U-Va. students challenge Rolling Stone account of alleged sexual assault

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Last edited Fri Dec 12, 2014, 11:11 AM - Edit history (5)

Source: Washington Post

By T. Rees Shapiro December 10 at 5:12 PM @TReesShapiro

It was 1 a.m. on a Saturday when the call came. A friend, a University of Virginia freshman who earlier said she had a date that evening with a handsome junior from her chemistry class, was in hysterics. Something bad had happened.

Arriving at her side, three students —“Randall,” “Andy” and “Cindy” as they were identified in an explosive Rolling Stone account — told The Washington Post that they found their friend in tears. Jackie appeared traumatized, saying her date ended horrifically, with the older student parking his car at his fraternity, asking her to come inside, and then forcing her to perform oral sex on a group of five men.

In their first interviews about the events of that September 2012 night, the three friends separately told The Post that their recollections of the encounter diverge from how Rolling Stone portrayed the incident in a story about Jackie’s alleged gang rape at a U-Va. fraternity. The interviews also provide a richer account of Jackie’s interactions immediately after the alleged attack, and suggest that the friends are skeptical of her account.

The scene with her friends was pivotal in the article, as it alleged that the friends were callously apathetic about a beaten, bloodied, injured classmate reporting a brutal gang rape at the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. The account alleged that the students worried about the effect it might have on their social status, how it might reflect on Jackie during the rest of her collegiate career, and how they suggested not reporting it. It set up the article’s theme: That U-Va. has a culture that is indifferent to rape. ... “It didn’t happen that way at all,” Andy said.
....

[e-mail]

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/u-va-students-challenge-rolling-stone-account-of-attack/2014/12/10/ef345e42-7fcb-11e4-81fd-8c4814dfa9d7_story.html

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Two and a half hours after the story was posted at the Washington Post website, there were 443 comments. Unfortunately, a lot of the commenters have an ax to grind. Surprised by that, aren't you?

Also at the Washington Post: Timeline: Allegations of rape at the University of Virginia

ETA, Thursday morning:

When this article went online at the Washington Post website last night, the title was "U-Va. accuser’s friends tell their story of the night of the alleged sex assault." The time stamp was 5:10 p.m.

Two hours after I started the thread, the article was updated, and the title was changed to "U-Va. students challenge Rolling Stone account of alleged sexual assault." The time stamp on the article is now 9:24 p.m., four hours after the article made its appearance.

I have changed the title to be up to date and in accordance with the LBN requirement.

In addition, it is no longer possible to comment on the article, and the link to the existing comments has been removed.

[La Meduza]

1. Friends say "they immediately urged Jackie to speak to police"

The article says.

Jackie has said the opposite -- that they told her not to contact the police.

[Rhiannon12866]

2. Please use the article title as the subject line, per LBN specifications:

Thanks!

Post the latest news from reputable mainstream news websites and blogs. Important news of national interest only. No analysis or opinion pieces. No duplicates. News stories must have been published within the last 12 hours. Use the published title of the story as the title of the discussion thread.



U-Va. students challenge Rolling Stone account of alleged sexual assault

[greatauntoftriplets]

4. Thanks for posting this request.

[Rhiannon12866]

5. You're more than welcome.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

8. "The dog ate my homework."

I have changed the title and added an explanation for what happened in the commentary portion of the original post.

Best wishes.

[Rhiannon12866]

10. Thanks so much for editing.

I know that sometimes the headlines change, appreciate you checking in and changing it to match the article title.

[Kingofalldems]

3. Kick.

[yellowcanine]

6. Seems pretty clear Rolling Stone did a shoddy job on this story.

The reporter should have at least tried to interview these people. According to them they were not even contacted. And an editor should have insisted on at least one more source before running the story. It also seems clear that there was little attempt to check out some crucial details in the story such as whether the main person being accused was even on campus at the time or whether the fraternity had hosted a party that night. I don't fault the victim here. Victims of any violent crime are often hazy on some details. That is why before publishing something like this details need to be checked. Sometimes confirming certain details can help the victim remember other things and a better account of the incident emerges.

[LisaL]

12. I don't think they checked with anybody else but Jackie.

She asked them not to talk with the men she accused. But why exactly didn't Rolling Stone talk to her friends?
Rolling Stone then would have figured out there are quite a few issues with the story.
Starting with the identity of the man who asked Jackie out on a date to supposedly lure her to the frat party.
Friends say she told them she went out with a chemistry student in her class.
She told Rolling Stone she went out with a guy who was a lifeguard in the pool.
Not the same name, not the same person.
Extremely irresponsible journalism there.

[TexasMommaWithAHat]

7. I find the story impossible to believe

So her friends behaved callously to a "beaten, bloodied, injured classmate?"

Great friends.

[LisaL]

11. Did you actually read the article?

Doesn't appear so.

[TexasMommaWithAHat]

13. I wrote that I found the

story unbelievable, because no, I don't believe her friends found her like that.

I guess I should have included a sarcasm tag.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

9. Here comes the backlash.

Warning: clicking on links to the Washington Times brings pop-up ads for cures for erectile dysfunction to your screen.

U.Va., Lena Dunham cases could swing pendulum in college-rape cases

As victims go, college men who contend they have been wrongly punished for sexual assault don’t get a lot of sympathy. But the fallout from the debacles surrounding the University of Virginia and Lena Dunham rape allegations could change that.

Sherry Warner Seefeld, president of Families Advocating for Campus Equality, says she’s received a number of first-time calls in the last few days from parents whose sons are facing suspension or expulsion for sexual assaults they say they didn’t commit.
....

Valerie Richardson covers politics and the West from Denver. She can be reached at [e-mail].

[yellowcanine]

14. Colleges need to quit trying to handle sexual assault cases in house.

All reports of sexual assault should be referred to the police. Victims still have the choice of pressing charges or not. They can still pursue campus disciplinary procedures for sexual misconduct but the actual investigation should be left to the police.

[LisaL]

15. You can't force someone to make a report to the police.

And in this particular case, "Jackie's" friends claim that Jackie refused to call the police. The story seems to have evolved quite a bit from the night she told it to her friends to the time she told it to Rolling Stones.
Starting with the identity of the person that supposedly lured her to the frat party.

[yellowcanine]

16. I get that. But if colleges made it the norm to notify police both victims and witnesses would be

more likely to do that. The message isn't getting out that colleges consider sexual assault to be a crime and will treat it as such.

[LisaL]

20. From what her friends say, Jackie didn't want it reported to the police.

Which appears to be for a good reason. The story is full of holes.
The guy she told her friends asked her out doesn't even appears to have been a real person.
If he didn't actually exist, he certainly couldn't have lured her to the party to be raped.

[Excorius]

17. kick nt

[mahatmakanejeeves]

18. Welcome to DU. Thank you for reading the thread. NT