COMPLAINT

TO THE HONORABLE JUDGES OF SAID COURT:

COMES NOW the Virginia Alpha Chapter of Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity
(Plaintiff or Phi Kappa Psi), and moves the Court for entry of judgment on its behalf
against Rolling Stone LLC, Wenner Media LLC., Straight Arrow Publishers LLC, and
Sabrina Rubin Erdely (collectively, Rolling Stone or Defendants), jointly and
severally, and in support thereof respectfully states the following:

NATURE OF THE ACTION

1.

This is a defamation action brought by the Virginia Alpha Chapter of the

Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity against Rolling Stone and Sabrina Rubin Erdely, the writer and
Contributing Editor of an article entitled A Rape on Campus: A Brutal Assault and
Struggle for Justice at UVA (the Article), which was featured in a Rolling Stone
publication issued on November 19, 2014. This action is brought in direct response to the
defamatory statements made in Rolling Stones Article, as well as to subsequent
statements made by Erdely and Rolling Stone which repeated and reinforced the
defamatory statements made in the original Article. The Article described in graphic
detail the horrifying ordeal of a University of Virginia freshman woman identified as
Jackie. Jackie was brought to a Phi Kappa Psi date function held on September 28,
2012, by a third-year UVA undergraduate and member of Phi Kappa Psi, identified as
Drew. Jackie met Drew at the UVA Aquatic and Fitness Center, where they both
worked. During the Phi Kappa Psi party, Jackie was given alcoholic punch to drink, and
then led upstairs into a dark bedroom by Drew. As soon as she entered the bedroom,
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Jackie was tackled and sent backwards onto a low glass table, which shattered and caused
shards of glass to dig into her back. She was punched, pinned to the table, a hand was
clamped over her mouth, and her legs were pried apart. She was then ritually raped by
seven Phi Kappa Psi fraternity members for three agonizing hours. One of the rapists
began the ritual by shouting Grab its motherfucking leg. The gang-rape was a Phi
Kappa Psi initiation rite. During the ritual rape one of Jackies assailants chastised one of
the other assailants, saying: Dont you want to be a brother? We all had to do it, so you
do, too. Jackie was repeatedly raped, as well as violated with a beer bottle, which was
shoved into her. The Article goes on to recount Jackie describing her horrific experience
to three friends on the night of the atrocity, and later to officials within UVA, all of
whom were insensitive and unsupportive, acting as apologists for what the Article
portrayed as UVAs culture of rape. In the aftermath of the Article, Phi Kappa Psi and its
members became the object of an avalanche of condemnation worldwide.
2.

The Article, however, was entirely false and a complete fabrication. The

infirmities in the Article were first exposed by other news organizations, such as The
Washington Post, which noted fundamental flaws in Jackies account and raised the
possibility that the entire story may have been concocted. Rolling Stone reacted to these
reports by doubling down on its original Article, standing by its story, engaging in
deception and cover-up, and issuing interviews and public statements that lied about its
sourcing. Investigations by the Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity, the University of Virginia, and
the Charlottesville Police Department, however, would reveal that the gang-rape never
happened. There was no Phi Kappa Psi date function on September 28, 2012. The
ringleader of the alleged gang-rape, Drew, did not exist. No member of Phi Kappa Psi
worked at the Aquatic Center with Jackie. Jackie was not gang-raped, or sexually
3

assaulted by anyone in any manner at Phi Kappa Psi, nor was she assaulted by any Phi
Kappa Psi member at any other time or place. The interactions Jackie described with her
three friends on the night of the alleged event did not take place, and the quotations
attributed to those friends were fabricated. The portrayal of insensitivity to Jackies
allegations by UVA officials was false, and included fabricated statements by those
officials. Rolling Stone, caught in this colossal act of defamatory falsehood,
commissioned the prestigious Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, led by the
Schools Dean, Steve Coll, along with Sheila Coronel and Derek Kravitz, to investigate
the episode. The Columbia Journalism School issued a devastating Report, severely
criticizing Rolling Stone, its writer and editors for failing to corroborate Jackies story
before publishing the Article. Thereafter, Rolling Stone retracted the Article, and
admitted its falsehood.
3.

This defamation action alleges that Rolling Stone set out in advance to find

a sensational story of graphic and violent rape, searched for such a story at elite
universities, and rejected other possible stories because the sexual assaults they portrayed
were too normal. Rolling Stone endorsed and encouraged Erdelys efforts to troll elite
American college campuses in search of a sensational and graphic rape narrative, and
rejected potential stories from universities such as Yale that lacked the sensational quality
Rolling Stone sought. Rolling Stone and Erdely had an agenda, and they were recklessly
oblivious to the harm they would cause innocent victims in their ruthless pursuit of that
agenda.
4.

Rolling Stone knew from the beginning that Jackie was an unreliable

source and that her story was questionable. Rolling Stone intentionally and deliberately
failed to verify the existence of Drew or to contact Drew, intentionally and deliberately
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neglected to contact or interview any of the friends Jackie spoke to on the night of the
heinous crime, intentionally and deliberately neglected to verify that a date function had
taken place at the Phi Kappa Psi House on that night, intentionally and deliberately
misled and manipulated the leader of Phi Kappa Psi in a last-minute request for comment
so as to falsely portray Phi Kappa Psi as stonewalling Rolling Stone, and intentionally
and deliberately neglected to obtain records and information that would have
demonstrated the falsity of Jackies story. The Article was intentionally crafted to deceive
readers into believing Rolling Stone had identified Drew and spoken to all key witnesses,
when in fact Rolling Stone had itself developed the idea of simply creating a fictional
name for the assailant, having also intentionally decided not to identify or interview Drew
or any of Jackies three friends. These actions by Rolling Stone were part of an
intentional and deliberate quid pro quo arrangement in which Rolling Stone intentionally
avoided sourcing and corroborating the story in return for Jackies continuing
cooperation and willingness to not back down from her story. All Rolling Stone wanted
and needed was a willing sourceJackiewho would stick to her incredible claims and
provide Rolling Stone with a patina of journalistic cover. Rolling Stone knew that the
publication of its story would and should result in investigations and prosecutions of Phi
Kappa Psi and its individual members; that said investigations would result in long prison
sentencesperhaps sentences for life; and that its Article all but assured the utter
destruction of the reputations of Phi Kappa Psi and its individual members. These
allegations did not concern harmless fraternity pranks. These were allegations of
ritualized and criminal gang-rape that Rolling Stone knew were the predicates for
annihilation of Phi Kappa Psi and widespread persecution of its members. Allegations of
systematic gang-rape carried out in the service of institutional policy are conventionally
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connected with war crimes and brutal, uncivil cultures; yet, despite knowing the severity
of Jackies allegations, Rolling Stone allowed the atrocious behavior described in the
Article to become forever associated with Phi Kappa Psi. Rolling Stone knew that it was
uncertain as to whether Jackies incredible story was true or false. It knew it needed to
corroborate and verify its story, yet its reporters and editors conspired not to do so.
Editors and fact-checkers inside Rolling Stone spotted red flags that indicated the story
was flawed and raised alarms, yet nothing was done. Rolling Stone published the
Articlethe story was simply too tempting, too sensational, to let facts get in the way.
5.

Rape is a brutal and heinous crime, and sexual assault on American

campuses must not be tolerated; however, serious public discourse about sexual assault is
not served by the intentional publication of a lurid and horrific story that was
intentionally and callously not corroborated, notwithstanding the publishers serious
subjective doubts that the account was true. In the most scurrilous traditions of yellow
tabloid journalism, Rolling Stone published a devastating story it knowingly failed to
verify, in reckless disregard for truth or falsity, or the essential safety, dignity, and
welfare of the organization or of those lives it was willing to crush with its defamatory
Article and subsequent cover-up attempts. This defamation action is brought to seek
redress for the wanton destruction caused to Phi Kappa Psi by Rolling Stones intentional,
reckless, and unethical behavior.

PARTIES, JURISDICTION, AND VENUE

6.

Defendant Rolling Stone LLC is a Delaware limited liability company

with its principal place of business in New York. Rolling Stone LLC has only one
member, which is Wenner Media LLC, a Delaware limited liability company with its
principal place of business in New York. The sole member of Wenner Media LLC is
Straight Arrow Publishers LLC, which is a Delaware limited liability company with its
principal place of business in New York. The members of Straight Arrow Publishers LLC
are: (1) Straight Arrow Publishers Inc.; (2) the Jacob Eisner 2012 Trust 45; (3) the Sophie
Eisner 2012 Trust 45; (4) the Robin Ruddell 2012 Trust 45; (5) the 2006 Wenner Family
LLC; (6) Megan Kingsbury; (7) Jacob Eisner; (8) Sophie Eisner; (9) the Kalei Wenner
Irrevocable Trust.
7.

Defendant Straight Arrow Publishers LLC is a citizen of California,

Delaware, Hawaii, Michigan, New Jersey, and New York. Defendants Rolling Stone
LLC and Wenner Media LLC are citizens of California, Delaware, Hawaii, Michigan,
New Jersey, and New York.
8.

In conjunction with Defendants Wenner Media LLC and Straight Arrow

Publishers LLC, Defendant Rolling Stone LLC owns and publishes Rolling Stone
magazine. Defendants Rolling Stone LLC, Wenner Media LLC, and Straight Arrow
Publishers LLC are collectively referred to herein as Rolling Stone. Rolling Stone
published a false and defamatory article about Phi Kappa Psi on its website and in its
December 2014 printed edition of its magazine. All allegations set forth herein against
Rolling Stone magazine are also made against Defendants Rolling Stone LLC, Wenner
Media LLC, and Straight Arrow Publishers LLC as owners and publishers of Rolling
Stone magazine and its related website, www.rollingstone.com. Defendant Rolling Stone
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LLC is responsible for and liable for all actions taken by its Co-Defendants alleged in this
Complaint.
9.

Defendant Sabrina Rubin Erdely is a journalist and magazine reporter who

is employed by Rolling Stone as a Contributing Editor. Erdely resides in the

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Erdely researched and wrote the defamatory Article
that falsely accused the Virginia Alpha Chapter of Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity of engaging
in ritualized gang-rape.
10.

As a Contributing Editor at Rolling Stone, Erdely was an employee, agent,

and servant of her Co-Defendants. In researching, writing, editing, and assisting in the
publication of the Article, Erdely acted within the scope of her employment and exercised
the agency granted to her by the Co-Defendants. In publishing the Article alongside
Erdelys byline in its magazine, Rolling Stone participated in, authorized, and ratified
Erdelys research, writing, editing, and assistance in the publication of the Article.
11.

As the Deputy Managing Editor at Rolling Stone, Sean Woods was an

employee, agent, and servant of Rolling Stone. In researching, writing, editing, and
assisting in the publication of the Article, Woods acted within the scope of his
employment and exercised the agency granted to him by Rolling Stone. In publishing the
Article with Woods listed as Deputy Managing Editor, Rolling Stone participated in,
authorized, and ratified Woods research, writing, editing, and assistance in the
publication of the Article.
12.

As the Managing Editor at Rolling Stone, Will Dana was an employee,

agent, and servant of Rolling Stone. In researching, writing, editing, and assisting in the
publication of the Article, Dana acted within the scope of his employment and exercised
the agency granted to him by Rolling Stone. In publishing the Article with Dana listed as
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Managing Editor, Rolling Stone participated in, authorized, and ratified Danas research,
writing, editing, and assistance in the publication of the Article.
13.

Defendants Rolling Stone LLC, Wenner Media LLC, Straight Arrow

Publishers LLC, and Sabrina Rubin Erdely are collectively citizens of California,
Delaware, Hawaii, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania.
14.

The Virginia Alpha Chapter of Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity is an

unincorporated association located in Charlottesville, Virginia. It is also known by the

name, Phi Kappa Psi.
15.

Jahvonta A. Mason is an undergraduate member of Phi Kappa Psi and its

current Chapter President. He was elected to his position as Chapter President by a vote
of the undergraduate members in accordance with Phi Kappa Psis bylaws and
constitution. As Chapter President, his duties include presiding over all Chapter meetings,
filling all other executive positions, overseeing the other officers in fulfillment of their
duties, ensuring all Chapter policies and rules are followed, and providing leadership and
direction for the Chapter membership. In consideration of all of these duties, Jahvonta A.
Mason is an officer of the Chapter, has charge of the Chapters affairs, and is legally
authorized to carry out resolutions adopted by the Chapter.
16.

The current undergraduate members of Phi Kappa Psi are domiciliaries

and therefore citizens of the following states: Virginia (33), California (6), Pennsylvania
(2), Florida (2), New York (2), New Jersey (2), Maryland (2), Missouri (1), Arizona (1),
Ohio (1), North Carolina (1), and Kentucky (1). Therefore, Phi Kappa Psi is a citizen of
Virginia, California, Pennsylvania, Florida, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Missouri,
Arizona, Ohio, North Carolina, and Kentucky.

17.

Phi Kappa Psi was founded at the University of Virginia (UVA) as the

Virginia Alpha chapter of the fraternity in 1853.

18.

Since its founding, Phi Kappa Psi has attracted young men from diverse

geographic, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds.

19.

Phi Kappa Psi was originally founded as a brotherhood based on the great

joy of helping others. In recent years, the Phi Kappa Psi brothers have raised thousands
of dollars for charitable causes and devoted more than one thousand volunteer hours per
year to these worthy causes.
20.

Phi Kappa Psis service tradition has produced a wide array of civic

leaders, including governors, congressmen, ambassadors, generals, an admiral, and

American President and Nobel Peace Prize recipient, Woodrow Wilson. Alumni from Phi
Kappa Psi have become leaders in business, politics, medicine, academia, and the
military.
21.

Of Phi Kappa Psis 1600 initiates, many have contributed generously to

the University of Virginia financially and through service. Several alumni have served
UVA on the Board of Visitors and in other capacities of significance to the University.
22.

