of sex and violence. Unless a writer, or a reader, is very careful, victim's stories, and the outrage or horror or titillation they provoke, become more important than the victims themselves.
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http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/in-u.va.-debacle-echoes-of-duke-lacrosse/article/2558199

In U.Va. debacle, echoes of Duke lacrosse
By Ashe Schow | January 5, 2015 | 1:14 pm

K.C. Johnson and Stuart Taylor Jr., who co-wrote the book about the Duke University lacrosse case, have found similarities between that case and the “multiply discredited” gang-rape alleged to have happened at the University of Virginia.

Johnson and Taylor asked whether U.Va.’s response to the accusation, which was printed in Rolling Stone, was worse than that of Duke administrators.

“As to lacrosse case similarities, the most obvious was the initial mob-like rush to judgment at U-Va. by left-leaning faculty, administrators, and news media in embracing the now-infamous claim by ‘Jackie’ of being gang-raped on a bed of shattered glass,” Johnson and Taylor wrote. “By presuming the guilt of college men accused of implausibly barbaric crimes against women and minorities, these academics were oblivious to the lessons from Duke.”

At Duke, 88 professors signed a statement in 2006 condemning the lacrosse players without any more evidence than an accusation (which was later proven false). Duke’s president, Richard Brodhead, also repeatedly condemned the alleged acts of the lacrosse players, all the while providing token comments about not rushing to judgment. Lacrosse games were forfeited — eventually the coach was forced to resign and part of the season cancelled.

At U.Va., Johnson and Taylor note, faculty members have also come out with claims of a campus “rape culture,” condemning anonymous fraternity students without any evidence other than an accusation. U.Va. president Teresa Sullivan rushed to suspend all fraternity social activities until Jan. 9 and has no plans to lift the ban or apologize for the rush to judgment.

Where Johnson and Taylor believe U.Va.’s response is worse than Duke’s, however, is in student reactions.

“The one encouraging on-campus aspect of the Duke case was the reaction of many students, including the award-winning news and editorial team at the student newspaper, The Chronicle,” the pair wrote. Campus journalists, Johnson and Taylor wrote, as well as other Duke students (who were rarely interviewed by national papers pushing the gang-rape narrative) “were refreshingly open to evidence and critical thinking as the case there unfolded.”

But at U.Va., the student newspaper accepted immediately the notion that classmates had committed such an egregious offense, without any serious effort to prove anything. Katherine Ripley, executive editor of the Cavalier Daily, continuously tweeted the Twitter hashtag “#IStandWithJackie.” After the story began to fall apart, Ripley used the hashtag “IStandWithSurvivors.”

Assistant Managing Editor Julia Horowitz told Politico that “to let fact checking define the narrative would be a huge mistake.”

That’s a frightening statement from a young journalist.

Johnson and Taylor wrote that they were unsure why U.Va. didn’t appear to have learned from the Duke lacrosse tragedy, but noted that since the 2006 case, due process has been devalued rather than made more essential.

“In such an environment, it might be understandable that few students would risk being branded as ‘rape apologists’ by defending due process,” the pair wrote. “In this respect, the U-Va. student response may evidence a troubling trend over the last eight years. In any event, it surely illustrates a poisoned campus culture that has implications far beyond Charlottesville.”
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http://www.cavalierdaily.com/article/2015/01/semester-in-review-rolling-stone-article-and-its-aftermath

Semester in Review: Rolling Stone article & its aftermath
by Anna Higgins and Luc Cianfarani | Jan 05 2015

The release of Rolling Stone’s article “A Rape on Campus: A Brutal Assault and Struggle for Justice at UVA,” published Nov. 19, shook the University community to its core. The article detailed the story of then-first year student Jackie, who was allegedly gang raped at a party at the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity house in Sept. 2012. The article's author also criticized the University administration’s response to Jackie's and other sexual assault survivor's stories.

The article sent shockwaves through Grounds and prompted an array of responses. The same day the article was published, University President Teresa Sullivan issued a statement calling for a criminal investigation into the incident and expressing disgust with the actions depicted in the article.

Within 24 hours of the story’s publication, the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity house was vandalized. The vandals expressed their demands in a letter circulated later that day, which included the resignation of Associate Dean of Students Nicole Eramo, a revision of the University’s sexual misconduct policy and the suspension of the University’s Phi Kappa Psi chapter.

