Welcome Guest [Log In] [Register]
Add Reply
UVA Rape Story Collapses; Duke Lacrosse Redux
Topic Started: Dec 5 2014, 01:45 PM (60,426 Views)
abb
Member Avatar

http://www.roanoke.com/news/education/higher_education/ed-helms-brings-laughs-after-hard-year-at-uva-valediction/article_ee7bffdd-e7bc-59cf-aa73-107de8cfabb8.html

UVa valediction featuring Ed Helms caps hard year at university

By Derek Quizon The (Charlottesville) Daily Progress | Posted: Friday, May 15, 2015 9:57 pm

CHARLOTTESVILLE — The University of Virginia capped off a tumultuous year with a lot of laughs spurred by the speaker for Friday’s Valedictory Exercises — actor and comedian Ed Helms.

Helms, best known for comedic roles in the television series “The Office” and the “Hangover” films, opened with jokes but didn’t shy away from talking about the problems that faced UVa this year, including the Rolling Stone magazine scandal, sexual assault on campus and police misconduct.

Helms told students not to let others pigeonhole them, but to define themselves through their actions.

“I know the UVa community has had problems with other people defining it,” Helms said. “Rolling Stone tried to define you this year. As a result, the struggle to end sexual violence on campus ... has become more confusing than ever.”

Helms praised the university for continuing to work on its problems with sexual assault, even as the Rolling Stone story was debunked.

“You had the courage to understand you can be outraged at Rolling Stone and still ask yourself tough questions,” he said. “UVa is charging forward to answer these questions, and you should be proud.”

Students and presenters tried to keep an upbeat tone, but the crises of the past year — the disappearance and slaying of student Hannah Graham, the controversial arrest of student Martese Johnson by Virginia alcohol control agents and the emotional roller coaster of the since-debunked Rolling Stone article — lingered over the ceremony.

Nicole Eramo, UVa’s associate dean of students who was portrayed in an unflattering way in the November article, received an Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award for “character and service to humanity.”

Eramo was characterized by Rolling Stone as insensitive to assault victims in the lengthy article on college sexual assault. Eramo is now suing the magazine and the article’s author for nearly $8 million in damages.

Meg Gould, student member of UVa’s Board of Visitors, called Eramo “a woman of dignity, honor and utter courage” who has the difficult job of counseling sexual assault victims. Gould said Eramo had endured a lot during the last year but “came out the champion.”

“She’ll always have our hearts and we’ll always have her back,” Gould said.

The Class of 2015 handed over a gift of $495,000, nearly half of which had been raised in the last week. Since 1997, it has been customary for the graduating class to raise money for the university before it departs. Donors are allowed to earmark their donations for particular programs and organizations, including Greek organizations, construction projects and financial aid.

“I’m very grateful for your generosity but also for the many ways you will enhance the university,” said UVa President Teresa Sullivan.

Starting this year, UVa Final Exercises will be split into two ceremonies. Saturday’s ceremony is for the College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences and Sunday’s commencement is for all the other schools.

Renovations to the Rotunda, which created logistical problems for graduates walking the Lawn, prompted the change. But university administrators said they expect the change to be permanent because of increasing enrollment.

That meant Friday’s Valedictory Exercises would be the last time the Class of 2015 would be all together, said Blake Griggs, vice president of the class.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Quasimodo

Quote:
 
The Class of 2015 handed over a gift of $495,000, nearly half of which had been raised in the last week. Since 1997, it has been customary for the graduating class to raise money for the university before it departs. Donors are allowed to earmark their donations for particular programs and organizations, including Greek organizations, construction projects and financial aid.


I'd like to know where the class directed their gifts...





Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
abb
Member Avatar

http://townhall.com/tipsheet/cortneyobrien/2015/05/16/awesome-the-office-actor-tells-grads-to-not-let-rolling-stone-media-define-them-during-commencement-address-n1999991

May 17, 2015
Awesome: 'The Office' Actor Tells UVA Grads to Not Let Rolling Stone, Media Define Them During Commencement Address
Cortney O'Brien
5/16/2015 8:00:00 PM - Cortney O'Brien

Ed Helms knows something about being defined by the media. 'The Office' and 'Hangover' actor, who has worked in Hollywood for years, understands it's hard to escape the scrutiny and sensationalism that comes with the territory. That's why he was the perfect person to give this year's commencement address at the University of Virginia.

UVA had a rollercoaster year, thanks to some sloppy reporting by Rolling Stone magazine. It all started when writer Sabrina Rubin Erdely reported on a rape allegation at a UVA fraternity. The resulting piece, "A Rape on Campus," was filled with exaggerations and ethics issues, including the fact Erdely failed to contact the accused party. Because of the countless holes, Rolling Stone was forced to retract the report.

However, that wasn't before the eager media ran with it and more or less tried to define the fraternity as heartless misogynists. It got so bad, UVA even suspended all of its fraternities following the story's release.

UVA isn't letting Rolling Stone get away with it. Last week, they sued the magazine for $7.5 million. At Saturday's graduation, Helms applauded the school for not letting the media define their character.

“This community didn’t fall for the fallacy that just because Rolling Stone was wrong everything here must be perfectly peachy. You all had the courage to understand you can be outraged at Rolling Stone and still ask yourselves hard questions: if sexual violence does occur in our community, do we have the best possible protocols and resources available to our students? And UVA is charging forward to answer those questions and you should be proud of that.”