Phi Kappa Psi has always maintained a commitment to high academic

standards. Since the fall of 2007, Phi Kappa Psi has maintained an average grade point
average above the school-wide mens average in fifteen of sixteen semesters. In the past
decade, Phi Kappa Psi brothers have become members of Eta Kappa Nu, the Echols
Scholars program, Tau Beta Pi, the Raven Society, the Order of the Cloak and Dagger,
and the Honor Committee. Individual brothers have also become Jefferson and Fulbright
Scholars.

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23.

Phi Kappa Psi brothers have been ROTC members, varsity athletes,

athletic coaches, and residents of Thomas Jeffersons Lawna prestigious distinction

reserved for students exhibiting special moral character and academic performance.
Many brothers have served as student leaders on the Inter-Fraternity Council and within
student government.
24.

As a result of Phi Kappa Psis academic, service, and extracurricular

achievements, it enjoyed a superlative reputation within the UVA and Charlottesville

communities and among UVA alumni. Owing to the success of its past members, Phi
Kappa Psi was also known and respected by people who had never attended UVA. In a
rare moment of accuracy in the defamatory Article, Erdely noted that Phi Kappa was an
upper tier fraternity at the University of Virginia.
25.

In order to perpetuate itself, Phi Kappa Psi relies on attracting a new class

of prospective brothers each spring semester. These prospective brothers, or rushees,

are selected through a process that begins with an exchange of information about the
fraternity and its members and ends with the rushees pledge, or commitment to join
Phi Kappa Psi after completing the pledging process.
26.

In accordance with UVAs rules, Phi Kappa Psi keeps records of the

numbers of students that attend its Open House rush events to gather information on
the fraternity, its members, and its pledge process. These records show that Phi Kappa Psi
normally hosted about eight hundred students during its two Open House events in
January of each year.
27.

Phi Kappa Psi relies on each incoming class of pledges to pay dues, to

contribute to charitable causes through the fraternity, to justify the continued presence of

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the fraternity on campus, to expand the fraternitys social network, and to attract future
membership.
28.

The chief assets of Phi Kappa Psi that attract new members to its pledge

classes are its reputation and the experience of being a brother at Phi Kappa Psi. Both of
these assets were catastrophically harmed by Rolling Stones publication of the
defamatory Article.
29.

Phi Kappa Psi should be deemed a private figure for the purpose of

establishing defamation liability. The individual brothers of Phi Kappa Psi, all of them
college undergraduates at UVA, are manifestly private figures. Phi Kappa Psi as an entity
is an unincorporated association, an associational service organization comprised
collectively of these private figure college students. Phi Kappa Psi, as an entity, was
simply a college fraternity going about its normal business prior to the publication of the
Rolling Stone Article. In the wake of that vicious attack on its reputation, Phi Kappa Psi
publicly defended itself from Rolling Stones fabricated gang-rape controversy,
particularly when it became obvious that people believed Rolling Stones specious
allegations. Phi Kappa Psis public visibility in the aftermath of the Articles publication
does not transform Phi Kappa Psi into a public figure. As a non-profit association, the
fraternitys dealings with society at large were limited and routine. Phi Kappa Psi never
voluntarily thrust itself into a pre-existing controversy regarding ritual gang-rape prior to
publication of the Article, and is thus a private figure under Virginia common law and
federal First Amendment law principles.
30.

Phi Kappa Psi is an association founded to advance the service interests of

its members. Membership in Phi Kappa Psi is primarily pursued for its social aspects, as
well as the close-knit relationships that form between its members. Phi Kappa Psi does
12

not exist to turn a profit. Its fraternity house ownership and leasing responsibilities have
been assumed by its housing corporation, the Montalto Corporation, since 1914. Phi
Kappa Psis reputation and brand has been primarily formed through the reputations,
achievements, and comportments of its individual members.
31.

The defamatory statements alleged in this suit were published in

Charlottesville, Virginia. While the monumental damage suffered by Phi Kappa Psi and
its member brothers resonated worldwide, a significant portion of the damage caused by
the defamatory statements occurred in Charlottesville and in the UVA community. This
Court has specific personal jurisdiction over Defendants under Virginias long-arm
statute, Va. Code 8.01-328.1, as amended, as well as under the Due Process Clause of
the U.S. Constitution, because, inter alia, the causes of action asserted in this Complaint
arise from Defendants transacting business in this Commonwealth and causing tortious
injury by an act or omission in this Commonwealth. Rolling Stone regularly solicits
business in this Commonwealth and derives substantial revenue from sale of magazines
and sale of advertising resulting from their directing their publications, including the
Article at issue in this action, into this Commonwealth and at residents of this
Commonwealth. Venue is proper in this Court under Va. Code 8.01-262, as amended,
because the causes of action asserted herein arose in this jurisdiction.

The Defamatory Statements

32.

On November 19, 2014, Rolling Stone published A Rape on Campus: A

Brutal Assault and Struggle for Justice at UVA. Rolling Stone published the Article
online at http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/features/a-rape-on-campus-20141119. A
13

print edition of the same Article was published in the December 4, 2014 issue of Rolling
Stone magazine, Issue #1223. True and correct copies of this Article are collectively
attached to this complaint as Exhibits A (online version) and B (print version) and
incorporated herein and made a part of this Complaint.
33.

The Articles principal narrative concerned a UVA student identified as

Jackie, whom Rolling Stone claimed was gang-raped in the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity
house at the University of Virginia. Jackies alleged rape was selected by Rolling Stones
reporter, Sabrina Rubin Erdely, to be a single, emblematic rape case, and the
centerpiece of the Article.
34.

The Articles account of Jackies rape was graphic and detailed. It

precisely identified the location of the rape as an upstairs bedroom in the Phi Kappa Psi
Fraternity House. Upstairs bedrooms at the Phi Kappa Psi House were leased to and
occupied only by Phi Kappa Psi brothers. Any reader would understand the bedroom in
the Article as belonging to a Phi Kappa Psi brother who lived in the house during
September 2012.
35.

The Article contained the following false and defamatory account of the

night of September 28, 2012, which is of and concerning Phi Kappa Psi:
Sipping from a plastic cup, Jackie grimaced, then discreetly spilled
her spiked punch onto the sludgy fraternity-house floor. The
University of Virginia freshman wasn't a drinker, but she didn't
want to seem like a goody-goody at her very first frat party and
she especially wanted to impress her date, the handsome Phi Kappa
Psi brother who'd brought her here. Jackie was sober but giddy with
discovery as she looked around the room crammed with rowdy
strangers guzzling beer and dancing to loud music. She smiled at
her date, whom we'll call Drew, a good-looking junior or in UVA
parlance, a third-year and he smiled enticingly back.

14

"Want to go upstairs, where it's quieter?" Drew shouted into her

ear, and Jackie's heart quickened. She took his hand as he threaded
them out of the crowded room and up a staircase.
Four weeks into UVA's 2012 school year, 18-year-old Jackie was
crushing it at college. A chatty, straight-A achiever from a rural
Virginia town, she'd initially been intimidated by UVA's aura of
preppy success, where throngs of toned, tanned and
overwhelmingly blond students fanned across a landscape of
neoclassical brick buildings, hurrying to classes, clubs, sports,
internships, part-time jobs, volunteer work and parties; Jackie's
orientation leader had warned her that UVA students' schedules
were so packed that "no one has time to date people just hook
up." But despite her reservations, Jackie had flung herself into
campus life, attending events, joining clubs, making friends and,
now, being asked on an actual date. She and Drew had met while
working lifeguard shifts together at the university pool, and Jackie
had been floored by Drew's invitation to dinner, followed by a "date
function" at his fraternity, Phi Kappa Psi. The "upper tier" frat had a
reputation of tremendous wealth, and its imposingly large house
overlooked a vast manicured field, giving "Phi Psi" the undisputed
best real estate along UVA's fraternity row known as Rugby Road.
Jackie had taken three hours getting ready, straightening her long,
dark, wavy hair. She'd congratulated herself on her choice of a
tasteful red dress with a high neckline. Now, climbing the frathouse stairs with Drew, Jackie felt excited. Drew ushered Jackie
into a bedroom, shutting the door behind them. The room was
pitch-black inside. Jackie blindly turned toward Drew, uttering his
name. At that same moment, she says, she detected movement in
the room and felt someone bump into her. Jackie began to
scream.
"Shut up," she heard a man's voice say as a body barreled into her,
tripping her backward and sending them both crashing through a
low glass table. There was a heavy person on top of her, spreading
open her thighs, and another person kneeling on her hair, hands
pinning down her arms, sharp shards digging into her back, and
excited male voices rising all around her. When yet another hand
clamped over her mouth, Jackie bit it, and the hand became a fist
that punched her in the face. The men surrounding her began to
laugh. For a hopeful moment Jackie wondered if this wasn't some
collegiate prank. Perhaps at any second someone would flick on the
lights and they'd return to the party.
"Grab its motherfucking leg," she heard a voice say. And that's when
Jackie knew she was going to be raped.
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She remembers every moment of the next three hours of agony,

during which, she says, seven men took turns raping her, while two
more her date, Drew, and another man gave instruction and
encouragement. She remembers how the spectators swigged beers,
and how they called each other nicknames like Armpit and Blanket.
She remembers the men's heft and their sour reek of alcohol mixed
with the pungency of marijuana. Most of all, Jackie remembers the
pain and the pounding that went on and on.
As the last man sank onto her, Jackie was startled to recognize him:
He attended her tiny anthropology discussion group. He looked like
he was going to cry or puke as he told the crowd he couldn't get it
up. "Pussy!" the other men jeered. "What, she's not hot enough for
you?" Then they egged him on: "Don't you want to be a brother?"
"We all had to do it, so you do, too." Someone handed her classmate
a beer bottle. Jackie stared at the young man, silently begging him
not to go through with it. And as he shoved the bottle into her,
Jackie fell into a stupor, mentally untethering from the brutal
tableau, her mind leaving behind the bleeding body under assault
on the floor.
When Jackie came to, she was alone. It was after 3 a.m. She
painfully rose from the floor and ran shoeless from the room. She
emerged to discover the Phi Psi party still surreally under way, but
if anyone noticed the barefoot, disheveled girl hurrying down a side
staircase, face beaten, dress spattered with blood, they said nothing.
Disoriented, Jackie burst out a side door, realized she was lost, and
dialed a friend, screaming, "Something bad happened. I need you to
come and find me!" Minutes later, her three best friends on campus
two boys and a girl (whose names are changed) arrived to find
Jackie on a nearby street corner, shaking. "What did they do to you?
What did they make you do?" Jackie recalls her friend Randall
demanding. Jackie shook her head and began to cry. The group
looked at one another in a panic. They all knew about Jackie's date;
the Phi Kappa Psi house loomed behind them. "We have to get her
to the hospital," Randall said.
Their other two friends, however, weren't convinced. "Is that such a
good idea?" she recalls Cindy asking. "Her reputation will
be shot for the next four years." Andy seconded the opinion, adding
that since he and Randall both planned to rush fraternities, they
ought to think this through. The three friends launched into a
heated discussion about the social price of reporting Jackie's rape,
while Jackie stood beside them, mute in her bloody dress, wishing
only to go back to her dorm room and fall into a deep, forgetful
sleep. Detached, Jackie listened as Cindy prevailed over the group:
"She's gonna be the girl who cried 'rape,' and we'll never be allowed
into any frat party again."
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36.

The above account is defamatory in its entirety, and it is of and concerning

Phi Kappa Psi.

37.

Even though this incredible account of September 28, 2012 was sourced

exclusively from Jackie, Rolling Stone chose to publish Jackies false and defamatory
claims, and to identify Phi Kappa Psi by name. According to an interview Erdely did with
The Washington Post, when Jackie resisted the idea of naming the fraternity, Erdely
encouraged her, saying, If were trying to shine light on this [issue], we have to name
the fraternity.
38.

The detailed and explicit statements in the Article are false and

defamatory of Phi Kappa Psi. The Article also includes false and defamatory implications
that arise naturally and clearly from its explicit statements. The Article is also false in its
overall collective gestalt meaning, which is that Phi Kappa Psi was complicit in ritualized
gang-rape.
39.

The Article contains discrete false and defamatory references to Phi Kappa

Psi. All of these references are defamatory insofar as they link the fraternity to the central
narrative of the Article, which is that Jackie was gang-raped at the Phi Kappa Psi house
as part of a fraternity initiation ritual on September 28, 2012. All page references herein
are made to the print edition of the Article, attached as Exhibit B.
40.

The Article defames Phi Kappa Psi by falsely referring to a date

function at Phi Kappa Psi on page 70, col. 1 of Exhibit B: She and Drew had met while
working lifeguard shifts together at the university pool, and Jackie had been floored by
Drews invitation to dinner, followed by a date function at his fraternity, Phi Kappa
Psi. This passage sets up the many passages to follow, falsely conveying the meaning
17

that the September 28, 2012 event was a Phi Kappa Psi date function, sponsored and
endorsed by Phi Kappa Psi, and that the subsequent gang-rape was attendant to that date
function.
41.

The Article defames Phi Kappa Psi by falsely quoting the non-existent

gang-rapists: Dont you want to be a brother? We all had to do it, so you do, too.
Article at 70, col. 2 of Exhibit B. This passage plainly implies that in order to be a
brother, Phi Kappa Psi members must engage in ritualized gang-rape as a pre-condition
for membership. Read in context, these statements clearly communicate the false
accusation that gang-rape and sexual assaults on women are condoned, approved,
organized, and required by Phi Kappa Psi as part of its pledging and initiation rituals and
procedures.
42.

The Article defames Phi Kappa Psi by falsely stating that Jackies

concerns go beyond taking on her alleged assailants and their fraternity. Article at 70,
col. 3 of Exhibit B. This passage conveys that Jackie and Rolling Stone saw Phi Kappa
Psi itself as their adversaries, not just the individual assailants, and that the publication of
the Article falsely describing Phi Kappa Psis crimes constituted a taking on of both
Jackies alleged assailants and their fraternity.
43.

