I am beyond outraged that Rolling Stone sees no need to fire the (I hate to use the word) “journalist” who began this whole insanity. I pray that the fraternity’s legal team is preparing litigation against a variety of individuals - including the person who originated this outrageous lie. And that is exactly what it was - a lie. Nothing remotely like what was described occurred.
I would also hope that the President of the University has learned a lesson - get the facts before acting.
What continues to amaze me is that RS did not retract the article months ago. They continued to post it on their website, with only a mild disclaimer. It should have been pulled completely and retracted as soon as they knew it was defective. They continued to prominently slander Phi Psi’s name using their website until today.
I don’t blame President Sullivan. The University continued its own investigations and asked the Cville Police (who have legal jurisdiction of the off-grounds fraternities) to investigate. She said at the very beginning that the account in RS was not consistent with what U. staff were told by Jackie. She also said that the U. could not discuss specific matters because of federal privacy regulations. Pres. Sullivan had been a leader in addressing issues of sexual assaults, and continually decided to direct the energy that arose from this controversy to address a wider problem.
A few people (mainly outside of Cville) were angry that she told fraternities not to have parties on the couple weekends that were left in the semester after the RS article was published. That was an essential cooling off period. The media was descending on Cville in hordes looking for salacious video of parties. Everyone needed a breather, and needed to put their energy back into studying for exams. It had been a roller coaster of a semester because of many things that were not the fault of the U., and it was time for everyone to catch their breath.
The Columbia article provides many examples of how the account would have started to fall apart if RS had just talked to a couple more people. Instead, they put all of their faith upon one accuser.
Is Jackie still enrolled at UVa? There was lots of talk about bringing her up on Honor charges. She’d be nuts to show her face on Grounds again.
Although she obviously fabricated a horrible, hurtful story, I do feel sorry for her as there are obviously serious issues. That said, I am truly sickened by the reaction of both the administration and a large number of students who subscribe to the latest PC trend to ignore the mere “facts” of a case in order to focus on the “narrative”. Under this twisted logic, it doesn’t really matter if she lied about the assault since sexual assault is such a huge, and horrible issue. That is of course, patently absurd. If there was no assault then there is nothing to react to except legal action against a slanderous, incompetent news outlet that is putting the blame solely on a teenaged college student.
This piece says it all - bravo.
I applaud the administration’s handling of this debacle. While under personal attack themselves they showed the poise to still protect Jackie’s privacy. They protected Phi Psi’s privacy by refraining from discussing the investigation that they, in fact, had undertaken prior to the article, despite being accused of sweeping it under the rug. If Sullivan is to be accused of over-reacting, so too should Phi Psi itself and the IFC, who voluntarily offered to suspend their activities so that the volatile situation could calm.
Good point.
The U. had very little information about the accusations against Phi Psi before the RS article was published. They knew that there was an accusation and they informed Phil Psi there was an accusation, but they didn’t have many facts to work with.
Jackie has NOT answered questions from the Police after this story broke. She did initially talk to the Cville Police at the request of the U., but wouldn’t authorize a police investigation or charges. She did file an apparently false report with the Cville Police about being hit on the head with a bottle at the Corner.