He also couldn't help taking a humorous dig at the magazine for their inept journalism.

I know the UVA community has some experience with being defined by outsiders. It has been said that a rolling stone gathers no moss. I would add that sometimes a rolling stone also gathers no verifiable facts or even the tiniest morsels of journalistic integrity.

The UVA-Rolling Stone debacle is just the latest example of the media's liberal agenda. Without any true evidence as to whether the rape allegation was true, they ignored journalstic integrity and decided to characterize all fraternities as unsafe environments for young women.

Helms's message is one students need to hear as they prepare to enter the real world. They're inevitably going to face criticism and rejection at different points in their lives and they need the courage to reject and respond to it.

Helms's speech comes after another famous actor offered an emotional and inspirational commencement address. When Denzel Washington spoke at Dillard University, he had the right priorities in mind and insisted the young graduates need to "put God first." Michelle Obama, on the other hand, while speaking at Tuskegee University, decided it would be best to rile the crowd by stirring racial tensions.

Kudos to Helms for using his Hollywood status to not show himself off, but to motivate these impressionable young adults. It will no doubt help them to put the past year's unfair headlines behind them.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
abb
Member Avatar

http://www.dukechronicle.com/articles/2015/05/19/rolling-stone-ethically-absent#.VVr63kbUfpI

Rolling Stone ethically absent
By Caleb Ellis on May 18, 2015

This past Tuesday, University of Virginia associate dean of students Nicole Eramo filed a $7.5 million lawsuit against Rolling Stone magazine regarding her portrayal in the since retracted article, “A Rape on Campus.” Given the exceedingly vitriolic and false nature of the report, Eramo’s lawsuit seems justified. However, outside of a few multimillion-dollar lawsuits, Rolling Stone seems to be continually evading justice.

The penning and publication of “A Rape on Campus” was best described by the Columbia University journalism school as a failure that “encompassed reporting, editing, editorial supervision and fact-checking,” which better translates to a “failure of everything.” The subsequent steps the magazine has taken are similarly troubling.

In wake of perhaps the biggest journalistic gaffe since Jayson Blair’s rampant plagiarism at the New York Times, Rolling Stone went only so far as to retract and apologize for the article. They insisted that Chief of Fact Checking Coco McPherson and Managing Editor Will Dana, both of whom oversaw the publication of the story, retain their jobs. It almost seems inconceivable that the writer and perpetrator of the entire incident, Sabrina Rubin Erdely, was also permitted to continue to write for the magazine. To add insult to injury, Rolling Stone also maintained that it would not be overhauling any of its policies or procedures, largely placing blame on the featured victim in the story, Jackie.

Outside the obligatory retraction and apology, Rolling Stone’s attempts to rectify the colossal damage Erdely’s story caused ring hollow. On both an institutional and individual level, the magazine, writers and editors cling heavily to the notion that this was an uncharacteristic lapse. Whether the multitude of mistakes stemmed from negligence or accident, and evidence seems to point towards the former, a failure to take ownership over this fiasco undermines their journalistic credibility nearly as much as the article itself.

As an industry, journalism prides itself as standing high on a moral pedestal. Many who practice and teach the profession would argue that ethics are as integral to news as the reporting, writing and editing. Hypothetically, this should be the case. Yet, even the cacophony of mishaps that culminated in the publication of “A Rape on Campus” hasn’t been enough for the decision makers at Rolling Stone to recognize that members of their staff failed to live up to their ethical and professional expectations.

Sabrina Erdely’s decision to forgo key interviews, manipulate facts and even fabricate information to fit her article’s narrative is an ethical failure. It directly incriminated swathes of students and administrators of having been complicit in a culture of sexual violence. Moreover, it undermines the credibility of sexual assault survivors and their stories, a demographic that perhaps depends on reliability and trust more than any other on college campuses. If being an investigative reporter means upholding standards of truthfulness, accuracy and impartiality, then Erdely failed in every aspect.

Journalists are not the only professionals who claim to abide by ethical governance, but they do seem like the ones most unwilling to be held accountable. Doctors who break their Hippocratic oath are held responsible by malpractice. Lawyers who engage in unethical behavior face disbarment. These professionals face very real legal and career ramifications if they violate the ethical code they swear to uphold. Journalists, more consistently, seem content with a stern talking to.

Like any other group, the actions of the few should not color the whole. The majority of journalists remain true to their craft, and their efforts to foster trust as a communicative channel are laudable. Duke itself is fortunate enough to employ professors like Bill Adair whose Pulitzer Prize winning work with PolitiFact.com and the more recently launched PunditFact.com aim to fact check claims made by politicians, journalists and other commentators.

Nonetheless, the Rolling Stone debacle reinforces the notion that in journalism, the punishment rarely fits the crime. If plagiarism and fabrication are reporting’s two cardinal sins, the devil seems awfully lenient. As Sabrina Erdely joins the list of writers and editors who have gotten off with little more than a wrap on the wrist, the intent of journalism seems to come into direct conflict with its practice. The field predicates itself on the idea that trust and accuracy will foster the free flow of information to the public. Yet, the consistency with which magazines, newspapers and networks alike dodge accountability represents an unwillingness to be forthright about mistakes. When those mistakes are deliberate—as seems to be the case in “A Rape on Campus”—the practice condemns itself. It’s a sobering reality for an industry with so much influence, but until some sort of accountability is introduced, the public will find the press lacking.