The University chapter of Phi Kappa Psi fraternity then voluntarily suspended its Fraternal Organization Agreement with the University, thereby stopping all fraternity activities.

“We remain ready and willing to assist with the fair and swift pursuit of justice, wherever that may lead, and steadfast in our resolve to ensure that nothing like this can happen, ever on our Grounds,” the chapter said in a statement.

In response to the article, University students held rallies to show their support for victims and to voice their anger with the University's sexual misconduct policies. The Middle Eastern and Islamic Student Association held a rally in the Amphitheatre Nov. 20 titled “Stand Up Against Rape Culture” which attracted more than 1,000 community members.

First-year College student Maria Dehart lead a “Slut Walk” Nov. 21. Protesters marched around Grounds, ending up at Peabody Hall, where they were addressed by Dean of Students Allen Groves.

Protests spilled into the following weekend. Police arrested several community members protesting at the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity house, and faculty members dressed in full regalia to protest on Beta Bridge on the night of Nov. 22.

Campus fraternities voluntarily suspended social activities for the upcoming weekend following the release of the article. On Nov. 22, Sullivan released a statement announcing the suspension of all fraternal organizations and social activities until Jan. 9.

“Our challenges will extend beyond this weekend,” the statement said.

Student leaders held a press conference for local and national media Nov. 24 to discuss student efforts against sexual assault. Student leaders such as Student Council President Jalen Ross, Inter-Fraternity Council President Tommy Reid, One Less President Ashley Brown and One in Four President Brian Head each gave statements.

Later that night, the English, American Studies and French faculties and student organizations One Less and One in Four held discussions for students to express their opinions on sexual assault on Grounds.

At a special meeting to address the complaints in the Rolling Stone article and the University’s sexual misconduct policy more broadly, the Board of Visitors passed a zero-tolerance policy on Nov. 25.

President Sullivan held a meeting with students Dec. 1 to discuss the administration’s plans to address rape, alcohol abuse and the dangers of fraternity parties. These plans included faculty-wide sexual assault education; collaboration with Greek organizations, ADAPT and the Gordie Center; security personnel to monitor the Corner and Wertland Street areas on weekends; and funding to hire another trauma counselor for the Women’s Center.

On Dec. 5, the University chapter of Phi Kappa Psi released a statement indicating several factual discrepancies between the allegations made in the Rolling Stone article and an internal investigation. The chapter noted that no member of the fraternity worked at the Aquatic and Fitness Center in 2012 as the article described. Records also showed there was no social function at the fraternity house on Sept. 28, 2012.

“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,” the statement said. “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.”

The same day, Rolling Stone released its own statement, saying there were numerous discrepancies with the article and noting that their trust in Jackie was “misplaced.” Rolling Stone later updated their statement to extend their apology and said the blame lies with the magazine, not with Jackie.

“We have come to the conclusion that we were mistaken in honoring Jackie's request to not contact the alleged assaulters to get their account,” the statement said.

The updated statement also detailed the discrepancies in the story as revealed by the Phi Kappa Psi statement and a Washington Post article. The Post reported that after speaking with the three friends of Jackie’s who are mentioned in the article as seeing her on the night of her alleged assault — “Cindy,” “Randall” and “Andy” in the article — that many of the details did not match what she said on the night in question.

Jackie’s three friends, third-year Engineering student Ryan Duffin, third-year Commerce student Alex Stock and third-year Architecture student Kathryn Hendley, said that Jackie’s date took her to his fraternity house because he needed to pick something up, and that he then brought her to his room and forced her to perform oral sex on five men. Other reports have found that the name Jackie provided friends of the man is not someone who ever enrolled at the University.

In the aftermath, Rolling Stone asked the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism to review the editorial and reporting process of its article. The effort is being spearheaded by the Dean Steven Coll and Dean of Student Affairs Sheila Coronel.

"Rolling Stone has agreed to publish our report in its entirety, without editing, on its website, as well as substantial excerpts in the magazine," Coronel said.

Sullivan announced Dec. 8 she had formed an Ad Hoc Group on University Climate and Culture to develop safety initiatives on Grounds. The committee, which has held two meetings since its inception, has three primary areas of focus: changing the student culture, developing sexual assault prevention policies, and improving administrative and institutional response. Achieving these goals will involve changes to Greek life, improving bystander training and peer education, and committing to a host of safety initiatives, the release said.