The Articles prominent illustration of the Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity House

on page 69 of Exhibit B constitutes a false and defamatory visual symbol to the reader
that the fraternity itself, as symbolized by the house, is complicit in gang-rape, and that
the individual assailants described in the Article are only a few members of an entire
fraternity chapter that sponsors and encourages sexual assaults against women. The
illustration depicts a woman, covered with bloody handprints, crying into her hands in
front of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity house. John Ritter, the Articles illustrator, added a
18

white banner on the awning to the left of the woman on which the Phi Kappa Psi letters
are clearly printed. The addition of this banner and the bloody young woman further
emphasizes the Articles false and defamatory thesis, which is that Phi Kappa Psi, as an
organization, is responsible for and complicit in gang-rape.
44.

The Article defames Phi Kappa Psi by falsely likening it to another

fraternity chapter where rape has occurred: Studies have shown that fraternity men are
three times as likely to commit rape, and a spate of recent high-profile cases illustrates
the dangers that can lurk at frat parties, like a University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee frat
accused of using color-coded hand stamps as a signal to roofie their guests, and this falls
suspension of Brown Universitys chapter of Phi Kappa Psiof all fraternitiesafter a
partygoer tested positive for the date-rape drug GHB. Article at 73, col. 2 of Exhibit B.
The passage relating to the suspension of Brown Universitys Phi Kappa Psi chapter, with
its parenthetical phrasing of all fraternities implies that the complicity of Phi
Kappa Psi in Jackies rape was similar and related to the complicity of other fraternities
in other rapes at other universities, including the Phi Kappa Psi chapter at Brown.
45.

The Article defames Phi Kappa Psi by falsely stating: She still hadnt

even managed to tell her own mother exactly what had happened at Phi Kappa Psi.
Article at 74, col. 1 of Exhibit B. In the context of the Article as a whole, this statement
falsely conveys to the reader that Phi Kappa Psi was complicit in and responsible for
Jackies alleged gang-rape, thereby defaming Phi Kappa Psi.
46.

The Article, complaining of a lack of warning by UVA officials, falsely

states that In the meantime . . . the UVA administration took no action to warn the
campus that an allegation of gang-rape had been made against an active fraternity.
Article at 75, col. 1 of Exhibit B. This passage falsely defames Phi Kappa Psi, the active
19

fraternity, as the entity against whom an allegation of gang-rape had been made. The
Article suggests that Jackie made allegations of gang-rape against Phi Kappa Psi in May
of 2013 and that UVA should have taken action against Phi Kappa Psi in response to
those allegations. Moreover, the Article falsely implies that UVA should have taken
action in response to Jackies allegations of gang-rape because they were credible and
directed specifically at Phi Kappa Psi in May of 2013, all of which is false and defames
Phi Kappa Psi.
47.

The Article states: You can trace UVAs cycle of sexual violence and

institutional indifference back at least 30 yearsand incredibly, the trail leads back to
Phi Psi. Article at 75, col. 1 of Exhibit B. This passage falsely accuses Phi Kappa Psi of
being an entity responsible for institutionalized sexual violence on a historical level,
which defames Phi Kappa Psi.
48.

The Article states that no one voiced questions about UVAs strategy of

doing nothing to warn the campus of gang-rape allegations against a fraternity that still
held parties and was rushing a new pledge class. Article at 76, col. 2 of Exhibit B. This
passage falsely accuses Phi Kappa Psi of being the alleged perpetrator, describing gangrape allegations against a fraternity rather than its members, all of which defames Phi
Kappa Psi. The references to the fraternity still [holding] parties and rushing a new
pledge class are references to Phi Kappa Psi activities that the Article falsely claimed
were responsible for Jackies alleged gang-rape: a fraternity party atmosphere and a
rushee-to-brother initiation ritual, all of which defames Phi Kappa Psi.
49.

The Article defames Phi Kappa Psi by falsely stating: Jackie had come

across something deeply disturbing: two other young women who, she says, confided that
they, too, had recently been Phi Kappa Psi gang-rape victims. Article at 76, col. 3 of
20

Exhibit B. This statement falsely defames Phi Kappa Psi by identifying it as the
perpetrator, through its members, of two additional gang-rapes.
50.

The Article defames Phi Kappa Psi by falsely describing Jackies

disillusionment, stating: there was no denying her helplessness when she thought about
Phi Psi, or her own alleged assailants still walking the grounds. Article at 76, col. 3 of
Exhibit B. This passage uses the disjunctive or and plainly indicates that Jackies
allegations, as repeated by Rolling Stone, were directed both at Phi Kappa Psi as an entity
and at the alleged individual assailants. In accordance with the Articles central narrative,
this statement suggests that Phi Kappa Psi acted in a way that made Jackie feel helpless,
which is false and defames Phi Kappa Psi.
51.

The Article defames Phi Kappa Psi by stating: Given the swirl of gang-

rape allegations Eramo had now heard against one of UVAs oldest and most powerful
fraternitiesfounded in 1853, its distinguished chapter members have included President
Woodrow Wilsonthe school may have wondered about its responsibilities to the rest of
the campus. Article at 76, col. 3, 77, col. 1 of Exhibit B. This statement falsely defames
Phi Kappa Psi itself as an entity, both in its explicit phrasing, against one of UVAs
oldest and most powerful fraternities, and in its discussion of the Phi Kappa Psi
Chapters history and Woodrow Wilson, which is the history of the Phi Kappa Psi
Chapter as an entity, as distinct from Jackies alleged individual assailants and their
histories.
52.

In the Article, the passage quoted in Paragraph 51 is immediately

followed by a statement saying that experts agreed that UVA acted wrongly in not taking
action given the multiple allegations of gang-rapes by the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. Laura
Dunn is thus quoted as saying, The fact that they already had that first victim, they
21

should have been taking action. Article at 77, col. 1 of Exhibit B. This statement falsely
defames Phi Kappa Psi by referring to the allegations against Phi Kappa Psi referenced
in the sentences that preceded, and by referring to a first victim of Phi Kappa Psi, and
the failure of UVA to take action against Phi Kappa Psi. In short, this passage, and the
passages that precede it, falsely defame Phi Kappa Psi by stating that Phi Kappa Psi as an
entity was complicit in a persistent pattern and practice of gang-rape. This
communication amplifies the earlier false and defamatory message in the Article,
discussed in Paragraph 47, which is that the trail of sexual assault goes back 30 years and
leads back to Phi Psi. Article at 75, col. 1 of Exhibit B.
53.

The Article states that Within days of the board meeting, having learned

of Rolling Stones probe into Jackies story, UVA at last placed Phi Kappa Psi under
investigation. Article at 77, cols. 1 and 2 of Exhibit B. This statement falsely defames
Phi Kappa Psi, not just individual members of Phi Kappa Psi, as an entity under
investigation.
54.

The Article portrays Phi Kappa Psi and its members as brutal monsters.

The allegation of the atrocious crime of gang-rape is self-evidently monstrous.

Compounding that allegation, the Article vividly conveyed Jackies experience of being
gang-raped on a bed of glass shards for three hours, an ordeal horrifying in its bloody
brutality. Jackie is depicted as having been tackled through the glass table, cruelly
punched in the face, and sexually penetrated with a beer bottle. The Phi Kappa Psi
members are portrayed as laughing, joking, jeering, and bantering throughout the rape.
Jackie is shown as reduced to an animal object, as one of the Phi Kappa Psi brothers is
quoted as saying, Grab its motherfucking leg. The overall portraiture paints the Phi

22

Kappa Psi fraternity as the haven of members who are beyond misogynisticthe Phi
Kappa Psi members are portrayed in the Article as inhuman beasts.
55.

In characterizing Jackies gang-rape as a Phi Kappa Psi initiation ritual,

the Article associated the fraternity brand and reputation even more closely with gangrape. The concept of gang-rape as initiation inexorably leads the reader to conclude that
being a brother at Phi Kappa Psi means being a gang-rapist. To the ordinary reader of the
Article, a persons membership in Phi Kappa Psi is affirmative evidence of participation
and condonation of the sickening act of vicious sexual violence on an innocent victim.
The ordinary reader would interpret Phi Kappa Psis continued existence as a sexual
threat to college women, to the moral standards of the community, to basic human
decency and to the rule of law. In fact, that was how the ordinary reader did interpret the
Chapters continued existence after the publication of the Article.
56.

That the many defamatory meanings alleged by Phi Kappa Psi to have

been deliberately communicated by Rolling Stone were so understood by ordinary readers

is demonstrated by the thousands and thousands of mainstream traditional media and
social media reactions to the Rolling Stone Article. Those thousands of repetitions of the
gist and sting of the Rolling Stone Article unmistakably attest that readers of the Article
took away from it exactly what Rolling Stone intended: the message that Phi Kappa Psi
was a brutal and violent house of ritualized gang-rape.

Post-Publication Statements by Rolling Stone and Sabrina Erdely

57.

Weeks after publication of the original Rolling Stone Article, reports in

The Washington Post and other media outlets began to speculate that the entire Rolling
23

Stone Article was fabricated. As the verisimilitude of the Article began to unravel,
Rolling Stone doubled down, engaging in numerous statements that were defamatory and
damaging in their own right, compounding the damage caused by the original Article. On
December 2, 3, and 4, 2014, Rolling Stone issued a press release to respond to criticisms
of the original Article. The following press release was circulated to the New York Times,
among other media outlets:
The story we published was one womans account of a sexual assault at a
UVA fraternity in September 2012and the subsequent ordeal she
experienced at the hands of University administrators in her attempts to
work her way through the trauma of that evening. The indifference with
which her complaint was met was, we discovered, sadly consistent with
the experience of many other UVA women who have tried to report such
assaults. Through our extensive reporting and fact-checking, we found
Jackie to be entirely credible and courageous and we are proud to have
given her disturbing story the attention it deserves.
Attached as Exhibit C .
58.

Rolling Stone continued to promote the Article well before it issued a

defiant response to criticisms about the factual problems with the Article. Immediately
after the Articles publication, Erdely began a media tour to drum up interest in the
Article, magnifying the damage done by its defamatory lies. On November 25, 2014,
Erdely was interviewed by SiriusXM radio show host Michael Smerconish. At that time,
Erdely made the following false and defamatory statements about Phi Kappa Psi:
a.
I discovered a young woman named Jackie, who is now a junior, and
when she was -- she told me that when she was a freshman, just a few weeks into
her freshman year, she had been brutally gang-raped at a fraternity and that she
had gone to the University to report this gang-rape, and that the University did
nothing with this information.
b.
This is a gang-rape by, she says, seven men, while two others watched, so
she was incredibly traumatized.

24

c.
And the other thing I mean, everything about this attack is so shocking,
including the fact that the way that she describes it makes it sound very much like
it is a pre-planned attack.
d.
And she heard them say things like -- encouraging one another to take
turns. She heard them say things like, Well, dont you want to be a brother?
Which would lead one to believe that this is some kind of initiation ritual.
e.
And, in fact, over the course of the following year, it came to Jackies
attention, as she began to sort of, you know, meet other rape survivors and her
network of rape survivors became wider, she actually wound up coming to the
administration with reports to two other women who told her that they were also
gang-raped at the same fraternity.
f.
That is incredibly alarming. Now that the University has three allegations
of gang-rape at the same fraternity.
g.
This, by the way, being the same fraternity where there was another
situation quite like this thirty years ago.
So, this is a fraternity that has been on their radar screen for a while, and
h.
there are these recent allegations, and once again, the administration did
absolutely nothing.
i.
Michael Smerconish asks Erdely a direct question, asking: Does Jackie
believe that Drew, that Drew totally set this up? That he invited her to the party,
invited her upstairs, knowing that all these guys would be waiting and rape her?
Erdely responds by saying, Yes, that is her feeling.
j.
The two of them had actually spent weeks getting to know each other.
They worked together as lifeguards at the University pool. She could never really
understand why he, this handsome junior, was paying so much attention to her,
this very nave freshman, especially when -- I dont think this is in the article, but
she said that the other lifeguards that worked on their shift were like these model
gorgeous blondes and looking back on the entire scenario, she was really kicking
herself and thinking like, well, why would he have chosen me. Why you know,
he was paying so much attention to me, showing so much interest in everything
that I had to say, and all she could think is that he was probably grooming her for
something like this and testing her for something like this.
k.
She doesnt know -- she doesnt even know the identities of some of these
boys who attacked her. She can identify them all visually, but shes never -- she
doesnt know what some of their names are.
l.
In response to Michael Smerconish asking her, Can she identify all seven
[perpetrators], Erdely says, I believe she can.

25

m.
But everything about Jackie is entirely credible. I put her story through the
wringer. I talked to all of her friends, all of the people she confided in along the
way.
A transcript of the radio show, comprised of four parts, is attached as Exhibit D.
59.

These statements by Erdely were made as Rolling Stones employee and

agent. They both compounded the damage caused by the original Article, and constituted
new false and defamatory allegations against Phi Kappa Psi, published with actual malice
and negligence.

FALSITY

Falsity of the Original Article

60.

The defamatory statements of and concerning Plaintiff alleged in this

Complaint are false in the following particulars:

a.

The events described in the Article never happened. Jackie was not

gang-raped at Phi Kappa Psi on September 28, 2012, or at any other time.
b.

Jackie was never raped or sexually assaulted in any manner by

members of Phi Kappa Psi.

c.

There was no date function held at Phi Kappa Psi on September

28, 2012. There was no party function of any kind held at Phi Kappa Psi on that
night.
d.

Phi Kappa Psi has never required, condoned, or suggested that any

of its members participate in rape or sexual assault of any kind. No Phi Kappa Psi

26

brother or pledge has ever participated in gang-rape as a means to attain

membership in Phi Kappa Psi.
e.

Neither Phi Kappa Psi nor its members have ever harmed Jackie,

so Rolling Stone and Jackies objectives in taking on her alleged assailants and
their fraternity were bizarre and fabricated. Neither Phi Kappa Psi nor its
individual brothers had any prior interaction with Jackie, and neither invited nor
deserved any retributory action by Jackie.
f.

In contrast to the Articles main illustration on page 69 of the print

edition, Exhibit B, Jackie did not leave Phi Kappa Psi covered in bloody
handprints as a result of a gang-rape suffered there. No party was held at Phi
Kappa Psi on September 28, 2012, so the illustrations depiction on page 69 of
students partying with a beer bong while Jackie cried in the foreground never
occurred.
g.