Caleb Ellis is a Trinity senior. His column will run bi-weekly in the fall.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
abb
Member Avatar

http://www.richmond.com/news/virginia/ap/article_f92e1bf2-f0d0-5eb8-b49d-1a7eeb3ba1e2.html

UVa board gives Sullivan short-term extension

BY DEREK QUIZON The Daily Progress | Posted: Tuesday, May 19, 2015 9:00 pm
UVa President

UVa president teresa Sullivan, right, receives a hug from board member Barbara Fried, left, after the University of Virginia Board of Visitors meeting Tuesday, May 19, 2015 on campus at the Special Collection Library in Charlottesville, Va. The Board of Visitors voted to extend President Sullivan's contract and increase her salary. (Andrew Shurtleff/The Daily Progress via AP)

[CHARLOTTESVILLE] The University of Virginia Board of Visitors voted Tuesday afternoon to extend the contract of President Teresa A. Sullivan through July 2018.

But the board will have the option to replace her in October 2017 — just 15 months from the date of the extension — or to give her a further extension, allowing her to stay on until October 2019.

In a meeting at the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, the board voted unanimously to approve both the extension and a salary raise. Helen Dragas, the former rector who led a failed ouster of Sullivan in 2012, abstained.

Also on Tuesday, U.Va. Rector George Keith Martin confirmed that he is not seeking to extend his time on the Board beyond his current term, which ends June 30.

Martin said he wants to step aside to allow incoming Rector William H. Goodwin the space he needs to move the board in the direction he pleases — without a former rector looking over his shoulder.

“I think it’s a good idea for the former rector to move on and let the new rector take over,” he said.

Sullivan, who has been president since 2010, told reporters after Tuesday's vote that she’s satisfied with the decision.

“When I came to the university, I promised the search committee I’d stay seven to 10 years,” Sullivan said. “I feel when I’ve completed seven years, I will have held up my end of the bargain.”

Sullivan, 65, added that she’s unsure how long her health could hold up beyond two or three years.

“I am fortunate that I have a lot of vigor and stamina right now,” she said. “I can’t predict that will last forever.”

Sullivan also will receive raises of $15,000 for the current fiscal year and $25,000 next fiscal year. Her current salary is $647,000.

The contract negotiations, normally considered routine for university administrators, were watched closely because of Sullivan’s history with the board and because of recent events.

The university has been caught in a whirlwind of national media attention in the past year — the disappearance and slaying of a student; the publishing (and subsequent debunking) of a Rolling Stone article accusing Sullivan’s administration of discouraging rape victims from coming forward; and the violent arrest of a student by members of the Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control.

Martin praised Sullivan’s leadership, saying she has acted with “courage and grace.”

“You have clearly demonstrated that you care deeply about the University of Virginia,” he said. “I’m amazed by your stamina and enthusiasm. We’re inspired by you.”

Victoria Harker, chairwoman of the board’s Finance Committee, said Sullivan had managed to keep the university’s balance sheet strong (including a AAA bond rating from the major agencies) during an uncertain, unstable time in higher education.

“These are the hallmarks of a strong leader,” she said.

Dragas said after the meeting that she did not support raising Sullivan’s salary after the board voted to increase in-state students’ tuition over the next five years. The plan, passed in March, attempts to balance tuition hikes with lower student debt caps.

But Dragas — who has disagreed with nearly every major proposal Sullivan’s administration has put forward — said she did not want to appear to hold a personal grudge against the president, so she abstained.

“There have been more than a few of those who have found it convenient to turn my perspectives on how UVa can best fulfill its mission as a public institution into an interpersonal drama,” she wrote in a statement to The Daily Progress following the vote.

“I assure you it is not one, and never has been,” she wrote.

Greg Lewis, a recent graduate who followed the board and Sullivan his entire four years — first as a member of The Cavalier Daily’s editorial board, then as a student activist — said the two-year extension with options was a compromise.

A faction of the board wants Sullivan gone but wants to avoid reigniting the firestorm that followed Sullivan’s surprise firing and re-hiring in 2012, Lewis said. The way to do that is with a short extension, option to dismiss early and a raise, Lewis said.

Some of Sullivan’s supporters on the faculty have wondered whether a short-term extension for Sullivan — and uncertainty over her successor — will affect the search for a new provost. The university’s current provost, John D. Simon, will assume his new position as president of Lehigh University in July.

Sullivan said her contract would not affect the search.

“We’re very close to the end of that process,” she said. “That has not been an issue at all.”
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Quasimodo

Quote:
 
But the board will have the option to replace her in October 2017 — just 15 months from the date of the extension — or to give her a further extension, allowing her to stay on until October 2019.


Sounds to me like they're planning to ease her out in a non-controversial manner...

(But they SHOULD have asked why she didn't apologize to the frat for rushing to judgement, etc.)




Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Payback
Member Avatar

If they had simply fired her they would have been admitting how reprehensible her behavior has been.
Edited by Payback, May 20 2015, 08:35 AM.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
abb
Member Avatar

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/a-tumultuous-year-for-u-va-comes-to-a-close-with-sighs-of-relief/2015/05/25/94a9bfde-fd8a-11e4-8b6c-0dcce21e223d_story.html

A tumultuous year for U-Va. comes to a close, with sighs of relief
By T. Rees Shapiro May 25 at 8:09 PM

CHARLOTTESVILLE — At the University of Virginia’s commencement exercises, graduates of the Class of 2015 received their diplomas, took pause to revel in the moment and then let out a collective sigh of relief.

The cap-and-gown ceremonies represented an emotional coda for the students, who finished their time at the elite public flagship university with a year of grief, trauma and turmoil, all while the campus was thrust into the national media spotlight.

Their last nine months at U-Va. began with the September disappearance of sophomore Hannah Graham, and the ensuing search for the 18-year-old turned into an anxious discussion about underage drinking and campus safety. Graham’s body was found in October on an abandoned property in Albemarle County, turning worry into mourning.

Just weeks later, as normalcy was beginning to return, Rolling Stone magazine published an explosive account of a brutal fraternity gang rape on campus. The article — which alleged a culture of systemic denial and coverups of sexual assaults — led advocacy groups and protesters to assail the campus as a “rape school.” Although later discredited, the story upended the campus Greek system, which signed on to new safety rules, and led to soul-searching about U-Va.’s treatment of women.

Then, in March, amid nationwide focus on race relations and police use of force, a 20-year-old African American student was bloodied in an encounter with white state Alcoholic Beverage Control officers outside a bar. Images of the student, a member of the school’s honor board, with an officer pinning him to the sidewalk spread across the Internet and led to campus protests and vigils, arousing racial tensions at the Southern school.

“It hurt like hell to be here while it was all happening,” said Jalen Ross, a 2015 graduate who served as president of the student council. “But the benefit of hindsight is, the future students here are going to be better off for what we went through there. . . . I personally have learned more in the past six or eight months than in the past four years combined.”

Students, faculty, parents and administrators acknowledge that the tumultuous year was unlike almost any other in the school’s long history. The university founded by Thomas Jefferson has a sterling reputation as a serene “academical village” of higher learning — and it is one of the most highly desired public schools in the country — but U-Va. took repeated hits as it was characterized as a campus unhinged by roaming sexual predators, fraternities gone wild and brutish police tactics.

“Many good things have happened here, and unfortunately those got eclipsed by the bad news,” U-Va. President Teresa Sullivan said in an interview last week, noting, as one example, that the university had a record number of students this year earn Fulbright scholarships. “I just regret that news got pushed to the back burners. They deserve to get recognized for it.”

Vendarryl Jenkins Sr., a U-Va. parent whose son helped lead demonstrations on campus after Martese Johnson’s arrest by ABC police, said that he believes the administration handled the events well but overall, the university’s image has been harmed. Jenkins said that people react differently now when he tells them about having a child at U-Va.

“Now even some people are saying, ‘I’m not sending my kid there,’ ” Jenkins said.

In almost every speech during graduation exercises this month, administrators, students, and even Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) mentioned the series of dramatic events — almost all beyond the university’s control, but moments, still, that defined the academic year.

“I know this year that you have experienced what it’s like to be at the center of the public eye,” McAuliffe told this year’s 6,500 graduates. “I can tell you as someone who has been in national politics for over 40 years, I understand that feeling, and I know that sometimes it is difficult. . . . You showed the world that this university can triumph over any obstacle.”

Rector George Keith Martin, who heads the Board of Visitors, told students and faculty at graduation that “as a community, this university dealt with heartbreak and reflected upon its imperfections with honesty and resolve.”

The Rolling Stone article, which alleged that campus fraternity culture was part of rampant sexual abuse at U-Va., led to calls for stringent control, or even the closing, of campus Greek houses amid rousing protests against the university’s administration. Some fraternity members said they were embarrassed to wear their letters for fear of ridicule, and a campus dean has said her entire life’s work was called into question. The pressure eased when the article was discredited and later retracted.

Brian Head, a 2015 graduate and Phi Gamma Delta fraternity member who served as president of the all-male sexual-assault-prevention group One in Four, said the episode allowed him to more closely examine the school and Greek life.

“I have been telling people that you can simultaneously love something and think that there is something wrong with it,” Head said. “As a U-Va. student and Greek man, it would be cowardice to just leave something instead of trying to change it.”

As part of the graduation events, comedian Ed Helms — of “The Hangover” and “The Office” fame — cast the Rolling Stone ordeal in a humorous light.

Helms joked, to tremendous applause: “It has been said that a rolling stone gathers no moss. I would add that sometimes a rolling stone also gathers no verifiable facts or even the tiniest morsels of journalistic integrity.”

But Annie Forest, a 2015 graduate and sexual assault survivor, said the article rocked the campus and left a lasting impression that may not be negative in the long run.

“It has exposed a rape culture that really is rampant on grounds not only at U-Va. but also at college campuses across the nation,” Forest said. “There are so many people who have it on the forefront of their minds now.”

The university has taken those concerns to heart and is implementing changes, including enhanced safety features on campus such as improved lighting and new programs to support sexual assault survivors. McAuliffe also formed a review panel to improve ABC law enforcement.

Residual effects to the university itself are still not clear.

The number of applications to U-Va. had grown significantly and continuously for a decade, peaking at 31,021 last year. That total was up 7 percent over one year and 40 percent over four years. But this year, the growth stopped, with the application total for the incoming fall class virtually unchanged, dropping less than 1 percent.

“After years and years of growth, there was a very, very small decline this year in applications,” said U-Va.’s admissions dean, Greg W. Roberts. “It’s quite possible that we simply experienced a natural leveling off this year, like you find in many markets.”

Other elite U.S. public schools — including the University of California at Berkeley, UCLA, the University of Michigan and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill — saw all-time record numbers of applications this year, as did Virginia’s William and Mary (up 2.7 percent) and Virginia Tech (up 7.6 percent). Perennial top-ranked schools Harvard, Princeton and Stanford all saw increases that set all-time highs this year, although a small number of exclusive schools, including Cornell, Yale and Duke, saw their numbers drop slightly.

Sullivan said that donations to U-Va. are up and that alumni remain enthusiastic about the university’s future.

“Students ask me why all these things are happening at U-Va., and what I say is that U-Va. matters,” Sullivan said, noting that the media chose not to cover other student abductions from colleges this past year, even one at a school just 50 miles from Charlottesville. “Rolling Stone could have done a story about sexual assault at any school in the country. Why did they do us? Because U-Va. matters. U-Va. is a significant institution in this country, and when things happen here, their significance is magnified, especially when it’s bad things that happen here.”

Eva Alvarado, who will be a U-Va. sophomore in the fall, said she recognizes that hers was not a typical first year of college.

“U-Va. attempts to create this sense of a very nice undergraduate paradise,” Alvarado said. “I think the students really wanted to preserve that second semester, but it’s hard when the outside world keeps coming in and taking that way from you. . . . We kept getting hit with different tragedies and problematic things. People were able to manage, but at the same time, when the year ended, there was definitely a sigh of relief.”

Rennie Mapp, an English professor who is Alvarado’s mother, said that U-Va., because of, and not in spite of, its reputation as an elite public school, was well prepared for the harsh criticism this year.

“These things were horrible, but if they had to happen, U-Va. was the right institution for them to happen at,” Mapp said. “We’re an easy target for resentment. . . . Everyone loves to hate U-Va.”

Jenkins, whose son attends U-Va., said that he’s optimistic that the school will move forward and that the memory of the difficulties of the past will fade.

“ I don’t know how much of a stain it would be,” Jenkins said. “Two years from now, will anybody remember?”

Nick Anderson contributed to this report.

T. Rees Shapiro is an education reporter.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Quasimodo

Quote:
 
“Many good things have happened here, and unfortunately those got eclipsed by the bad news,” U-Va. President Teresa Sullivan said



MEMO to Brodhead and Sullivan:


Quote:
 

http://pjmedia.com/richardfernandez/2015/05/25/faith-of-our-fathers/#more-43377

. . . The apparent randomness of history should remind us, on Memorial Day, of how great an act of faith our forefathers made in carrying us to this point. The men who crossed Omaha Beach or took Mount Surabachi with Bibles in their pockets and simple belief that they could make the world right didn’t know that America would win the war, just as the men who took Ramadi didn’t know that politicians would give the city back. They only knew they had to try, armed with a wisdom the Great rarely learned: that neither the future nor heaven can be treated like a business proposition.

You give without knowing what comes next.

Perhaps the worst effect of the modern infatuation with the Narrative is how it encourages leaders to assume they’re “in control”. Politicians are perpetually required by the media to reconcile their past statements with their current actions as if there were no room in the universe for God or chance. Yet in any complex system effective anticipation is strictly short term hence it is men of character who fare the best simply because in an unpredictable system to consistently do the right thing always maximizes the payoff.


Quote:
 
The only guide to a man is his conscience; the only shield to his memory is the rectitude and sincerity of his actions. It is very imprudent to walk through life without this shield, because we are so often mocked by the failure of our hopes and the upsetting of our calculations; but with this shield, however the fates may play, we march always in the ranks of honor.
--Winston Churchill




Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
abb
Member Avatar

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2015/05/26/u-va-president-on-hearing-rolling-stone-allegations-i-was-sick-to-my-stomach/

U-Va. president on hearing Rolling Stone allegations: ‘I was sick to my stomach.’
By T. Rees Shapiro May 26 at 2:27 PM


In an interview with The Washington Post last week, U-Va. president Teresa Sullivan spoke about the challenging series of events on campus during the past school year, including sophomore Hannah Graham’s death, the since-debunked Rolling Stone story about rape at U-Va., and the bloody arrest of a black student leader at the hands of state alcohol enforcement officers. Though the elite public university had almost nothing to do with any of the three events, its campus was thrust into the national spotlight for reasons other than the successes of its students in academia and beyond.

Sullivan spoke extensively about all three events, noting that the U-Va. community has shown incredible resilience and that the string of bad news did nothing to tarnish the university that Thomas Jefferson built as it heads towards it bicentennial. Here are expanded comments from Sullivan’s interview:

Hannah Graham’s disappearance

In mid September, Sullivan received word that a student was declared missing. Such a report is not all that rare, Sullivan said, but the disappearance would turn out to be far from routine.

“I will tell you that it’s actually not too uncommon to get that kind of notification,” Sullivan said. “A student goes away for the weekend and the roommate may not know it. But that wasn’t the case this time.”

Sullivan learned that a sophomore named Hannah Graham from Fairfax County had planned to meet with friends in the early morning hours of Sept. 13 but never showed. On the evening of Sunday Sept. 14, her friends contacted police, which started a search operation that would last weeks and end in tragedy.

Once video footage emerged that showed Graham in a part of town far from her apartment, Sullivan said, “that’s when I started feeling very apprehensive.”

Sullivan said that she met with Graham’s parents, John and Sue, several times.

“It was in the sense of being there for them,” Sullivan said. “There was no news I could give them that they didn’t already have. They wanted to talk about Hannah, and I wanted to listen. There was not much I could say other than I’m a mom too and that I feel for you.”

[For Hannah Graham’s family, ‘nightmare’ leaves enduring uncertainty and loss]

John Graham told The Post that “president Sullivan and other members of the University of Virginia administration and faculty were extremely supportive at the time of Hannah’s disappearance, and remain so.”

Graham’s body was found on an abandoned property about a dozen miles from campus in October, and a Charlottesville-area man, Jesse Matthew Jr., has been charged with capital murder in her death.

Rolling Stone article

Just weeks later, as the campus began to return to a sense of normalcy, pop culture magazine Rolling Stone published an article alleging that U-Va. had fostered a culture of rape at the prestigious public flagship university. The article began with allegations that a student had endured a brutal gang rape at a fraternity as part of an initiation ritual and that university officials had actively tried to sweep it under the rug.

“I was sick to my stomach,” Sullivan said of first seeing the allegations. “We had never heard this before. That was the really striking thing.”

Sullivan said that as soon as the administration began investigating the magazine’s claims, it became clear the article was flawed. The Charlottesville Police Department later determined university staff, including associate dean Nicole Eramo, acted swiftly to assist the alleged rape victim and that the allegations didn’t hold water.

[One of the Post stories that called the account into question: U-Va. students challenge Rolling Stone account of alleged sexual assault]

Sullivan said that Eramo “cares deeply about the students she works with and has always done the best to make them aware of what their options were. What she was criticized for in Rolling Stone is for presenting options that federal law requires her to offer.”

Sullivan said that student privacy laws prevented the administration from releasing information that could have quickly cleared the university of wrongdoing. In the meantime, demonstrators on campus called for the dissolution of the Greek system, and attacked the fraternity named in the story, Phi Kappa Psi.

“The Phi Psi house was attacked by a group of people who did a great deal of damage to it,” Sullivan said. “That no fraternity member was harmed was not because the mob was being careful.”

Sullivan said that she opted to extend a freeze on Greek activities — a pause initiated by the student-run Inter-Fraternity Council — to bring calm back to campus.

“It was clear to me that the level of hostility was extreme and it wasn’t just directed at one fraternity house, it was pretty general,” Sullivan said. “What I did was extend the suspension of social activities for another nine days [until the winter break] to give us all a chance to take a deep breath.”

The magazine later retracted the story and its editors have apologized to readers. Eramo has sued the magazine, seeking more than $7.5 million for defamation.


Martese Johnson’s arrest

In March, a black U-Va. student was bloodied during an arrest by white Alcohol Beverage Control police officers. The confrontation occurred amid heightened racial tensions nationwide and also renewed focus on the role of the ABC’s law enforcement branch.

“Any police officer can arrest a student drunk in public or a similar alcohol violation,” Sullivan said. “Only they can do the enforcement against businesses. I don’t want the businesses serving underage or intoxicated people.”

Sullivan said that studies have shown about half of U-Va. students already drink before they arrive on campus, and the school has responded by providing additional awareness training and expanded offerings of alternative social events that are fun and alcohol free.

“This is a problem that’s beginning in high schools and that’s actually where we need to begin addressing it,” Sullivan said. Sullivan said that alcohol abuse has declined at U-Va. in the past decade, “but it’s not as low as I want it to be. I don’t think we’re the only university facing the problem. I think a lot of us are.”

The university president — whose contract recently was extended through early 2018 — said that U-Va. student efforts — and their resilience — helped the community make it through the harrowing year.

“Students turned out weekend after weekend for search and recover efforts,” for Hannah Graham, Sullivan said. “They were shocked by the Rolling Stone story, but they pulled together and they thought hard and had many dialogues about sexual assault. They responded in a positive way instead of falling into a blue funk.”

She also noted that the arrest of the black student, Martese Johnson, led to “specific suggestions where we could improve racial harmony at the university.”

U-Va. Board of Visitors member Helen Dragas credited the students’ maturity as they dealt with a tumultuous year.

“In the face of even the most horrific of these events, they stepped up,” Dragas said. “Adversity didn’t build their character, but it certainly revealed it.”

T. Rees Shapiro is an education reporter.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
kbp

Sullivan's clarification....
Online Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
abb
Member Avatar

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/05/27/matt-taibbi-rolling-stone-uva_n_7452810.html

Matt Taibbi: Rolling Stone UVA Report ‘Absolutely' Damaged Rape Victims
By Kira Brekke

Posted: 05/27/2015 2:48 pm EDT Updated: 05/27/2015 3:59 pm EDT


Rolling Stone reporter Matt Taibbi told HuffPost Live on Wednesday that the magazine's failure to properly investigate rape claims at the University of Virginia "absolutely" damaged rape victims.

Taibbi wasn't at Rolling Stone as the scandal unfolded over the magazine's now-retracted story about rape at UVA. But after an eight-month stint at First Look Media, he has returned to the publication. The magazine's missteps on the UVA story were outlined in an investigation conducted by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

Taibbi told HuffPost Live's Alyona Minkovski that it's "unfortunate" that anyone who tries to write a story about rape may now be deterred by the November 2014 article and its fallout.

"I know people at the magazine feel terrible about that most of all. Hopefully it won't set the things back too far," Taibbi said.

He also offered a potential solution for journalists looking to tackle rape accusations in the future.

"One way around that would be for people to cover cases that have already been adjudicated and so that the reporters don't have to go out on a limb to say that this or that happened," he said. "They can rely on something that's already been proven in court."

Taibbi said that throughout his tenure at Rolling Stone, his experience with the fact-checking department was "completely different" from what happened in the UVA case, and he hopes the magazine has taken the necessary steps to prevent a repeat offense.

"We've always, I thought, had a very rigorous fact-checking department at the magazine," Taibbi said. "But in this one particular case, for a variety of reasons that I think were all spelled out in the report, the normal controls got broken down, and it was a sobering episode that we all have to learn from."

Watch Matt Taibbi discuss his recent report on "Why Baltimore Blew Up" here.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
abb
Member Avatar

http://www.nbc29.com/story/29307901/uva-moves-forward-with-suggestions-for-combating-sexual-assault

6/12/15
nbc29.com
UVA Moves Forward with Suggestions for Combating Sexual Assault
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va (WVIR) -

The University of Virginia is considering dozens of suggestions on ways it can combat the problem of sexual assault.

UVA President Teresa Sullivan updated the Board of Visitors this week on plans to put some of those suggestions into practice.

There are more than 80 suggestions right now from the Ad Hoc Group on University Climate and Culture. The committee was formed in response to a now-discredited Rolling Stone magazine article that accused university administration of covering up rape.

Some suggestions call for more social events that don't revolve around drinking, and an online sexual assault prevention course administered to all first year students.

Many advocates are asking UVA to create the online course, which would teach bystander intervention, consent and more

"People are coming from all different experiences - small towns, people who are home schooled - a really wide range of experiences, including a wide range of sexual experiences. So that's a bit of a dangerous combination, especially when you add alcohol to the mix,” said UVA student Katrina Kernodle Walsh.

President Sullivan told the Board Thursday that a company called EverFi is in charge of building the online course, and it should be ready by the time the next incoming class arrives.

A UVA spokesperson says the Board of Visitors is taking up the budget now. One item from Friday's agenda is finding funding for these sexual assault prevention and response initiatives. The university is also hiring a full-time Title IX Coordinator.
Release from University of Virginia Spokesperson Anthony P. de Bruyn:

The President's Ad Hoc Group on University Climate and Culture was established in December 2014 to explore the policies, practices, organizational structure, and resources that are necessary to provide an outstanding education for UVa students while ensuring their safety and well-being.

In January 2015, President Sullivan created three working group reporting to the Ad Hoc Group. The purpose of each working group is to delve into its general topic (Prevention, Response, and Culture) and to consider what steps the University might reasonably take to improve its culture, prevent sexual violence, and respond to incidents of sexual violence when they occur. The working groups meet throughout the semester and reported to Ad Hoc Group in late April. Each group's members include students, faculty, staff, alumni, parents, and a member of the Board of Visitors. As part of their efforts, the working groups convened Town Hall meetings to discuss their charges and to collect ideas in advance of developing any recommendations.

In May, the Ad Hoc Group met to consider the recommendations of all three working groups.

Collectively, the Working Groups on Prevention, Response, and Culture submitted over 80 recommendations for review and consideration by the Ad Hoc Group. The Ad Hoc Group, in turn, examined these recommendations to identify areas of alignment and to categorize them thematically.

Several themes emerged:

- A robust and extensive set of initiatives were already underway prior to the formation of the Ad Hoc Group; and several recommendations will be implemented to coincide with the start of the 2015 academic year. Many of these initiatives align with the Cornerstone Plan and are strategic priorities of various units on the Grounds. Let me provide a few examples of these recommendations:

- Planning is underway to offer an alternative program that will occur on the Saturday of move-in weekend to address the Wertland Street Block party. This planning was initiated in the spring semester and we are currently reviewing proposals and ideas.

- Student Affairs has partnered with EverFi, a nationally recognized leader in the development of online training modules, to develop a UVa specific training program that will focus on sexual violence. Completion of the EverFi program will be mandatory for all undergraduate and graduate students in the coming academic year.

- Our partnership with Harvard Law School and the Futures Without Violence organization is underway. In late May, the University hosted a summer meeting of experts who specialize in sexual assault prevention and response. Together, we are designing a comprehensive curriculum that will address sexual assault prevention and response on college and University campuses. This partnership will position us to continue to lead on the national stage as we address issues of sexual violence.

- This summer, we will hire a Title IX Coordinator, who will play a central leadership role in coordinating our ongoing efforts around institutional training. This person will be responsible for ensuring appropriate integration and connection across the University. The importance of this coordination will be underscored this summer when new legislation is enacted and as we to work to ensure compliance with the recommendations of the Governor's Task Force on Combating Campus Sexual Violence that were released at the end of May.

- Other recommendations require additional consideration and exploration. The implementation of these recommendations will align with mid- or long-term priorities for the University. Our working groups had limited time to map out timelines and budgets for all their recommendations. As we look to move forward, we will need to do so thoughtfully to determine if, how, and when to implement these suggestions.

As far as next steps, President Sullivan plans to release the Working Group Reports in mid-June and as part of this process, we will invite commentary on the recommendations. We will also provide a summary of those recommendations that are already underway.

Also this summer, President Sullivan will name an implementation team that will oversee the implementation process, review and approve metrics, and hear progress reports on implementation status and efficacy metrics. In approximately 6-months, I intend to reconvene the Ad Hoc Group to seek their counsel and to provide an update on the implementation. The Board of Visitors will continue to be regularly briefed on updates concerning the implementation of these recommendations.

Edited by abb, Jun 13 2015, 03:33 AM.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
abb
Member Avatar

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/jun/29/mark-davis-the-education-departments-rolling-stone/

The Education Department’s Rolling Stone reckoning

Are Obama officials stonewalling over involvement in a journalistic debacle?
By Mark W. Davis - - Monday, June 29, 2015

When one journalist (Chuck Ross of The Daily Caller) made a Freedom of Information Act request of the U.S. Department of Education about possible involvement of federal officials in the now-discredited Rolling Stone story, "A Rape on Campus," the department sent him a box with a CD in it.

The CD contained nothing. Another response has been promised.

When the University of Virginia (UVA) Dean of Students Allen Groves filed his own FOIA request for any communications between a senior Obama administration official in the U.S. Department of Education and Rolling Stone reporter Sabrina Rubin Erdely — including "telephone records, calendar entries, emails, text messages, correspondence, case file notes, or social media postings" — all he received was a note that a call had been put on the official's schedule.

The Civil Rights Office of the U.S. Department of Education is beginning to give the appearance of stonewalling legitimate requests that would shed light on whether there was any official involvement in a journalistic debacle that attacked the integrity of a great university.

We are moving past the story about the story. Two deans of the Columbia School of Journalism had skillfully conducted an autopsy of the Rolling Stone's "A Rape on Campus," which relied almost solely on a single, unreliable source to portray the University of Virginia as indifferent to reports of the gang rape of a woman at a campus fraternity house. But how this story came to be published remains a matter of intense interest.

Mr. Groves' FOIA request to the U.S. Department of Education first raised the possibility of federal involvement in the Rolling Stone story. In a prior letter to the Columbia deans, Mr. Groves says Rolling Stone mischaracterized his extensive and earnest remarks to the UVA Board of Visitors about the school's response to heightened levels of federal scrutiny of its handling of sexual assaults, which described Mr. Groves as downplaying the issue as "standard" and "routine." Mr. Groves pointed out that this misrepresentation served to set up the next quote in the article from an Education Department official, calling the attitude attributed to Mr. Groves as "deliberate and irresponsible."

Why would a high-level federal official give such a comment and what factual basis did the agency have to make such an assessment? It's a question the public deserves answered.

Then Mr. Ross, the journalist, brought to light that this same official served on the White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault with a campus activist who put the Rolling Stone reporter, Ms. Erdely, in touch with the unreliable source at the University of Virginia. Records show that this official made nearly 60 visits to the White House complex since the beginning of 2014, the activist six, and that both were invited to the same White House meetings on three occasions.

If there was any federal involvement in Rolling Stone's contrived story — whether prior or after publication — it should matter to all institutions of higher education. UVA is one of 113 postsecondary institutions currently under investigation by the Office of Civil Rights of the U.S. Department of Education over allegations that these schools didn't properly and thoroughly pursue charges of sexual violence. It is fair to ask if someone involved in this government effort wanted see Ms. Erdely's inquiries into a woman's allegation of gang rape at UVA as an opportunity to make a case for even more government intervention.

The Department of Education should answer the following questions:

• Did department officials have any contact with the alleged victim, her handlers or the reporter prior to or just after the story?

• Did department officials have any prior knowledge of the UVA story and the issues it raised before Rolling Stone went to press?

• Why did a senior department official give her comments about the UVA dean?

• Did the department get involved in coordinating any of its activities with Rolling Stone or activists prior to, or just after, publication of the story?

• Why did the department schedule some rape awareness activities immediately around the story?

• Did the department conduct its own fact-finding or investigating of the allegations to see if the university was in compliance with federal policy?

• Did the department do anything to investigate the violent attack on a male fraternity house at UVA after the story was published?

Understanding how such a flawed article came to be should matter to the Obama administration and students of the University of Virginia. It should especially matter to Phi Kappa Psi men who were tagged with a heinous gang rape, charges about which the Charlottesville police "exhausted all investigative leads" to conclude "there is no substantive basis to support the account alleged in the Rolling Stone article."

Above all, the answers should matter to journalists, who unearthed the flaws in the story. Now they should want to know if ideologically driven groups and politically motivated officials tried to act as journalism's new assignment editors.

• Mark W. Davis is a former White House speechwriter for President George H.W. Bush and a former member of Phi Kappa Psi fraternity at the University of Texas at Austin.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
kbp

Whoa!
Online Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous)
Go to Next Page
« Previous Topic · DUKE LACROSSE - Liestoppers · Next Topic »
Add Reply