Several student groups worked to craft a series of policy proposals for the administration, the Board of Visitors, and other student groups as part of an effort to combat sexual assault. Recommendations include mandated Women and Gender studies classes, funding for legal counsel for survivors of sexual assault, trauma training for police, and University-sponsored alternatives to Block Party.

The report outlined nine steps for the Board and seven steps for the administration to diminish gender-based violence and rape culture on Grounds.

The Board of Visitors held another special meeting Dec. 19 to discuss ongoing efforts to combat sexual assault. At the meeting Rector George Martin said the University community had been victim to “drive-by journalism” in Rolling Stone and vowed strong, measured actions to continue to combat sexual assault.

The Board also discussed Sullivan’s proposals which she outlined with the Ad Hoc Committee, and heard from University Police Chief Michael Gibson and Apalla Chopra, a legal representative from O’Melveny and Myers — the firm tasked by Attorney General Mark Herring to examine the University’s handling of sexual misconduct cases.

Many reforms are still in the works, including revised fraternal organization agreements with all Greek organizations, which were expected by the end of the calendar year and will be implemented before the organizations are removed from their suspension. Sullivan also said other student groups’ contractual agreements with the University would likely be reworked.

“How we answer these questions is not about protecting the University’s reputation — it is about doing the right thing,” President Sullivan said in her Dec. 1 press conference. “We will not be doing business as usual in spring 2015.”
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Quasimodo

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The report outlined nine steps for the Board and seven steps for the administration to diminish gender-based violence and rape culture on Grounds


The rape claim was phony, so let's study the problem with "rape culture" anyway?

:confus:
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Quasimodo
Jan 6 2015, 08:05 AM
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The report outlined nine steps for the Board and seven steps for the administration to diminish gender-based violence and rape culture on Grounds


The rape claim was phony, so let's study the problem with "rape culture" anyway?

:confus:
What, you did not quote the sections on exposure of false accusations and punishment for false accusations, Quasi?
:SarC:
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jewelcove

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The Middle Eastern and Islamic Student Association held a rally in the Amphitheatre Nov. 20 titled “Stand Up Against Rape Culture” which attracted more than 1,000 community members.


http://www.cavalierdaily.com/article/2015/01/semester-in-review-rolling-stone-article-and-its-aftermath



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jewelcove

Payback
Jan 6 2015, 10:14 AM
Quasimodo
Jan 6 2015, 08:05 AM
Quote:
 
The report outlined nine steps for the Board and seven steps for the administration to diminish gender-based violence and rape culture on Grounds


The rape claim was phony, so let's study the problem with "rape culture" anyway?

:confus:
What, you did not quote the sections on exposure of false accusations and punishment for false accusations, Quasi?
:SarC:
They should be tasked with reviewing their" false accusation" policy. That is what caused the PR problem for them after all. Why is no one that's reviewing the incident noting that glaring omission?
Edited by jewelcove, Jan 6 2015, 01:32 PM.
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Quasimodo

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http://patriotpost.us/posts/32148

In U.Va. debacle, echoes of Duke lacrosse
January 5, 2015

K.C. Johnson and Stuart Taylor Jr., who co-wrote the book about the Duke University lacrosse case, have found similarities between that case and the “multiply discredited” gang-rape alleged to have happened at the University of Virginia.

Johnson and Taylor asked whether U.Va.’s response to the accusation, which was printed in Rolling Stone, was worse than that of Duke administrators.

“As to lacrosse case similarities, the most obvious was the initial mob-like rush to judgment at U-Va. by left-leaning faculty, administrators, and news media in embracing the now-infamous claim by ‘Jackie’ of being gang-raped on a bed of shattered glass,” Johnson and Taylor wrote. “By presuming the guilt of college men accused of implausibly barbaric crimes against women and minorities, these academics were oblivious to the lessons from Duke.”

At Duke, 88 professors signed a statement in 2006 condemning the lacrosse players without any more evidence than an accusation (which was later proven false). Duke’s president, Richard Brodhead, also repeatedly condemned the alleged acts of the lacrosse players, all the while providing token comments about not rushing to judgment. Lacrosse games were forfeited — eventually the coach was forced to resign and part of the season cancelled.

At U.Va., Johnson and Taylor note, faculty members have also come out with claims of a campus “rape culture,” condemning anonymous fraternity students without any evidence other than an accusation. U.Va. president Teresa Sullivan rushed to suspend all fraternity social activities until Jan. 9 and has no plans to lift the ban or apologize for the rush to judgment.