The Articles suggestion that the chapter of Phi Kappa Psi at the

University of Virginia is similar to the Brown University chapter of Phi Kappa Psi
in that both have organized efforts to rape partygoers is unequivocally false.
h.

Nothing happened to Jackie at Phi Kappa Psi, which explains why

she hadnt managed to tell her own mother exactly what had happened. Jackie
was not traumatized by Phi Kappa Psi or its members in any way.
i.

The Article falsely states that Jackie made an allegation of gang-

rape against an active fraternity in her initial meeting with Dean Eramo in May
of 2013. According to the Charlottesville Police Departments investigation,
Jackie told Eramo only that she had been a victim of a sexual act at a fraternity in
her initial meeting in May of 2013. Investigators also discovered that Jackie had
27

not disclosed the name of the fraternity in the initial meeting or in her
correspondence with Eramo immediately afterward. Jackie only named Phi Kappa
Psi as the fraternity where the alleged attack took place in a meeting with Dean
Eramo on April 21, 2014. The Articles suggestion that UVA had received a
credible threat of gang-rape against Phi Kappa Psi in May of 2013 is false.
j.

The Articles implication that Jackies alleged gang-rape was an

iteration of a fraternity initiation ritual stretching back to 1984 is false.

k.

The Articles statement that there were credible gang-rape

allegations against Phi Kappa Psi that UVA ignored is false. Jackie only named
Phi Kappa Psi as the fraternity where the alleged attack took place in a meeting
with Dean Eramo on April 21, 2014. The Articles suggestion that Phi Kappa Psi
parties and rush activities created a credible gang-rape threat in the UVA
community is false.
l.

The Articles statement that two other women besides Jackie were

gang-rape victims of Phi Kappa Psi is false.

m.

The Articles claim that there was a swirl of gang-rape

allegations against Phi Kappa Psi that the University found credible and should
have acted on in May of 2013 is false. According to the Charlottesville Police
Departments investigation, Jackie told Dean Eramo only that she had been a
victim of a sexual act at a fraternity in her initial meeting in May of 2013.
Investigators also discovered that Jackie had not disclosed the name of the
fraternity in the initial meeting or in her correspondence with Eramo immediately
afterward. Jackie only named Phi Kappa Psi as the fraternity where the alleged
attack took place in a meeting with Dean Eramo on April 21, 2014.
28

n.

Jackie is not a victim of Phi Kappa Psi, so the claim by Laura

Dunn that the school should have taken action against the fraternity to vindicate
Jackie is false.
o.

Rolling Stone adopted a pattern and practice throughout its Article

of deliberately misleading readers regarding its own reporting, attributing quotes

to friends of Jackie as if it had verified those quotes, when in fact it had not ever
interviewed those friends. Rolling Stone engaged in other devices calculated to
create the false impression that it had sources and evidence other than Jackie that
corroborated its story, when it fact it knew it had none.

Falsity of Rolling Stones December 2, 2014 Press Release

61.

Rolling Stones post-publication press release defended the Article from

attacks against Jackies credibility and the Articles reporting. The press release was
defamatory because it re-asserted that the central narrative of the Article was truethat
Phi Kappa Psi was guilty of encouraging and aiding and abetting gang-rape, and
requiring participation in gang-rape as an initiation ritual. In addition, the statements in
the press release are false in the following particulars:
a.

Neither Jackie nor any other woman was sexually assaulted at Phi

Kappa Psi in September of 2012.

b.

Rolling Stone did not engage in extensive reporting and fact

checking in preparing to publish the Article. In fact, basic and routine journalistic
standards were knowingly violated by Rolling Stone in order to publish a
sensational and defamatory story. In attempting to defend its own reporting on
29

Jackies story, Rolling Stone deliberately implied that it knew its story was true
when in fact it did notand even suggested that it had more evidence to support
its story than it had originally disclosed.
c.

Throughout its publishing process, Rolling Stone knew there were

major holes and inconsistencies in Jackies account, and that she was not reliably
credible. Yet Rolling Stone deliberately hid its doubts about Jackies credibility
from its readers and from journalists who interviewed Rolling Stone employees
after the Article began to unravel.

Falsity of Erdelys Statements on the Michael Smerconish SiriusXM Radio Show

62.

Erdelys comments on the Michael Smerconish radio show, attached as

Exhibit D, are defamatory of the Plaintiff and false in the following particulars:
a.

Jackie was never brutally gang-raped at Phi Kappa Psi during

her freshman year in 2012.

b.

No Phi Kappa Psi member or rushee participated in Jackies

alleged gang-rape at the Phi Kappa Psi house, and no Phi Kappa Psi member or
rushee watched and encouraged the alleged gang-rape.
c.

Jackies alleged gang-rape was not a pre-planned attack devised by

Phi Kappa Psi.

d.

No Phi Kappa Psi member or rushee asked the other alleged

assailants whether they wanted to be a brother.

e.

There were never two other women who alleged they were gang-

raped at Phi Kappa Psi in 2010 and 2014.

30

f.

On information and belief, there were never three allegations of

gang-rape made against Phi Kappa Psi in 2014.

g.

There has never been a situation quite like Jackies narrative at

Phi Kappa Psi, either thirty years ago or in any time since Phi Kappa Psis
founding at the University of Virginia.
h.

Phi Kappa Psi had not been on [the Universitys] radar screen for

a while as an entity potentially responsible for promoting and committing gangrape.

i.

Jackie did not have a reasonable belief that any member of Phi

Kappa Psi set up Jackies alleged gang-rape.

j.

No Phi Kappa Psi brother ever worked with Jackie at the

University Aquatic and Fitness Center, let alone groomed her there for an
alleged gang-rape.
k.

Jackie could not correctly visually identify seven men in Phi

Kappa Psi as her alleged assailants.

l.

Jackie could not correctly identify, by any other means, seven men

in Phi Kappa Psi as her alleged assailants.

m.

Everything about Jackie was not credible, and Erdely has admitted

she initially felt a bit incredulous upon hearing Jackies graphic account.
Rolling Stone did not put Jackies story through the wringer, choosing
deliberately and recklessly instead to use pseudonyms for Drew and Jackies three
friends rather than track them down. Erdely did not speak to all of Jackies
friends, namely Ryan Duffin, Alex Stock, and Kathryn Hendley, referred to as
Randall, Andy, and Cindy in the Article. Rolling Stone also did not speak
31

to all of Jackies confidantes, including, but not limited to, Jackies mother and
Dean Eramo. Rolling Stone deliberately hid these omissions from readers,
intentionally generating the false impression that it had corroborated Jackies
account, when in fact it had not.
63.

Phi Kappa Psi conducted its own internal investigation immediately upon

learning of Jackies claims, and concluded that there was no evidence to support the
fabricated claims of gang-rape. On the same day as the Articles release, UVA President
Teresa Sullivan also requested that the Charlottesville Police investigate Phi Kappa Psi
for claims of gang-rape.

The Charlottesville Police Investigation Confirms Phi Kappa Psis Innocence

64.

On March 23, 2015, the Charlottesville Police Department issued a press

release titled, Charlottesville Police Departments Investigation Into an Alleged Sexual

Assault as Depicted in Rolling Stone Magazine Article Dated November 19, 2014. The
press release detailed the Charlottesville Police Departments investigation into the
allegations of gang-rape at the Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity House, as graphically described
by Rolling Stone in the Article.
65.

According to the investigation, Jackie first met with Dean Eramo on May

20, 2013 to discuss her poor academic performance. During this meeting, Jackie told
Eramo that she had gone to a party at an unknown fraternity on Madison Lane and was a
victim of a sexual act at that party. Jackie was unable or unwilling to identify the names
of the attackers or the fraternity in this meeting. The experience Jackie described to
Eramo differed in key respects from the graphic account of physical abuse and gang-rape
32

detailed in the Article. On information and belief, Jackie told Eramo that she had been
forced to perform oral sex on five men at a fraternity party. On information and belief,
Jackie did not say she had been gang-raped by seven men on a bed of glass while two
others observed and encouraged the rapists.
66.

On April 21, 2014, Jackie had a second meeting with Dean Eramo and

claimed that she suffered a physical assault on April 6, 2014, while on the University
Corner near Elliewood Avenue. Jackie claimed that she was verbally abused by four men
and that, after one called her name, she turned around and was struck in the face by an
unknown object that was thrown at her.
67.

Also in the April 21, 2014 meeting, Jackie disclosed to Detective Via and

Dean Eramo that she had been sexually assaulted in the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity house in
2012. However, she declined to provide any specific details regarding the alleged sexual
assault at that time.
68.

On November 19, 2014, University of Virginia President Teresa Sullivan

requested that the Charlottesville Police Department initiate an investigation into the
allegations of gang-rape at the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity house. President Sullivan
announced her decision to request an investigation by the Charlottesville Police
Department on November 19, 2014, in a statement to the University of Virginia
community titled, Important Message from President Sullivan Addressing Sexual
Misconduct.
69.

On November 19, 2014, upon connecting the pseudonym Jackie with

the person he had spoken to in April of 2014, Detective Via called Jackie and left a
message offering police and victim/witness support and assistance. On November 20,

33

2014, Detective Via again contacted Jackie and arranged for her to meet with the
Department after the Thanksgiving break.
70.

On December 2, 2014, Jackie came to the Charlottesville Police

Department headquarters accompanied by University Dean Laurie Casteen and legal

counsel from the Legal Aid and Justice Center. At this meeting, Jackie declined, through
her legal counsel, to provide a statement or answer any questions about the allegations
contained in the Article.
71.

Since the meeting on December 2, 2014, Jackie has refused to cooperate

with or provide any information to police investigators. Jackie also refused to provide
written consent that would enable investigators to obtain certain records kept by the
Office of the Dean of Students that pertain to her allegations.
72.

In the absence of Jackies written consent, the University of Virginia was

only able to provide investigators with redacted copies of documents that reflect Dean
Eramos meetings with Jackie prior to the meetings at which Charlottesville Police
Department officers were present. These documents referenced Jackies alleged sexual
assault, physical assault, and an anonymous sexual assault report.
73.

None of the documents made available to investigators revealed any facts

similar to what was alleged in the Article.

74.

Upon reviewing a membership list of Phi Kappa Psi fraternity members,

the house lease agreements, and bank records dating back to 2012, investigators found no
evidence that anything happened at Phi Kappa Psi similar to what was alleged in the
Article.
75.

Based on interviewing nine of the fourteen Phi Kappa Psi brothers who

were living at the fraternity house in September of 2012, police investigators found no
34

evidence that any of these brothers knew Jackie, or that they were involved in a violent
sexual assault as depicted in the Article. Furthermore, none of the interviewed brothers
claimed to have any knowledge of a sexual assault occurring at the fraternity house at any
time when they were present.
76.

When a police investigator sent a questionnaire to fraternity members,

nineteen brothers responded. None of the respondents claimed to know Jackie, nor did
they claim any knowledge of a sexual assault having occurred at the fraternity house on
September 28, 2012.
77.

Investigators reviewed fraternity social calendars, inter-fraternity

newsletters, and bank records for evidence of a date function held at Phi Kappa Psi on
September 28, 2012. Investigators found no evidence that the party described in the
Article occurred on September 28, 2012 at the Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity House.
78.

Investigators received a time-stamped picture of the Phi Kappa Psi

Fraternity House from 11:33 p.m. from September 28, 2012. The picture, which shows a
man holding two chairs in the common area, shows no evidence of a large party or
gathering of people.
79.

The police investigation discovered that Phi Kappa Psis sister sorority,

Delta Gamma, held an event at their sorority house on September 28, 2012. Several of the
fraternity brothers that lived at Phi Kappa Psi at the time attended this event, and police
determined it was unlikely that Phi Kappa Psi would have held a competing party on the
same night.
80.

Upon review of the cumulative evidence, the Police Department stated it

could not find any basis of fact to conclude that there was any event at the Phi Kappa Psi
fraternity house on the evening of September 28, 2012.
35

81.

Investigators also interviewed two of Jackies friends. On information and

belief, these friends were Ryan Duffin and Alex StockAndy and Randall from the
Article. Both men reported that Jackie told them she had gone on a date with a person
named Haven Monahan on September 28, 2012. Although neither man had met Haven
Monahan, both had exchanged text messages with a person claiming to be Haven
Monahan. Investigators reviewed fraternity rosters, employee records of the University
Aquatic and Fitness Center, student directories, social media sites, and other sources, but
were unable to discover anyone with the name Haven Monahan.
82.

The phone number Jackies friends attributed to Haven Monahan was a

Google voice number that could not be linked to a person named Haven Monahan. The
photograph that supposedly depicted Haven Monahan was used to locate the person in
the photograph. His name was not Haven Monahan, nor was it Drew. The person did not
know Jackie, and investigators concluded that he was not in Charlottesville on the night
of Jackies alleged assault.
83.

Police found no evidence whatsoever to support Jackies claim that two

other women had been gang-raped at the Phi Kappa Psi house in 2010 and 2014.
84.

In its press release from March 4, 2015, the Charlottesville Police

Department concluded that there is no substantive basis to support the account alleged in
the Rolling Stone article.

FAULT

85.

Rolling Stone published the defamatory Article even though there was no

substantive basis to support Jackies story. Rolling Stone destroyed Phi Kappa Psis
36

reputation through false statements, explicit and implied, published with actual malice
knowledge of falsity or reckless disregard for truth or falsityand negligence. The
allegations in this Complaint dealing with fault demonstrate that Rolling Stone published
its Article, and the post-publication statements that are also alleged by this Complaint to
have defamed Phi Kappa Psi, with actual malice. All of these allegations are also pleaded
to establish negligence, in effect a lesser included offense for fault purposes. Because
Phi Kappa Psi is a private figure, it need only establish basic negligencethe failure by
Rolling Stone to act as an ordinary reasonable publisher under the circumstancesto
establish liability. In order to qualify for presumed and punitive damages, however, Phi
Kappa Psi in this Complaint goes above and beyond the negligence standard required to
establish liability, to additionally allege actual malice. All of the allegations of fault
alleged below that meet the actual malice standard of knowledge of falsity or reckless
disregard for truth or falsity thus also allege the lesser included fault level of negligence.

Rolling Stones Conduct in Publishing the Article

86.

Once the scandal that Rolling Stone had published a fabricated story

became evident, Rolling Stone requested that a review of its actions in publishing the
Article be conducted by the Columbia Journalism School. The devastating Report that
ensued, the Columbia Journalism School Report (CJS Report), is extraordinary in its
detailed presentation of an Article published with actual malice and negligence. A true
and correct copy of the Report is attached as Exhibit E.
87.

Defendants stated purpose in publishing A Rape on Campus was to

address the problem of rape on college campuses. Defendants told the writers of the
37

CJS Report that they had hoped [the Article] would sound an alarm about campus sexual
assault and would challenge Virginia and other universities to do better.
88.

According to the CJS Report, Erdely began researching the University of

Virginia as a potential setting for the Article in July of 2014. On July 8, Erdely
telephoned Emily Renda, a UVA employee working on sexual assault issues. Erdely said
she was looking for a single, emblematic rape case that would show what its like to
be on campus nowwhere not only is rape so prevalent but also theres this pervasive
culture of sexual harassment/rape culture.
89.

During that phone call, Renda told Erdely about Jackie, a girl she worked

with who had alleged she was gang-raped in the fall, before rush, and the men who
perpetrated it were young guys who were not yet members of the fraternity. When
Emily Renda mentioned Jackie to Erdely, she did so with the caveat that [Jackies]
memory of [the alleged gang-rape] isnt perfect, according to the CJS Report. Erdely
replied by telling Renda that Jackies story was totally plausible.
90.

Erdelys belief that Jackies story was totally plausible was formed prior

to any investigation or personal contact with Jackie. It was also formed in the presence of
explicit cautionary evidence from Renda that Jackie was unreliable because her memory
of the event was imperfect. A reasonable jury could conclude that Erdelys claim that
Jackies story was totally plausible was nothing more than a Eureka moment in
which Erdely celebrated that she had found the sensational narrative she was looking for,
leading to the quid pro quo arrangement in which Erdely and Rolling Stone would
intentionally avoid the pursuit of any leads that might undercut the verisimilitude of
Jackies sensational account.

38

91.

Renda put Erdely in touch with Jackie shortly after their initial

conversation on July 8. In an email conversation, Jackie informed Erdely that she would
definitely be interested in sharing [her] story. On July 14, Erdely telephoned Jackie.
During their phone call, Jackie related to Erdely the allegations of gang-rape that would
eventually form the centerpiece of the Article. Erdely told CJS investigators that, at the
conclusion of her call with Jackie, she recalled feeling a bit incredulous about the
vividness of some of the details Jackie offered.
92.

In Emily Rendas testimony to a United States Senate Committee

investigating campus sexual assault on June 26, 2014, she told a version of Jackies story
that was different from the narrative that Jackie would eventually relate to Erdely. In
reference to Jackie, Renda testified that:
One of the student survivors I worked with, Jenna, was gang-raped
by five fraternity men early in her freshman year. Despite the severity of
the assault and injuries she sustained, Jenna still experienced a feeling of
personal responsibility. Looking for affirmation, she sought out peers and
told her story. Sadly, each and every one of the friends she reached out to
responded with varying denials of her experience; these responses
worsened her feelings of self-blamethat she must be confused because
that fraternity is full of great guys; that she must have made them think
she was down for that; questioning how no one else at the party could
have heard what was going on if she was telling the truth; or discouraging
her from seeking help because you dont want to be one of those girls
who has a reputation for reporting that kind of thing. These statements
haunted Jenna. She told me that they made her feel crazy, and made her
question whether her own understanding of the rape was legitimate.
93.

The Senate testimony also makes it clear that Jackie was greeted with

varying denials of her experience by each and every one of the friends she reached out
to about her alleged rape.

39

94.

Rendas testimony includes Jackies admission that her friends denials

made her feel crazy, and that she question[ed] whether her own understanding of the
rape was legitimate.
95.

Erdely had read, watched, and/or listened to Rendas Senate testimony

prior to the Articles publication.

96.

Erdely interviewed Jackie seven more times between July and October

2014. During this period, Jackie frequently failed to respond to Erdelys calls, texts, and
emails. At least twice, Erdely was concerned that Jackie might withdraw her cooperation,
thereby scuttling the story. According to the CJS Report, Jackie became more responsive
and cooperated fully with Erdely after the reporter capitulated to Jackies request not to
name the lifeguard who had orchestrated the alleged gang-rape, i.e., Drew.
97.

In addition to alleging that Phi Kappa Psi brothers were initiated by gang-

rape, the Article references two more gang-rapes that supposedly occurred in the Phi
Kappa Psi house. A 2013 UVA graduate was allegedly gang-raped in the Phi Kappa Psi
house when she was a first-year student. The Article also described another woman who
was allegedly gang-raped during her first year at UVA in 2014. According to the Article,
the second woman was assaulted in the Phi Kappa Psi bathroom by four men while a fifth
watched. These false accounts were sourced solely through Jackie, and never
corroborated by any credible person. These false accounts supported and were supported
by Erdelys pre-conceived narrative about the prevalence of campus rape and rape
culture.
98.

Rolling Stone failed to provide representatives of Phi Kappa Psi a

meaningful opportunity to respond to the Articles vicious allegations. Erdelys e-mails to

Phi Kappa Psi President Stephen Scipione were deliberately and calculatingly
40

manipulative, intentionally providing insufficient information for him to respond as a

responsible leader and deny the allegations of gang-rape. Capitalizing on her ambush
technique, Erdely later deliberately painted Mr. Scipiones inability to comment as
stonewalling without disclosing to readers the deceptive manner in which she contacted
and engaged Mr. Scipione.
99.

Rolling Stone intentionally avoided contacting any corroborating sources,

instead relying on Jackie as a single-source for her incredible narrative. Rolling Stone
avoided contacting Duffin, Stock, or Hendley, three friends who would have disproven
key aspects of Jackies story and required the Article to be scuttled. Rolling Stone also
failed to successfully contact Jackies mother, who would have also called into question
key facts in Jackies story. Rolling Stone cited no information provided by any person in
a position of authority or credibility that corroborated Jackies incredible account of the
events of September 28, 2012.
100.

Rolling Stone deliberately and intentionally avoided attempting to contact

or even confirm the actual existence of Drew, the supposed mastermind and ringleader
responsible for Jackies gang-rape. Rolling Stone avoided discovering that no member of
Phi Kappa Psi worked as a lifeguard at the Aquatic Center, and that no one fitting the
description of Drew worked as a lifeguard at the Center, thereby deliberately avoiding
discovery of critical facts that would have necessitated that the story be abandoned.
Rolling Stone deliberately avoided this verification despite the fact that even Jackie
suggested that Rolling Stone pursue it.
101.

Prior to the publication of the Articles attached as Exhibits A and B, Phi

Kappa Psi, a private figure, enjoyed an excellent reputation in the Charlottesville and
UVA communities. Contrary to Rolling Stones suggestion and implication, the fraternity
41

had never been publicly identified as an institution with a culture of rape, gang-rape, or
sexual assault. After the publication of the Article, Phi Kappa Psis reputation changed
overnight, as the University administration and community responded in shock and
revulsion to Jackies fabrications, presented by Rolling Stone as truth.
102.

The statements made by Defendants about Phi Kappa Psi regarding its

alleged involvement and participation in three gang-rapes, as set forth in Exhibits A, B,

C, and D, are false, defamatory, and libelous per se. The end result of Defendants
publication of A Rape on Campus, and their attempt to bolster and lend credibility to
those claims by obscuring key insights into the reporters and publishers investigatory
process, defamed Phi Kappa Psi, both directly and by implication, and accused it directly
and by implication of crimes of moral turpitude, namely, conspiring, aiding, abetting,
requiring and participating in the felonious and heinous gang-rape of Jackie and two
other women.
103.

Between November 22 and December 4, 2014, numerous journalists,

including Richard Bradley, Paul Farhi, T. Rees Shapiro, and Robby Soave, questioned
the integrity of the Article. Instead of pursuing the lines of inquiry raised by these
reporters, Rolling Stone chose instead to ignore or dismiss their concerns and stubbornly
champion their false narrative. The magazines defiance towards well-founded criticism
of the Article cynically and callously delayed the work of reporters attempting to report
the truth.
104.

By early December 2014, investigations by Phi Kappa Psi had produced

clear proof that Jackies claims were fabricated. When Rolling Stone finally retracted the
Article, it did so in a half-hearted and insincere way that disclaimed responsibility for its
failure. In fact, Rolling Stone did not apologize to Phi Kappa Psi for the harm its
42

defamatory story caused until six months later, when the CJS Report was released on
April 5, 2015. Sabrina Erdely has never apologized to Phi Kappa Psi for her reckless and
dishonest reporting.
105.

According to an article published in the October 2015 issue of Vanity Fair

magazine, Erdely once lamented that the exposure of her shoddy reporting meant that she
was going to lose [her] job. To the surprise of Erdely and most major journalism
sources, Erdely, Sean Woods, and Will Dana were not disciplined or fired over the
Article that the Columbia Journalism Review included in its selection of the Worst
Journalism of 2014 and the Poynter Institute called the journalism Error of the Year.

Rolling Stone Published the Article with Actual Malice

106.

Rolling Stone published the Article and its defamatory statements with

actual malice. Rolling Stone either knew its statements were false or published them with
a reckless disregard for whether they were true or false. Rolling Stone acted so recklessly
as to engage in a willful disregard for the truth. Rolling Stone published the Article with a
high degree of awareness that its statements were probably false. Rolling Stones actual
malice was demonstrated in multiple aspects of its researching, writing, and publishing of
the Article, as well as by its deliberately misleading defense of the Article after it had
realized that the falsehood of the Article and its own journalistic failures in publishing it
were exposed. Rolling Stones actions must be considered in their totality and in their
cumulative weight. When so considered, Rolling Stones actions are a textbook example
of publication with actual malice.

43

107.

The existence of a pre-conceived story line is evidence probative of actual

malice. Rolling Stones Article was the quintessential example of a publication emanating
from such a pre-conceived story line. Rolling Stone and Erdely had an agenda, and they
were recklessly oblivious to the destruction they might cause innocent victims in their
ruthless pursuit of that agenda. Erdely was actively seeking a campus rape story at a
prestigious American university that would be shocking and headline-grabbing. Rolling
Stone adopted this agenda as its own, endorsing and encouraging Erdelys efforts to troll
American college campuses in search of a sensational rape narrative. At the time Erdely
began researching universities to decide where to focus her investigative journalism piece
on campus rape, she told the CJS investigators that she was searching for a single,
emblematic college rape case that would show what its like to be on campus now
where not only is rape so prevalent but also that theres this pervasive culture of sexual
harassment/rape culture. This statement, describing Erdelys beliefs prior to any
interviews or investigation into the truth of Jackies claims, encapsulates the thesis of the
Article: that college campuses are hotbeds of rape, sexual harassment, and rape culture,
and that the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity at elite UVA is the poster-child for this arrogant and
brutal culture.
108.

Erdelys agenda-driven journalism became obvious to the campus sexual

assault survivors she interviewed at UVA. Alex Pinkleton, a rape survivor and UVA
student, told Brian Stelter of CNN that Erdely did have an agenda and part of that
agenda was showing how monstrous fraternities are and blaming the administration for a
lot of these sexual assaults. Pinkleton added that Erdely seemed to be focused on
attacking fraternities specifically: I didnt like that it seemed like [Erdely] was looking
for a story that had to be at a fraternity. Erdely expressed her bias against fraternities to
44

Hanna Rosin on the DoubleX Gabfest podcast on November 26, 2014, when she said that
Phi Kappa Psi was emblematic in a lot of ways of sort of like elitist fraternity culture.
A transcript of the podcast is attached as Exhibit F. In her comments on The Brian Lehrer
Show on November 26, 2014, attached as Exhibit G, Erdely observed that, Fraternities
have become, for some reason, a place where theres a lot of misogyny and a lot of really
bad behavior towards women tends to be tolerated as normal, and that has real world
impact on their behavior. Erdely also said that she doesnt think fraternities have to be
places that are drenched in misogyny and rape tolerance and that fraternity culture can
change. Erdely assumed that Phi Kappa Psi was a place drenched in misogyny and rape
tolerance, and authored the Article to punish Phi Kappa Psi for her mistaken
assumption.
109.

Erdely told CJS investigators that if she had discovered that Jackie had

fabricated the conversation in which Ryan Duffin declined to be interviewed, she would
have changed course immediately, to research other UVA rape cases free of such
contradictions. This statement is telling because it suggests that Erdely was unwilling or
unable to accept evidence that the central thesis of the Article was flawed. If Erdely had
learned that Jackies story was fake, rather than questioning the validity of the Articles
pre-conceived narrative, Erdely admitted that she would simply look harder for
confirming evidence.
110.

In an interview with C-VILLE magazine, Erdely explained the depth of her

belief in the agenda she wove into the Article. She told the magazine that the
degradation of women is intrinsically woven into the campus, and on every campus, and
frankly in our culture. If people are getting confused by that, Im sorry to hear that. Its
another aspect of their denialism. Erdelys statement explains why she willfully ignored
45

so many warning signs through the process of writing Jackies story: the reporter began
from the premise that her narrative was correct, then discounted any conflicting evidence
as the product of denialist rationalization. Erdelys willful ignorance of evidence tending
to disprove her narrative and its defamatory claims was a deliberate and reckless
avoidance of the truth.
111.

Erdelys search for an emblematic rape case pushed her to find the most

shocking and graphic rape case possible: a fraternity gang-rape and physical assault
committed on a bed of broken glass. In a panel interview on sexual assault, a Yale student
who Erdely had interviewed said that she put Erdely in touch with a couple of students
who had . . . normal rape stories, and none of them were good enough for her. When
Erdely met rape survivors who recounted less gut-wrenching experiences than Jackies,
she discarded their authentic stories.
112.

Once she decided to focus on the University of Virginia in the Article,

Erdely began interviewing sexual assault survivors in the community. One UVA student
whom Erdely interviewed said that she and several other students felt really
uncomfortable after being interviewed by Erdely because they concluded that Erdely
was not objective and perceived that the reporter brought a personal agenda to the
Article.
113.

Erdelys personal agenda and pre-conceived biases led her to begin a

journalistic relationship with Jackie that was predicated on treating Jackie as Erdelys star
witness, whether or not the claims related by her witness were true. What mattered to
Erdely was that Jackie would say she had suffered a fraternity gang-rape, not that her
story would hold up to scrutiny. Erdely and Rolling Stone deliberately avoided holding
Jackies account up to scrutiny, knowing that if efforts were made to verify Jackies
46

incredible story, it would likely unravel. Upon first hearing an account of Jackies alleged
gang-rape during a telephone call with Emily Renda on July 8, 2014, Erdely commented
that Jackies story seemed totally plausible. Erdely concluded that Jackies story was
totally plausible prior to ever speaking to her directly, or assessing her credibility, or
corroborating the story with evidence or other consistent accounts. Moreover, she
accepted Jackies narrative as totally plausible even though Renda told her that Jackie
was an inherently unreliable source: Renda told Erdely that obviously, maybe [Jackies]
memory of [the alleged assault] isnt perfect. Erdelys statement that Jackies statement
was totally plausible was thus evidence of an utterly cynical and deplorable calculation:
Erdely had hit the jackpot she was looking for, a sensational story that in her view could
be true, given her worldview and the worldview to which she would play, and as long as
Jackie could be coddled and nurtured and not challenged in any manner that would rattle
her or get her to back off her story, Erdely and Rolling Stone had exactly what they were
looking for.
114.

Reliance on an obviously biased or unreliable sources is probative of

actual malice. Rolling Stone knew that Jackie was a biased and unreliable source, but
made the calculated decision to rely exclusively on her account. Rolling Stone
deliberately ignored evidence that Jackie was unreliable in order to avoid toppling its
sensational narrative about rape, fraternities, and rape culture at the University of
Virginia. Alex Pinkleton said that she did encounter skepticism with Sabrina because it
seemed like she was unwilling to listen to anyone besides Jackie. Unlike the other
victims whose normal rape stories she ignored, Jackie had a story that would force
readers of Rolling Stone to engage with Erdelys biased narratives about rape culture.
When Erdely heard things from Jackies friends and fellow activists that threatened the
47

reliability of her single, emblematic rape case, she intentionally ignored their
statements, deliberately turning a blind eye to the truth.
115.

Erdely intentionally and knowingly ignored multiple signs that Jackie was

not a credible source about her alleged rape. In addition to Emily Rendas early warning
about Jackies inconsistent memory, Erdely also ignored her own gut instinct about the
believability of Jackies account. Erdely told the CJS investigators that she was
incredulous after hearing Jackie describe the alleged rape, and especially incredulous
about the broken glass on which the gang-rape supposedly occurred. It is no wonder that
Erdely was incredulous: the story Jackie told to Erdely during that first phone call
differed in substantial respects from the story that Erdely knew Jackie had told Emily
Renda, and the story that Emily Renda had testified about in her Senate committee
meeting on June 26, 2014. Erdely suppressed her feelings of incredulity, however,
choosing instead to suspend disbelief and treat Jackies new account as true so she
could pursue her personal agenda.
116.

Erdely ignored subjective doubts regarding Jackies reliability. Erdely

knew that Jackies irregular, inconsistent, and delayed communications were a major
warning sign that Jackie was not reliable. There were often long delays between Jackies
replies to emails, calls, and texts. Often these delays corresponded to disagreements
arising when Erdely dared ask Jackie for the bare modicum of evidence to substantiate
her story, as in the case of an interview with Jackies mother that Jackie promised would
confirm key details of the story. Jackies mother never returned Erdelys calls, and Erdely
never pressed the issue because doing so would have meant scrapping the shocking rape
case that would advance her biased narrative. Jackie also failed to provide promised
pieces of evidence, including the bloodied dress from the night of the rape and her
48

personal health records. The failure to follow through on these promises and remain in
regular contact with Erdely throughout the research process was ample evidence that
Jackie was not a credible source. Rolling Stone did not press these points because Rolling
Stone did not want to derail the story. If Jackie was willing to stick to her story, then
Rolling Stone had its journalistic cover, its source, and that was good enough for
Rolling Stones agenda. Erdely harbored subjective doubt about Jackie, but published
Jackies sensational account nonetheless. This was knowing and reckless avoidance of
the truth.
117.

The CJS Report concluded that one of Rolling Stones three violations of

basic, even routine journalistic practice was failing to find or confirm the existence of
Drew, the supposed ringleader of the gang-rape. Erdely should have begun the search for
Drew much earlier in her investigation. According to the CJS Report, Erdely only raised
the subject of confirming Drews existence on September 20, 2014, over two months
after she made initial contact with Jackie. Rolling Stones intentional decision to publish
the Article without verifying the existence of Drew was an egregious and callous exercise
in the deliberate avoidance of the truth. If Rolling Stone had attempted to find Drew
earlier in the process and thereby discovered that he did not exist, Rolling Stone would
have abandoned the Article long before it had invested so much in its publication. Having
never attempted to identify or verify the existence of Drew, Rolling Stone made a rushed,
last-minute decision to use a pseudonym approximately two weeks prior to the Articles
publication. Rolling Stone then covered its tracks by crafting the Article in a manner that
created the false impression that Rolling Stone knew Drews identity. Tellingly, once
Rolling Stone made its decision to create a fictional name for Drew (who, it turns out,
was in fact a fictional person), and once Rolling Stone informed Jackie of this decision,
49

Jackie conveniently became cooperative once again, as Rolling Stone wanted. Rolling
Stone and Jackie thus engaged in an illicit quid pro quo. In exchange for Jackie
cooperating with Rolling Stone and sticking with her story, Rolling Stone would not seek
to find or verify the existence of Drew, and would instead substitute a pseudonym for his
real identity. Rolling Stone knew it did not know if Drew even existed, let alone if
Jackies sensational account of what Drew had done was true, yet it published the Article
anyway because it had Jackie, never pressed or pressured to verify anything, to vouch for
it. Similarly, Rolling Stones deliberate decision to avoid any investigation into the
Aquatic and Fitness Centers employment records to verify that a person fitting Drews
description existed, and then to track him down to pursue his version of events, was a
cruel and callous exercise in deliberate avoidance of the truth, following the pattern
characteristic of all of Rolling Stones behavior in the production and publication of the
Article.
118.

Rolling Stone and Erdely knew exactly what they were doing in not

verifying the existence of Drew and not attempting to hear his version of events. On
October 20, 2014, Erdely flatly told Jackie that she needed to obtain Drews real name.
Erdely emphatically told Jackie that searching for Drew was something she needed to
do as part of her due diligence process in writing the Article. Rolling Stones Editor
Sean Woods also knew that finding Drew was necessary. According to the CJS Report,
Woods discussed the plan to find Drew with Erdely three times because he realized that
[we] need to verify him. The failure of Rolling Stone to locate Drew was not merely
grossly unethical, immoral, and negligent, it was actual malice as a matter of law. Rolling
Stone was on the verge of making accusations that it knew could result in life
imprisonment for individual Phi Kappa Psi members and the end of Phi Kappa Psi as an
50

entity. It knew it was imperative to contact the alleged ringleader and perpetrator,
Drew. In the face of these stakes and with that knowledge, to make the calculated
decision that it would not verify the existence of Drew or obtain his side of the story but
simply make up a name for him, in exchange for Jackies ongoing cooperation, was to
deliberately and knowingly engage in a conspiracy with Jackie to publish a fabricated
story. Rolling Stone made this subjective calculation: We understand that we cannot
know whether or not Jackies story is true, and that tracking down key actors in the story,
such as Drew, is a step we must make to resolve that core question of truth or falsity. But
rather than take that step, we will publish without verifying Drews existence, and just
make up a name for him, creating the impression that we know his name but will not
reveal it, relying simply on the cover of what Jackie has told us, though we know we
have not verified it. A reasonable jury could find this behavior to constitute actual
malice.
119.

Erdely failed to confirm the existence of any of the other eight men who

were alleged to have participated in the gang-rape. In a SiriusXM radio interview with
Michael Smerconish on November 25, 2014, Erdely told Smerconish that Jackie could
identify all seven of the alleged gang-rapists. This statement by Erdely was without any
factual basis, for if it were true, and if Erdely knew it to be true, then Erdely would have
been able to obtain those names from Jackie herself. Rolling Stone thus intentionally
misled the public and reinforced the intentional deception of the original Article by
conveying the impression that it had the evidence that Jackies story was true, that it
knew the identities of the perpetrators, when it fact it had no evidence, knew no identities,
and could not even be sure the alleged perpetrators existed. Rolling Stones knowledge
that subjective doubts as to the truth of Jackies account could not be resolved without
51

these verifications, its cynical decision to publish without resolving that subjective doubt,
and its subsequent efforts on talk shows and in its public statements to cover up its
failings and act as if it knew more than it actually did, could all be found by a reasonable
jury as clear and convincing evidence of actual malice.
120.

Rolling Stone also failed to contact any of the fourteen men who actually

lived in the Phi Kappa Psi house in September of 2012. One of these men would have
lived in the bedroom that was allegedly used for gang-rape. In her communications with
Shawn Collinsworth, the national Phi Kappa Psi Executive Director, and Stephen
Scipione, Erdely never even asked for the list of men who lived in the house in
September 2012. Rolling Stones deliberate failure to contact these men was yet another
example of deliberate avoidance of the truth, which a reasonable jury could conclude was
clear and convincing evidence of actual malice.
121.

Rolling Stone intentionally failed to contact or pursue Jackies three

friends, Duffin, Stock, and Hendley, who came to meet her on the night of the alleged
rape. From her conversations with Jackie, Erdely knew the real first names of each of
these friends. Erdely did ask Alex Pinkleton for help in finding them, but Pinkleton told
the journalist that she needed Jackies permission to help her. Erdely never followed up
with Pinkleton after this initial and cursory effort to locate the three friends.
122.

The CJS Report rightly observes that Erdely could have found Duffin,

Stock, and Hendley through Facebook friend listings if Erdely had been motivated to do
so. Erdely did not bother to ask any of Jackies other friends for assistance in locating the
trio. Although Erdely did ask Jackie for help in contacting Duffin, Jackie ignored those
efforts until September 11, 2014, when she told Erdely that Duffin had declined to be
interviewed. Erdely accepted Jackies story without question, and concluded that Duffin
52

was obviously out. Erdely never tried to contact either of the other two friends. Duffin,
Stock, and Hendley each had information that contradicted Jackies story as printed in the
Article, which they would have shared with Erdely had she interviewed them. Rolling
Stones failure to contact these three known sources was a shocking example of actual
malice. In this instance, Rolling Stone had the real first names of each witness. The full
identities, as the CSJ Report noted, were readily at Rolling Stones avail. Jackies account
of what these witnesses allegedly told her the night of the rape was itself over the top
and manifestly difficult to believe. Moreover, the statements attributed to the witnesses
made those three witnesses look insensitive and complicit in UVAs alleged rape culture.
Rolling Stone knew that contacting these three witnesses was critical on two levels. First,
they would provide corroboration from witnesses who were with Jackie on the night of
the alleged gang-rape at Phi Kappa Psi that the gang-rape had occurred. Second, they
would provide corroboration that the statements attributed to them by Jackie were
accurate. To deliberately fail to contact these easily available and obviously critical
witnesses was not simply negligent or unethical journalism, it was a deliberate avoidance
of the truth. A reasonable jury could find these actions clear and convincing evidence of
actual malice.
123.

Contacting Duffin, Stock, or Hendley would have provided Erdely with

information that directly contradicted Jackies account of her alleged rape. Any of these
friends would have told Erdely that Jackies story on the night in question was different
in several important ways from what Erdely was prepared to report. According to the
three friends subsequent statements about the night of Jackies alleged attack, Jackie did
not show any signs of the forcible gang-rape she described to Erdely: her dress was not
covered in blood, her face was not beaten and bruised, and she did not seem to have
53

sustained any injuries from glass shards. In fact, the three friends would have told Erdely
that Jackie had no visible cuts or wounds at all. The friends would have also told Erdely
that they actually received a call from Jackie at around 1:00 am on September 28, 2012,
not, as Erdely reported, after 3:00 am. The friends would have also corrected the location
of the meeting reported in the Article. Although Erdely reported that Jackie met her three
friends right next to the Phi Kappa Psi house, all three later told T. Rees Shapiro that they
met Jackie approximately a mile away from the fraternities.
124.

Any of the three friends would have told Erdely that Jackie claimed to

have gone on a date with a UVA student named Haven Monahan on September 28, 2012.
Duffin would also have denied the conversation Jackie related to Erdely, in which he
allegedly refused to be interviewed by Rolling Stone. There were numerous
inconsistencies in Jackies story that the three friends would have brought to Erdelys
attention, if the reporter was not single-mindedly pursuing a story to verify her biases
about southern college campuses, fraternities, rape, and rape culture. All three friends
have subsequently confirmed that they would have willingly spoken to Erdely if she had
contacted them.
125.

The CJS Report found that, In hindsight, the most consequential decision

Rolling Stone made was to accept that Erdely had not contacted the three friends who
spoke with Jackie on the night she said she was raped. If Erdely had contacted the three
friends, the Report concluded that the magazines editors would have likely decided not
to publish Jackies story.
126.

Rolling Stone deliberately failed to request from Jackie a waiver of her

rights under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), which would
have allowed Rolling Stone access to the records arising from Jackies meetings with
54

UVA administrators and Dean Eramo. Rolling Stone knew that these records would either
confirm or deny the allegations of gang-rape to be published in the Article, but chose not
to pursue them. Rolling Stone also knew that FERPA laws significantly limited what
UVA, Dean Eramo, and President Sullivan could say to confirm or deny Jackies
allegations.
127.

Rolling Stone chose not to pursue a FERPA waiver because the documents

provided by the school would contradict the version of Jackies story they planned to
print in the Article. If documented evidence emerged that Jackie had told a different story
to Dean Eramo, it would be difficult if not impossible for Rolling Stone to print the story
in its contemplated form. Rolling Stone already knew there were fundamental
inconsistencies between Jackies first account, told to Emily Renda and recounted in her
Senate testimony, and Jackies second account, told to Erdely. Yet knowing that Jackie
had already told two different versions of what happened, and knowing that a review of
the records of Jackies meetings with UVA administrators would have forced Erdely and
her editors to reconsider publishing the Article, Rolling Stone deliberately chose not to
pursue those records. A reasonable jury could find that Rolling Stones actions
constituted clear and convincing evidence of actual malice.
128.

Rolling Stone deliberately avoided pursuing Jackies records so that there

was no direct evidence contradicting its allegation that the UVA administration was an
uncaring and dishonest bureaucracy that valued the schools reputation over protecting its
students from gang-rape. Rolling Stone viciously attacked the UVA Dean of Students
Office, and Dean Nicole Eramo in particular, for not doing more to warn the campus
about Phi Kappa Psi. Specifically, the Article alleges that the school should have
questioned its responsibilities to the rest of campus once it heard the swirl of gang-rape
55

allegations against Phi Kappa Psi. To represent UVAs denialism about sexual assault,
Rolling Stone printed an unverified and flippant quotation from Dean Eramo justifying
the schools lack of response to Jackies story: Because nobody wants to send their
daughter to the rape school. In fact, neither UVA nor Dean Eramo could have warned
the campus about Phi Kappa Psi after Jackies first meeting with Eramo because Jackie
told an entirely different story on May 20, 2013, and did not name a particular fraternity
as the perpetrator of her attack. UVA never received a swirl of credible gang-rape
allegations against Phi Kappa Psi, and Dean Eramo never uttered the quotation that was
attributed to her. All of these facts would have been discovered by Rolling Stone if it had
pursued a FERPA waiver from Jackie and gained access to her records at the Deans
Office. Rolling Stone denigrated UVA for participating in a cover-up before it ever
confirmed that a crime was committed. Rolling Stones efforts to portray UVA and its
administration as protecting Phi Kappa Psi added to the overall sting of the Article, which
was that Phi Kappa Psi was guilty of encouraging and aiding and abetting gang-rape, and
requiring participation in gang-rape as an initiation ritual.
129.

Rolling Stone decided not to verify these claims because doing so would

require closer and more detailed engagement with the UVA administration. The story of
institutional indifference to gang-rape at UVA played better if Erdely was able to claim
that the University had stonewalled her and limited her access to key administrators. Just
as she had done with Mr. Scipione, Erdely shared limited information about Jackies
story with President Teresa Sullivan in their telephone interview so as not to disturb the
fragile network of lies, half-truths, obfuscations, unverified quotations, and
uncorroborated claims that would comprise the Article. The pattern of behavior Rolling
Stone exhibited in manipulating its communication with President Teresa Sullivan and
56

Mr. Scipione is proof that a reasonable jury could find clear and convincing evidence of
actual malice.
130.

Rolling Stone made only a cursory attempt to contact Phi Kappa Psi for

comment on the heinous allegations contained in the Article. In blatant violation of what
the CJS Report called journalistic practice and basic fairness, Erdely did not reach
out to Phi Kappa Psi in a meaningful way to provide Phi Kappa Psi an opportunity to
refute Jackies accusations. Erdelys initial email to President Scipione said only that she
had become aware of allegations of gang-rape against the UVA Chapter of Phi Kappa
Psi. The CJS Report described Erdelys e-mail to Mr. Scipione as containing a
decidedly truncated version of the facts, which falls well short of calling Erdelys
communication what it actually was: an intentionally duplicitous email, scrubbed clean of
any information Phi Kappa Psi could use to investigate the truth of Jackies claims and
protect itself from the damage the defamatory Article caused. Erdely intentionally
omitted absolutely critical information she had in her possession, such as the date of the
alleged crime, its occurrence at a Phi Kappa Psi date function, the number of men
involved, information about the victim, identifying information about Drew, the
allegation that the rape was part of a Phi Kappa Psi initiation ritual, information about
Drews dinner date with Jackie earlier that evening, the location of the alleged crime, or
any mention of the destruction of the glass table and resulting debris. This was shocking
and intentional deception and manipulation. After engaging in this deception, Rolling
Stone deliberately portrayed Phi Kappa Psi as stonewalling and hiding the truth, when in
fact it was Rolling Stone itself that had engaged in deception.
131.

Erdely made her minimal and contrived effort to request a comment from

Phi Kappa Psi in October 2014, just as she was finishing the story she had worked on in
57

collaboration with Jackie for over four months. Erdelys guarded email to Mr. Scipione
avoided the unwelcome possibility of scrapping the nearly-completed story two weeks
before its planned publication date. Erdelys choice protected a personal and professional
investment of hers at the expense of Phi Kappa Psi.
132.

A more detailed description of the alleged assault in Erdelys requests for

comment would have unearthed factual discrepancies that should have led Erdely and her
editors to abandon the Article. In fact, Phi Kappa Psi quickly determined that no such
gang-rape occurred once it received the information that Erdely deliberately omitted from
her emails to Mr. Scipione. Phi Kappa Psi leadership disproved the allegations by
confirming that they hosted no date function on the night in question, that no brothers in
September 2012 worked as lifeguards at the Aquatic and Fitness Center, that the Articles
fall pledging timeline at UVA was completely wrong, and that there was no evidence of
any physical struggle or broken glass in any upstairs bedroom.
133.

When Mr. Scipione replied that the scant information Erdely supplied

made it impossible for him to comment, Erdely resolved again not to provide that
information to him. Erdely knew that she could recast Mr. Scipiones inability to
comment as the fraternity closing ranks. Erdelys request for comment was not designed
to gather additional information on the alleged assault, which she had already decided
was real. Instead, she sent an intentionally opaque e-mail that would only give the
appearance of due diligence. A reasonable jury could find that Rolling Stones
deliberately deceptive and manipulative behavior towards Phi Kappa Psi was clear and
convincing evidence of actual malice.
134.

Rolling Stone engaged in a series of journalistic and editorial deceptions in

crafting the Article that were deliberately calculated to fool readers and cover up the
58

reality that the story came from a single source who was not credible. Rolling Stone
invented pseudonyms for the three friends that it had deliberately avoided locating and
interviewing. Rolling Stone adopted a first-person voice from Jackies perspective to
conceal the fact that Erdely had never actually spoken to Duffin, ignored warnings from
its own fact-checkers that the story had sourcing problems, printed unverified quotations
from Duffin, Stock, and Hendley without a disclosure as to their source, and adopted a
pseudonym for Drew to disguise the fact that he was not confirmed to exist and Erdely
had not contacted him.
135.

When Sean Woods approved the use of pseudonyms in Erdelys first draft,

he said the choice was temporary, pending further reporting and review. Erdely told the
CJS investigators that the three friends were always on [her] list of people to track
down. According to the CJS Report, Erdely and Woods have different recollections
about their subsequent conversations over the use of pseudonyms for these three friends.
Woods insists that he only capitulated on the use of pseudonyms after Erdely convinced
him that she had exhausted all possible avenues for finding the three friends. Based on
Erdelys extremely limited efforts to contact the three friends, any such statement was a
blatant lie.
136.

Regardless of whether there were three more conversations over the

pseudonyms, as Woods recalled, or whether there was no further discussion, as Erdely

recalled, the friends were not contacted and the quotations attributed to them were not
verified. Erdely has since claimed that she decided not to contact Jackies friends because
she worried it would drive Jackie away from the journalistic process. If Erdely lost access
to Jackie, her sensational story would have to be refocused on another college, and one of
the normal rape stories she had previously discarded as not sensational enough.
59

137.

Rolling Stone published the Article in a form that was intended to give the

impression that Erdely had spoken to Duffin. The Article says that Duffin, citing his
loyalty to his own frat, declined to be interviewed, and also includes a one-word
quotation from him describing the likely outcome of the Articles publication: a
shitshow. The formal language of the Article (declined an interview), the use of a
quotation from Duffin, and the mention of Duffins reason for declining the interview
all imply that Erdely actually spoke to him. A Rolling Stone fact checker questioned
Erdely and her editors about the lack of clarity with regard to Duffin. Ultimately, her
efforts to draw attention to the Articles flaws were ignored. This was a critical decision
made within Rolling Stone, because when a journalist within a news organization, such as
the fact-checker, raises subjective doubts about the truth of a story, and the decision is
made to publish without resolving that subjective doubt, that decision may as a matter of
law constitute evidence of actual malice. These editorial choices were deliberately made
to hide the fact that Erdely never did speak to Duffin, and that Erdely had relied entirely
on Jackies falsified account of a conversation with Duffin about a potential interview.
Rolling Stone hid from its readers the fact that Erdely had never spoken to Duffin, which
discouraged scrutiny of the Article and its central narrative. A reasonable jury could find
that these journalistic and editorial choices constitute clear and convincing evidence of
actual malice.
138.

In what is the single most damning smoking gun direct evidence of

actual malice, Erdely has admitted that she was surprised that she was never forced by
her editors at Rolling Stone to contact Duffin, Stock, and Hendley, and that she was
pleasantly relieved when she was told the Article could proceed to publication without
contacting them. She told CJS investigators that she was surprised that no one asked
60

[her] to talk to them. She also said, I wish someone had pushed me harder. These
statements are a direct concession that Rolling Stone deliberately published its Article in
the face of unresolved subjective doubt. A reasonable jury could find that Erdelys
statement was clear and convincing evidence of actual malice.
139.

Rolling Stone misled the reader by using a pseudonym for Drew. The

use of a pseudonym hid the fact that Erdely did not know Drews real name, had not
spoken to him, and did not confirm that he existed. Defendants deliberately removed a
disclosure statement included in one draft of the Article in which Erdely confessed that
Jackie refuses to divulge Drews full name to RS. Rolling Stone published the Article
without such a disclosure to hide Rolling Stones illicit quid pro quo with Jackie,
whereby it would publish Jackies incredible story without verification of any of the
critical facts or engagement with any of the alleged perpetrators, instead simply
manufacturing an identity for the ringleader, and deliberately hiding from readers any
disclosure of these facts, though it had previously included that disclosure in an earlier
draft. A reasonable jury could find these acts of fabrication, obfuscation, and cover-up to
be clear and convincing evidence of actual malice.
140.

Rolling Stones actions following the Articles publication, once the story

began to unravel as other news organizations revealed its fundamental flaws, are also
probative of actual malice. As the pressure built on Rolling Stone and Erdely to explain
the flaws in the story, Rolling Stone and Erdely effectively went underground, retreating
into a cone of silence. This silence was deliberate and intended to deflect scrutiny
regarding the Articles falsity and the journalistic failings that produced it. On November
26, 2014, Hanna Rosin asked Erdely three times if she had tried to interview the alleged
perpetrators of the gang-rape as part of her podcast program, the DoubleX Gabfest. Each
61

time, Erdely deflected Rosins question or avoided answering. Erdely also avoided
answering Rosins questions about whether Erdely knew who Drew was, whether she had
spoken to Duffin, Stock, and Hendley, and whether the friends had corroborated Jackies
story and observed her injuries immediately after the alleged gang-rape. If Erdely had
answered these questions truthfully, her own intentional avoidance of the truth and
unethical journalism would have been discovered. Consequently, she deliberately
avoided answering the questions in hopes that scrutiny over the Articles sourcing and
reporting would fade. Erdely also defended her journalistic process directly by claiming
that she found [Jackies] story to be very, I found her very credible. I put her story
through the wringer, to the extent that I could. This was a deliberate and knowing
falsehood. Erdely put Jackies story through no wringer whatsoever. At the time Erdely
defended Jackies credibility, she knew that she had not asked the necessary questions to
verify Jackies story as reported in the Article. A reasonable jury could find that these
deceptions constitute clear and convincing evidence of actual malice.
141.

Later that night on November 26, 2014, Erdely had another telephone

conversation with Jackie. As she told CJS investigators, in this conversation Jackie was
not even able to spell the last name of Drew. Erdely now knew that the ruse was up.
Erdely now knew that the rest of the journalistic world would likely soon discover the
falsity of the Article and the flawed journalism that produced it. This caused Erdely great
alarm and distress, and generated a frantic post-hoc effort to corroborate a story Rolling
Stone knew it had failed to corroborate prior to publication.
142.

By December 1, 2014, other news outlets were beginning to discover the

gaps in the Articles reporting. As part of a Washington Post article published on

December 1, Erdely was interviewed by Paul Farhi. During that interview, Erdely again
62

refused to answer when Farhi asked her directly whether she knew the names of the
alleged perpetrators, including the supposed ringleader Drew. Instead of answering,
Erdely cited a secret pact with Jackie, saying I cant answer that. That was a topic that
made Jackie extremely uncomfortable.
143.

When Erdely refused to answer Farhis question, she knew that Jackie was

not a credible source and that her story was fatally compromised. The CJS Report found
no evidence at all to support Erdelys claim that Jackie required her to remain silent about
the identity of the attackers. By refusing to answer Farhis questions and referring to a
fabricated secret pact with Jackie, Erdely perpetuated the belief that the Articles
defamatory claims were true. Erdelys efforts to conceal her mistakes and defend the
Article in these post-publication interviews with Farhi constitutes proof that a reasonable
jury could find clear and convincing evidence of actual malice.
144.

Erdely initially claimed to some media outlets that she chose not to speak

to the alleged gang-rapists in Phi Kappa Psi because she was concerned about Jackies
safety and the potential that the fraternity members would seek retribution, according to
an article written by Lloyd Grove at the Daily Beast on December 5, 2014. However, as
Grove rightly observed, the alleged gang-rapists would surely find out that Jackie had
told her story once the Article was published. Erdelys explanation is self-serving,
nonsensical, and demonstrative of the reporters willingness to go to any lengths to cover
her egregious misconduct in the reporting process. Erdely deliberately used her alleged
rape victim as a human shield to deflect well-founded criticisms of her work and
perpetuate the fabricated story of gang-rape in the Article. A reasonable jury could find
these deliberate falsehoods in defense of her story to be clear and convincing evidence
probative of actual malice.
63

145.

Rolling Stone originally published the Article with actual malice in the

form of reckless disregard for truth or falsity. Once other journalistic outlets were able to
definitively identify the extraordinary flaws in the story, Rolling Stone took actions that
escalated to actual malice with actual knowledge of falsity. Rolling Stone knowingly
stood by and expressed ongoing confidence in the Article it knew to be false until
December 5, 2014, when it was finally retracted. As the CSJ Report establishes, Erdely
and Rolling Stone knew the Article was fatally flawed by November 26, 2014, if not
before.
146.

After Rolling Stone developed doubts about the accuracy of its reporting,

the magazine and its employees continued to defend and support the defamatory claims
of the original Article. On November 30, 2014, Erdely tweeted a link to a profile article
about her published on November 28 by The Washington Post, titled Sabrina Rubin
Erdely, woman behind Rolling Stones explosive U-Va. alleged rape story. The
Washington Post article quoted Erdely as saying, I find [Jackie] completely credible.
On information and belief, Erdely knew at the time she gave the interview for this article
that she did not find Jackie completely credible. Certainly by the time Erdely tweeted the
link to the profile article on November 30, 2014, she knew that her statements in the
interview were false, and that they would bolster the Article, which she knew was being
sharply criticized by The Washington Post and other major media outlets. Erdely
knowingly promoted the Article and its defamatory statements despite her subjective
belief that the Articles foundation was unreliable. Erdely recklessly promoted and
defended the Articles central narrative despite her subjective judgment that the Article
was false, which a reasonable jury could find to be clear and convincing evidence of
actual malice.
64

147.

On December 2, 3, and 4, Rolling Stone circulated a press statement in

response to media inquiries about the Article. The statement read:

The story we published was one womans account of a sexual assault at a
UVA fraternity in October 2012 and the subsequent ordeal she
experienced at the hands of University administrators in her attempts to
work her way through the trauma of that evening. The indifference with
which her complaint was met was, we discovered, sadly consistent with
the experience of many other UVA women who have tried to report such
assaults. Through our extensive reporting and fact-checking, we found
Jackie to be entirely credible and courageous and we are proud to have
given her disturbing story the attention it deserves.
148.

Rolling Stone made these statements despite knowing that they were false.

Rolling Stone knew that Jackie had exhibited behaviors throughout the entire reporting
process that were suspicious and damaging to her credibility.
149.

The press release was a brazen cover-up. The press release cynically

doubled down on and republished the Articles original defamation, intentionally

misleading readers. At the time the press release was issued, Rolling Stone had already
reached the judgment that it had indeed published a false story. In an arrogant act of
hubris and doublespeak, the press release expressed Rolling Stones pride in bringing
public attention to a story that it knew was false. A reasonable jury could find this press
release to be clear and convincing evidence of actual malice.
150.

Rolling Stone lied about its reporting in order to hide or delay the exposure

of the mistakes that led to the publication of the defamatory Article.

151.

Erdely and/or Sean Woods lied to CJS investigators about conversations

concerning Jackies three friends and whether Erdely made adequate efforts to contact
them and verify Jackies story. Erdely told CJS investigators that she did not remember
having a distinct conversation with Sean Woods about contacting the three friends.
65

Woods, on the other hand, does recall having several conversations with Erdely about the
issue of contacting the three friends. According to Woods, when Erdely told him that she
had exhausted all avenues for finding the three friends and could not do so, he agreed to
assign them pseudonyms and publish the story without verifying their quotations or their
meeting with Jackie after her alleged gang-rape.
152.

One or both of Erdely and Woods are lying about the conversations they

had prior to the publication of the Article. A memory lapse cannot account for such a
significant disparity between their two accounts of a key editorial decision in the Article,
which both employees worked on for months. The simple fact is that any journalist or
editor in any news organizationfor that matter a journalism student in his or her first
journalism classknows that a story alleging institutionally mandated, violent and
ritualized gang-rape requires confronting all alleged perpetrators and verifying key
stories. It is impossible that this was not at the very front of the consciousness of both
Erdely and Woods, as evidenced by Erdelys smoking gun confession in the CJS Report
that she was surprised and relieved when she was not pressed to properly source and
corroborate the story. Regardless of who is telling the truth, the CJS Report makes it clear
that Rolling Stone as an entity intentionally acted with reckless disregard for truth or
falsity. Erdely and Wood may now run, pointing fingers at each other over who should
take the fall and be hung out to dry, but Rolling Stone is responsible for both, and Rolling
Stone cannot run or hide.
153.

On November 25, 2014, Sabrina Erdely was interviewed by Michael

Smerconish on his radio show on SiriusXM. The transcript of the radio program is
attached as Exhibit D. Over the course of this radio program, which lasts approximately
fifteen minutes, Erdely told a number of falsehoods intended to boost the credibility of
66

the Article and Jackies narrative. Erdely knowingly told these lies to perpetuate the
publics mistaken belief that the Article was reliable and that Phi Kappa Psi participated
in ritualized gang-rape. A reasonable jury could find that the deliberate and defamatory
falsehoods told in the Smerconish interview are clear and convincing evidence of actual
malice.
154.

During the interview, Michael Smerconish directly asked Erdely what

happened to the tangible, physical evidence of the alleged gang-rape. When Erdely
admitted that, It still is just [Jackies] word against other peoples, Smerconish
interrupted her to ask: No forensic evidence? No, no bloody dress? You make reference
to her, her bleeding. Erdely responded by lying about what she knew about the dress:
Uh, its not clear to me whether she, whether shes held onto those things.
155.

This statement is a lie, knowingly told by Erdely to hide the fact that

Smerconish had just detected one of the clear signals that Jackie was unreliable. In fact,
Erdely had asked Jackie for the bloodied red dress as proof of the alleged gang-rape.
Erdely told the CJS investigators that Jackie deflected her requests for the dress for a
time, then abruptly told Erdely that her mother had thrown it away. Erdely knowingly
lied on Smerconishs radio show to hide the fact that the physical evidence one would
expect to find from Jackies ordeal was missing. Erdely knowingly avoided Smerconishs
question by claiming ignorance of a fact she later admitted she knew at the time of the
radio interview. Erdelys statements to Smerconish on this issue are damning on multiple
levels. First, when Erdely herself had asked Jackie about the dress and been met by
dissembling and falsehood, Erdely must have experienced subjective doubt about
Jackies credibility. Second, haunted by the fact that Smerconish was now asking of
Erdely the very questions Erdely had previously asked Jackie, Erdely covered up,
67

creating the impression that the bloodied dress was a non-issue, when in fact Erdely knew
it was a major issue.
156.

In response to Smerconish admitting that he was skeptical of Jackies

narrative, Erdely lied again. Specifically, she stated:

Everything about Jackie is entirely credible. I put her story through the
wringer. I talked to all of her friendsall of the people she confided in
along the way.
157.

This was the ultimate lie. In fact, Erdely knew that Jackie had exhibited

numerous signs that she was not a credible source, including refusing to communicate
with Erdely, failing to provide corroborating interviews and physical evidence,
threatening to withdraw her cooperation when Erdely made efforts to verify the alleged
gang-rape, refusing to provide key details about her alleged attackers, and asking to factcheck her own story. The sheer brutality of Jackies narrative led Erdely to admit that she
felt a bit incredulous after hearing it for the first time. Erdely knowingly lied by
glossing over her sources deficiencies and stating that everything about Jackie was
entirely credible.
158.

Even more cynically and corruptly, Erdely knowingly lied by stating that

she had put Jackies story through the wringer. She and Rolling Stone had in fact put
Jackies story through the anti-wringer by intentionally choosing to verify nothing. At the
time Erdely made that statement on November 25, she knew that Rolling Stone
deliberately failed to contact Jackies three friends, deliberately failed to obtain
investigative records from UVA, deliberately failed to locate or confirm the existence of
Drew, and deliberately failed to provide a meaningful opportunity for comment to Phi
Kappa Psi by intentionally withholding information from Phi Kappa Psi and
68

manipulating its interactions with Phi Kappa Psi. Erdely knew her statement about
putting Jackies story through the wringer was false in letter and spirit. A reasonable
jury could find that this knowing falsehood is clear and convincing evidence that Rolling
Stone knew its original Article was published with reckless disregard for truth or falsity,
and for that reason sought to cover its tracks, and could also find that in doubling down
on its expressed conviction that the Article was sound well after it knew it was utterly
unsound, Rolling Stone republished the defamations alleged herein with knowledge of
falsity, thereby constituting clear and convincing evidence of actual malice.
159.

Erdely lied by claiming that she had spoken to all of [Jackies] friends

all of the people she confided in along the way. At the time she made this statement,
Erdely knew that there were key people in Jackies life to whom she had never spoken.
Erdely knew that she had never confirmed Jackies story with her mother, or even spoken
to this woman that Erdely knew Jackie had confided in. Erdely knew she had never
spoken about the case to Dean Eramo, who had probably the most information about
Jackies alleged gang-rape. Erdely knew that she had never spoken to Duffin, Stock, and
Hendley, who were not only Jackies friends and confidantes but the people most capable
of verifying Jackies claims. Implicit in Erdelys statement is the implication that the
friends that she did speak to confirmed Jackies story. In fact, that implication is also
false. On information and belief, several of Jackies friends and fellow sexual assault
advocates were unable or unwilling to confirm key aspects of Jackies story as printed in
the Article. A reasonable jury could find that Rolling Stones false bravado about vetting
Jackies story with all her friends and finding the story credible constitutes clear and
convincing evidence of actual malice.

69

160.

When Erdely addressed Smerconishs skepticism about Jackies story, she

also said that Jackies story is very consistent. In fact, Jackies story had been
inconsistent, and Erdely knew that at the time of the radio show. Erdely knew that the
story Jackie had told Emily Renda was different in key respects from the story that Jackie
told her over the phone on July 14, 2014. Erdely also knew that the story Jackie
recounted to her on July 14, 2014, was different from the story Renda had recounted in
her Senate testimony the previous summer. Erdely knew that Renda described Jackies
memory as imperfect regarding the alleged gang-rape, which suggested that Jackies
story had changed over time. On information and belief, Erdely also knew that Jackie had
told several friends and fellow student advocates a different version of her story than
Rolling Stone printed in the Article. Erdely knew that her claim about Jackies story
being very consistent was false at the time she made it, which amounts to actual
malice.
161.

Deputy Editor Sean Woods knowingly lied about Rolling Stones efforts to

reach the alleged assailants and the magazines knowledge of their identities. In an
interview with Paul Farhi of The Washington Post, Woods said that Rolling Stone had
verified the existence of the alleged perpetrators:
We did not talk to them. We could not reach them. We verified their
existence. Im satisfied that these guys exist and are real. We knew who
they were.
162.

Woods knowingly lied about whether Rolling Stone attempted to reach Phi

Kappa Psi members who were not real and who did not exist. Woods stated that Rolling
Stone verified the existence of the alleged assailants, when in fact, Rolling Stone never
knew the names of Jackies alleged assailants, and made only a cursory effort to confirm
70

the existence of Drew. Given that it is now clearly established that none of these
assailants existed, and the assault itself did not happen, the statement by Woods was
utterly false and reprehensible. Woods also stated that Rolling Stone knew the identities
of the alleged assailants, although he knew that statement was false. The CJS Report
found no indication that Rolling Stone ever possessed first or last names for any of
Jackies assailants besides Drew. Woods made a knowingly false statement to hide
Rolling Stones reckless reporting. A reasonable jury could find that these knowing and
callous falsehoods constitute clear and convincing evidence of actual malice.
163.

Rolling Stone intentionally attempted to bolster the credibility of Jackies

false and defamatory claims by deliberately hiding the fact that Erdely had never actually
identified or contacted the accused rapists. According to the CJS Report, the use of
pseudonyms glossed over gaps in the magazines reporting. Rolling Stone covered one
such gap by suggesting that Rolling Stone knew the identity of Drew at the time of
publication. As Erdely admitted to CJS investigators, however, she never learned the
real name of Drew until the night of December 4, 2014, well after the Articles
publication.
164.

Upon information and belief, Jackie resisted providing the real name of

Drew to Erdely, although she suggested other resources that Erdely could use to locate
the man the magazine would later call Drew. One of Jackies suggestions was that
Erdely contact the fraternity and ask for a list of its members as of September 2012. A
Phi Kappa Psi membership list was freely available on the internet at the time the Article
was published. However, Erdely neither asked the fraternity for the list nor endeavored to
find the list online. Instead, she and her editors resolved to use a pseudonym for Drew
and thereby avoided contacting the accused directly.
71

165.

Rolling Stone repeatedly represented in the Article and in interviews with

other publications that it knew the actual names of the alleged gang-rapists, including
Drew. In an interview with Slates Hanna Rosin, Erdely said that she reached out to
[the accused] in multiple ways, but that the men were hard to get in touch with because
[the fraternitys] contact page was pretty outdated. By blaming an outdated contact page
for her failure to contact the accused, Erdely suggested that she knew the names of the
men who allegedly gang-raped Jackie. In truth, Erdely never knew the names of these
non-existent perpetrators. In print interviews with Slate and The Washington Post during
the week of November 24-28, Erdely declined to answer repeated questions about [the
accuseds] response to an allegation by a female student named Jackie that they had
sexually assaulted her, according to a December 1, 2014 report by Paul Farhi. In that
same interview with Paul Farhi, Sean Woods said that we verified [the accused gangrapists] existence, and that Rolling Stone knew who they were.
166.

In fact, neither Erdely nor anyone else at Rolling Stone ever learned the

full names of any of Jackies alleged attackers prior to publication of the Article. