Rolling Stone retraction complicates fraught rape story

Rolling Stone magazine's retraction of a gang rape account at a University of Virginia fraternity house has left advocates for sexual assault victims angry and frustrated — and struggling to keep the focus on victims' rights.

The 9,000-word story published Nov. 19 recounted a horrific attack on a U.Va. freshman it called "Jackie" at a party in fall 2012 in an upstairs room of the university's Phi Kappa Psi fraternity house. Crude comments attributed to fraternity members suggested the attack was part of an initiation. The piece portrayed U.Va.'s response as tepid, reporting that students who cheat on exams are routinely expelled for violations of U.Va.'s Honor Code, but none has ever been expelled for rape.

The story generated campus protests and vandalism of the fraternity's property. It prompted U.Va. President Teresa Sullivan to suspend the activities of the university's more than 60 Greek organizations. The school's Board of Visitors adopted a zero-tolerance position on sexual assault. Police began an investigation.

Helen Dragas, a board member, told the Richmond Times-Dispatch that the story prompted other victims to come forward with "credible personal stories" of being attacked.

Friday, after a Washington Post investigation called Jackie's account into question, Rolling Stone Editor Will Dana revealed that the reporter, Sandra Rubin Erdely, had honored the victim's request not to contact any of the alleged rapists. He said the magazine couldn't ignore the "discrepancies" in Jackie's account, admitting that editors were no longer sure what had happened. Rolling Stone editors, he said, "have come to the conclusion that our trust in her was misplaced."

Advocates said that may be the worst possible outcome: casting doubt on what could be legitimate claims and emboldening those who would deny a campus rape problem exists.

"Regardless of the details of this woman's particular story, we have to keep our eye on the ball," said Neena Chaudry, senior counsel at the National Women's Law Center, a Washington advocacy group. "Schools have to train their staff, their students, pretty much everybody, on what sexual assault is."

She and others noted that U.Va., like dozens of other colleges and universities, was already under a federal review for its handling of sexual harassment and assault cases. Dorie Nolt, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Education, said Friday the new developments wouldn't affect the review. "It predated the Rolling Stone article and will postdate it, too."

John Foubert, a professor of higher education and student affairs at Oklahoma State University who has written seven books on prevention of rape on college campuses, said the developments do little to dispel the story's clear impression that U.Va. could have done more at the time of the alleged attack.

"It wasn't just about one incident," he said. "It was about a culture. Nothing about that culture is any different" after the retraction. He said it won't take the heat off Sullivan or the university. "U.Va. is still on a hotly burning seat at the moment, and that's where they should be," he said.

Foubert, who worked at U.Va. from 1998 to 2002, said the Rolling Stone piece accurately described the university's culture and administrators' attitudes about sexual assault. "When I read it, I thought it was a graphically written piece that was compelling, but not a bit of it surprised me," he said.

Since the account of the alleged gang rape went viral, he said, U.Va. supporters have naturally rallied around the university. "They don't want to be known as a 'rape school.' They would have a motivation to discredit the survivor's story."

Emily Renda, a U.Va. activist and sexual assault survivor who introduced the reporter to Jackie, said the magazine did a poor job. "Rolling Stone played adjudicator, investigator and advocate — and did a slipshod job at that," she said in a statement. "As a result, Jackie suffers, the young men in Phi Kappa Psi suffered, and survivors everywhere can unfairly be called into question." The magazine, she said, "has run roughshod over years of advocacy, over fairness and justice, and ultimately over Jackie."

Chaudry noted that under federal civil rights law, colleges must investigate sexual assaults but often don't. "Too many students are feeling abandoned by their schools," she said. "They feel isolated. They don't know where to go for help. They don't know what their rights are."

Chaudry said her group has seen progress in the past year. More rape victims are stepping forward to report "what is happening and how their schools are not helping them," she said. She credited awareness campaigns such as KnowYourIX.org, whose name is a reference to the federal Title IX civil rights law that bars discrimination on the basis of sex in education.

Chaudry said, "Regardless of this particular story, we know that this is a very serious problem."

Daren Mooko, Title IX coordinator and associate dean of Pomona College, a private liberal arts college in Claremont, Calif., said he read the Rolling Stone retraction just after completing a full-day training session on investigating Title IX violations. He predicted that the fallout from the controversy would be minimal at Pomona because students there are more aware of their rights than ever.

"Over the last two or three years, I've seen a shift in student attitudes toward reporting," he said. "I'm seeing them more willing to file reports than before." There will always be "some level of fear" about reporting a sexual assault, he said, but when students know what to expect from their college, that isn't as large an issue, he said. "There's not that sense of isolation."

Advocates said there's evidence that even after the Rolling Stone retraction, the initial shock of Jackie's story last month began a process that won't be stopped — even if the truth turns out to be different from what she described.

In its official denial Friday of any involvement in the alleged crime, the Virginia Alpha Chapter of Phi Kappa Psi said, "Anyone who commits any form of sexual assault, wherever or whenever, should be identified and brought to justice. ... No ritualized sexual assault is part of our pledging or initiation process. This notion is vile, and we vehemently refute this claim."

Peter Smithhisler, president and CEO of the North American Interfraternity Conference, asked U.Va.'s Sullivan to rescind the suspension of fraternity and sorority privileges. Still, he said Friday that the Rolling Stone retraction "does not reduce the significance of the issue of sexual violence on college campuses nor the importance of encouraging timely reporting and thorough investigation of such incidents."

Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring has named the law firm O'Melveny & Myers as independent counsel to the U.Va. board of visitors to conduct an "aggressive and consequential" investigation.

Sullivan said the original story had prompted the university to be "more focused than ever" on sexual violence.

"Today's news must not alter this focus," she said. "Here at U.Va., the safety of our students must continue to be our top priority, for all students, and especially for survivors of sexual assault."