<p>I recently had a conversation with my son’s girlfriend. (Both involved in greek life at UVA) and she told me about her experience which was similar to @curiousmother’s daughter’s experience. She explained she never felt unsafe at parties. And of note she was only dating my son 1/2 the time, the other half she was single. Both she and my son feel it can never hurt to make sure that rape cases and sexual assault policies are handled properly but both say they disagree that there is a “rape culture” at UVA and also question the validity of the story given both their knowledge of the Greek system. (Parties, date functions pledging etc.)</p>
<p>Maybe I’m not being clear here. There is nothing to fact check with no ID’s and they haven’t confirmed that they have any ID’s. In fact, they have very nearly confirmed the opposite and purposely avoid getting close to that question with circular and evasive answers that are no answers leading one to conclude that the answer is no because they don’t say yes…But, we will find out because now another publication has filed a freedom of information action against the school and the police are investigating. Many people are demanding details for many different reasons. All are valid.</p>
<p>“There’s no doubt that — people seem to know who these people are….I would speculate that life inside a frat house is a probably, you know, you have this kind of communal life where everybody is sort of sharing information…People are living lives closely with one another and it seems impossible to imagine that people didn’t know about this.”</p>
<p>“I wound up speaking…with their local president who sent me an email and then I talked with their national guy who’s kind of like their national crisis manager.”</p>
<p>“She told Slate, “The degree of her trauma — there’s no doubt in my mind that something happened to her that night. What exactly happened, you know, I wasn’t in that room. I don’t know and I do tell it from her point of view.””</p>
<p>As Wemple notes, this is really shoddy work for 'journalism." Erdely <em>should</em> be saying, “I know my article is accurate because I contacted everyone with knowledge on the incidents and I confirmed everything I possibly could with multiple sources.”</p>
<p>You and I can say we don’t know what actually happened. But Erdely should not be saying that, certainly not after publication.</p>
<p>your son asked each of his female friends this? and the female friends would have no reason to lie to your son, correct?</p>
<p>the fact is… a group of people that large probably does know other people that were sexually assaulted. But they might not know that they know them. And, they might not be willing to share that they know them.</p>
<p>It sounds like several of the above posters are wrestling with the same problem I’ve been wrestling with. I know hundreds of Hoos, current and former, and absolutely nothing in my experience leads me to believe there is a “rape culture”. I am close enough with enough alumnae that I feel certain that if sexual assault was significantly more widespread there than official statistics indicate, I would know. </p>
<p>This RS account demands that I believe that 7+ students blithely facilitated gang rape (and the implication is that this likely happens annually, with the entire fraternity complicit). I say “blithely” because they seem not to care whether they have a conscious, undiminished capacity victim who can clearly identify several of them (which goes against almost every tendency in rapists). It further demands that I believe that 3 “friends” put social standing over the victim’s physical and emotional well-being. It further demands that I believe that (among other psychopaths) another friend thinks gang rape can and should be enjoyed. I have never met even 1 person, let alone 7+3+1 people at UVa who would fit those profiles, and never heard even whispers about anything similarly depraved.</p>
<p>Don’t get me wrong-- there are students at UVa who are capable of rape. And of course there are unreported rapes. And of course there needs to be effective policy. But there’s nothing like the density of psychopaths and facilitators that the article portrays. Looking at these (and other) message boards, there are plenty of students and parents making decisions based on the perception that UVa is a massive outlier where large groups of men rape, friends consider status more important than safety, and everybody knows these things to be true. </p>
<p>So my choice is to believe the evidence of my extensive experience and every UVa friend and conversation I’ve ever had, or to believe an author from the Rolling Stone.</p>
<p>^^^^^ Well said…I would add that you will hopefully have one more choice, wihich is to believe the facts that come out of a police investigation into these allegations. </p>