Where Johnson and Taylor believe U.Va.’s response is worse than Duke’s, however, is in student reactions.

“The one encouraging on-campus aspect of the Duke case was the reaction of many students, including the award-winning news and editorial team at the student newspaper, The Chronicle,” the pair wrote. Campus journalists, Johnson and Taylor wrote, as well as other Duke students (who were rarely interviewed by national papers pushing the gang-rape narrative) “were refreshingly open to evidence and critical thinking as the case there unfolded.”

But at U.Va., the student newspaper accepted immediately the notion that classmates had committed such an egregious offense, without any serious effort to prove anything. Katherine Ripley, executive editor of the Cavalier Daily, continuously tweeted the Twitter hashtag “#IStandWithJackie.” After the story began to fall apart, Ripley used the hashtag “IStandWithSurvivors.”

Assistant Managing Editor Julia Horowitz told Politico that “to let fact checking define the narrative would be a huge mistake.”

That’s a frightening statement from a young journalist.

Johnson and Taylor wrote that they were unsure why U.Va. didn’t appear to have learned from the Duke lacrosse tragedy, but noted that since the 2006 case, due process has been devalued rather than made more essential.

“In such an environment, it might be understandable that few students would risk being branded as ‘rape apologists’ by defending due process,” the pair wrote. “In this respect, the U-Va. student response may evidence a troubling trend over the last eight years. In any event, it surely illustrates a poisoned campus culture that has implications far beyond Charlottesville.”



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http://www.richmond.com/news/virginia/article_0ebfc753-92ea-533e-8152-1c0ae7dadc45.html

U.Va. lifts suspension of Greek activities

BY KARIN KAPSIDELIS Richmond Times-Dispatch | Posted: Tuesday, January 6, 2015 5:30 pm

University of Virginia President Teresa A. Sullivan agreed to lift a suspension of fraternity and sorority activities she announced in late November.

University of Virginia fraternities and sororities will be allowed to resume social activities immediately with the approval Tuesday of their plans to improve safety for members and guests.

Four student-led Greek leadership councils and university President Teresa A. Sullivan agreed to specific practices each fraternity and sorority now must follow, such as "sober brother monitors" stationed at the stairs leading to residential rooms.

The agreements came in the form of addenda to the university’s Fraternal Organization Agreement and must be signed by each fraternity and sorority by Jan. 16. The university said the new safety measures and their implementation would be evaluated during the course of the semester.

Spring semester begins Monday, and many fraternities and sororities plan to begin formal recruitment for new members at the end of this week.

Sullivan suspended Greek activities in late November as the result of an allegation in Rolling Stone magazine of a gang rape at a U.Va. fraternity house. The article was subsequently discredited, but Sullivan continued what the university calls a “pause” in Greek social activities to evaluate steps to reduce high-risk drinking and sexual violence on campus.

In addition, the U.Va. Student Council will begin a review of the operating agreement between the university and more than 700 other student organizations.

The agreements announced Tuesday were with the Inter-Fraternity Council, the Inter-Sorority Council, Multicultural Greek Council and National Pan-Hellenic Council.

The IFC addendum requires each member chapter to sign the document in order to maintain a relationship with the university.

The other three councils created a joint addendum that includes safety guidelines specific to each council and respective membership.

The university requires each sorority and fraternity to execute a Fraternal Organization Agreement in order to reserve space in university buildings and participate in intramural sports, among other benefits.

In its addendum to the FOA, the IFC states that "a minimum of three brothers must be sober and lucid at each fraternity function" that runs past 9 p.m.

The sober brothers must be present at each point of alcohol distribution and at the stairs leading to residential rooms. Also, "the sober brother charged with monitoring the stairs must have immediate key access to each room in the fraternity house during the social function."

The plan also outlines steps to reduce high-risk drinking, which are "additions to the existing rules that stipulate that all relevant state and federal laws must be followed," IFC President Tommy Reid said by email.

The agreement prohibits premixed drinks and punches - Such drinks often are cited as the means used to incapacitate a potential sexual-assault victim.

Beer is to be served unopened in its original can. Wine may be served upon request, but "poured visibly at the bar by a sober brother," the addendum states.

Depending on the type of event, hard liquor either must be served by a "bartender employed by a third party" licensed by the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Board or from "a central bar location, overseen by a sober brother."

Fraternities also must provide food and make bottled water readily available.

In addition to the required monitors, the fraternities must provide an additional sober brother monitor for every 30 members of the chapter.

At least three of the sober monitors cannot be first-year brothers, and all monitors "must wear a designated identifier, which will remain consistent across all IFC chapters."

The Inter-Sorority Council also requires sober monitors at social events and strategies for "high-risk events," which the addendum states in the past have included events such as Boys’ Bid Night, Foxfield and Block Party.

The Multicultural Greek Council and National Pan-Hellenic Council agreements address hazing as well as alcohol-safety strategie
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/new-safety-rules-announced-for-fraternities-at-u-va-a-response-to-rolling-stone-uproar/2015/01/06/5ae2188a-95e0-11e4-927a-4fa2638cd1b0_story.html

New safety rules announced for University of Virginia fraternity parties

By Nick Anderson January 6 at 8:20 PM

New safety rules for fraternities at the University of Virginia would require at least three “sober and lucid” members to monitor behavior at parties, prohibit pre-mixed alcoholic drinks and implement guest lists to control entry to the houses during an event.

The rules, made public Tuesday, also stipulate that one of the sober party monitors must be posted at a staircase leading to bedrooms and have “immediate key access to each room” in the house. That measure appears designed to prevent situations that could lead to sexual assault at U-Va’s fraternities.

The safety initiative arose in response to a Rolling Stone magazine article in November that depicted a female student saying she was gang-raped at a fraternity house during her freshman year. That article unraveled last month as key elements of the rape allegation fell into doubt and the magazine’s managing editor apologized for journalistic lapses.

But university officials and leaders of Greek organizations, among others in the U-Va. community, pledged to continue a push to improve safety at U-Va. regardless.

With that in mind, the university unveiled an addendum to its “fraternal organization agreement” with 31 chapters belonging to U-Va.’s Inter-Fraternity Council. Of those, 28 have houses, which are often the scene of parties where alcohol is available.

At the same time, the university released another safety addendum for its agreements with sororities and fraternities that belong to other Greek councils. That document promises steps to promote “bystander intervention” — a method of preventing sexual violence — as well as educational programs on alcohol use and safe parties.

On Nov. 22, three days after the Rolling Stone article appeared, U-Va. President Teresa A. Sullivan announced a suspension of social activities for campus Greek organizations. On Tuesday, Sullivan said the suspension would be lifted immediately, on condition that each chapter agree to the new safety provisions by Jan. 16, the second day of fraternity spring rush.

“I believe the new safety measures recommended by the student leaders in the Greek community will help provide a safer environment for their members and guests,” Sullivan said in a statement. “I would like to express my sincere appreciation to our student leaders who have worked so diligently in the past several weeks to bring forth substantive recommendations and improvements consistent with the ideals of our community of trust.”

IFC President Tommy Reid credited numerous fraternity and sorority members, among others, for working “around the clock for the past month and half to develop these improvements to our system.” The council, he said, “is excited for the spring semester and looks forward to continuing to lead the advancement of student safety at the university.”

It is unclear how the new rules for the IFC will change the party culture at Virginia’s flagship public university. J. Marshall Pattie, an associate dean of students, said some of the provisions — such as sober party monitors — already have been customary.

Now there will be a standard protocol: At least three “sober brothers” on duty at all parties, with more required as needed. At least one monitor must be stationed wherever alcohol is distributed, and at least one must be at the staircase. The monitors also must wear something that identifies them — with the identification common for all chapters.

On alcohol, the rules say that beer can be served in unopened cans and that wine can be served if visibly poured by a sober fraternity member. Prohibited are “pre-mixed drinks, punches or any other common source of alcohol.” That means no beer kegs. Hard liquor can be served at large events if a fraternity hires a bartender through a company with a state license, or at smaller events if bottles are placed at a bar overseen by a sober monitor.

The documents released Tuesday make scant mention of laws against serving alcohol to people under the age of 21. Underlying the rules there appears to be an assumption that college students will drink at parties, regardless of the law, and that the university should try to make those parties as safe as possible.

On guest lists, Pattie said fraternities often have had such controls but that enforcement has varied. Sometimes, he said, a fraternity member might have asked a brother to wave somebody into a party who was not on the list. The new rules will call for a hired security agent to be stationed at the door during large parties to check guest lists. At smaller parties, a fraternity member will check the list.

These provisions are described in a section of the rules headlined, “Eliminating discomfort and chaos: Entry management.”
Nick Anderson covers higher education for The Washington Post. He has been a writer and editor at The Post since 2005.
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http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/01/06/uva-toughens-fraternity-regulations-after-rolling-stone-rape-hoax-debunked/

UVA Toughens Fraternity Regulations After Rolling Stone Rape Hoax Debunked

by Katie McHugh6 Jan 20157

The University of Virginia restored fraternities on campus Tuesday without apology, requiring them to undergo safety and sexual assault training and adopt strict new rules on alcohol — or face continued banishment.

President Teresa Sullivan suspended all fraternities and sororities on campus on Nov. 22 after Rolling Stone magazine published a now-discredited story of an alleged, premeditated gang rape during a Phi Kappa Si party in the fall of 2012.

Reporter Sabrina Rubin Erdely relayed a sordid tale of student “Jackie’s” rape atop broken glass for three hours by seven men, and the skepticism she faced from friends and institutions on campus. Jackie refused to seek immediate medical care after the horrific ordeal — telling Erdely that several friends, seeing her covered in blood, decided not to take her to the hospital for fear they wouldn’t be invited back to parties. Erdely spoke to none of Jackie’s friends and made no effort to identify, let alone speak to, the alleged perpetrators. The Associated Press reported that contrary to Erdely’s story, Jackie’s friend and crush Ryan Duffin, referred to as “Randall” in the Rolling Stone story, was mid-dial when Jackie begged him not to call 911.

After several blogs raised questions about Jackie’s account and the Washington Post contacted Jackie’s friends to get their side of the story, it quickly fell apart.

Undeterred, the university has ordered fraternities to sign onto a slew of new regulations ostensibly meant to prevent sexual assault, according to the LA Times.

BuzzFeed listed the new regulations:

At least three sober brothers must be on hand to monitor alcohol distribution and the stairway to residential rooms.
An additional sober brother must be on hand for each 30 fraternity members.
Functions must be registered with the council.
Beer must be served in its original, unopened can.
Wine must be visibly poured at a bar by a sober brother.
Punch and premixed drinks are prohibited.
Liquor may be served at the bar by a sober brother at parties where outside guests don’t exceed the number of brothers. But at larger parties, a bartender and outside security must be hired.
Bottled water and food must be available.
A sober brother must have a key to access each room.

Greek life has been struggling to come to terms with the university’s demands for a month. In a statement, the Fraternity and Sorority Political Action Committee (FSPAC), the National Panhellenic Conference (NPC), and the North American Fraternity Conference (NIC) called for UVA to release the records detailing its decision:

The reckless Rolling Stone article set off a chain of events that led the University of Virginia to suspend operations of all fraternities and sororities for the remainder of the school term. This decision was made before an investigation into all of the facts alleged in the story was completed and it was not consistent with the law or university policies. The school’s decision to suspend hurt the reputation of thousands of outstanding student leaders in our organizations who had nothing to do with the alleged events described in the article. As a result, the University’s rush to judgment has caused great harm and emotional distress to the members of Phi Kappa Psi and many in the fraternal community. We believe universities must demonstrate more respect for the fundamental rights to due process and freedom of association for students and student organizations when allegations of misconduct are lodged. A rush to judgment on campus all too often turns out to be wrong, especially when applied at the organizational level.

Sullivan has chosen to forge ahead with the new restrictions.

“I believe the new safety measures recommended by the student leaders in the Greek community will help provide a safer environment for their members and guests,” Sullivan said in a statement, according to NBCNews. Greek life organizations have until Jan. 16 to adopt the new regulations.

Follow Katie on Twitter: @k_mcq. Email her at kmchugh@breitbart.com
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kbp

I'm sensing we are experiencing a trend in which false or inaccurate claims create more conversation than reality does.
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Payback
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Keep her on as President so she write more letters in support of criminal governors?
Edited by Payback, Jan 7 2015, 09:51 AM.
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Bill Anderson
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So, the outcome of the fake rape story is exactly the same outcome that would have occurred had the story been true. What truly bothers me is that higher education has become so Politically Correct that even massive wrongdoing by university presidents goes unpunished and even unnoticed -- as long as the wrongdoing was done in the name of PC.

Don't think that this kind of injustice is going to be contained to the university campus. Indeed, it will become the bedrock of criminal law in the future. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

:bill:
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