Really? Are you jumping in here just to be argumentative? The point was that many people are providing the personal experiences and comments of their current UVA students (and their friends) with regard to the accusations of there being a “rape culture” on grounds. Feel free to lash out at everyone who provides their kids’ comments here, but it doesn’t make your speculation factual. </p>
<p>Look at the thread on the Parents Forum. Plenty of people that believe the article and every word in it, including any stereotypes the author included . The allegations may or may not be true but the author has chosen to single out one school (not her own, of course), and run with a very sensationalist tone on what is an important issue that needs to be addressed, nationally. </p>
<p>Okay, I’m getting frustrated by this investigating. The article and the working together as lifeguards at the pool and the dates and the frat should have this down to a handful of possible Drews by now. Who are they?</p>
<p>@Marie1234 wrote: “Okay, I’m getting frustrated by this investigating. The article and the working together as lifeguards at the pool and the dates and the frat should have this down to a handful of possible Drews by now. Who are they?”</p>
<p>I agree. Then I had a crazy thought. I’ve known people who will tell a true story, but because they don’t want to identify themselves, or someone else, they change inconsequential facts about the story; things that have no bearing on the overall validity but misdirect attention for whatever reason. Could that be the case here? What if Jackie is so afraid of retribution by Drew that she changed the fact that they worked together at the dining halls (or wherever) to them supposedly working together at the pool. Maybe the kid in her Anthro class was really in a Calculus class etc. It wouldn’t change the tenor of the story one bit but I could see a kid changing facts like that with the idea that they weren’t lying about the story to do it. </p>
<p>The Cville Police Dept. recently told Time Magazine that a formal investigation was not underway, because the victim had not made a criminal complaint. Later, they said two officers had been assigned to an investigation. I think if the Police really believed that more than 7 guys were involved in a pre-meditated brutal forcible rape of a woman, and that there later was a second assault on the victim with a broken bottle, there would be more than 2 officers assigned to the case.</p>
<p>I think the U. knows much more about what really happened then they are willing to say right now. I think the U. has told everything they know to the Cville Police.</p>
<p>^^^^^^ Unbelievable. Shouldn’t the police investigate, regardless if Jackie files a complaint? How will the truth ever come out? If there is no investigation, even if it comes up dry, where is the deterrent for the next guy who can’t control his zipper?</p>
<p>I am not jumping in… I’ve read the entire thread. I have family and friends that attend (and attended) UVA and UVA has, a few years ago, paid me money to work there</p>
<p>I am also not a fan of the term “rape culture” and I don’t believe the “1 in 5” statistic that is always thrown around. I also have no illusion that this issue is unique to UVA.</p>
<p>I know what your point is. I am curious if you think that your son asked each of his female friends if they know someone who has been sexually assaulted. I am saying it is highly unlikely that your son did that. The statement “my son is not aware that any of his friends, or their friends, have been sexually assaulted” might be correct. But that is a completely different statement than the one you made.</p>
<p>My point is that if your kid has 500 UVA facebook friends (probably on the low side), and 250 of them are female (probably on the low side), and each of the 250 females has 5 unique female UVA facebook friends (probably on the low side), that in theory your son surveyed 1250 UVA females.</p>
<p>Do you think it is logical that 0 out of 1250 UVA females have been sexually assaulted? What about if we switched the name of the school? 0/1250 at Virginia Tech? Northwestern? Princeton? Southern Cal? Florida? James Madison?</p>
<p>Many people have questioned the study that claimed one in five women have been sexually assaulted in college. It was based upon a survey of only 2 universities, and there are other issues described in the link…</p>
<p>Which rape frequency figure is right? Does it really matter?</p>
<p>There were 12 million female students this year that entered college. If you use the 1 in 5 figure you get 2,400,000 women from this class who will be raped. If you use even the most conservative of figures (1 in 40) you get 300,000 women. The actual figure is probably somewhere inbetween, but to me that doesn’t change the point of the discussion at all. A problem is a problem is a problem. Even 300,000 puts you at a VERY big problem!</p>
<p>I think the right answer is just 1 out of any is too many, however the irresponsible RS article has turned it into a discussion of the existence of a “culture” which is what some, including me, take issue with.</p>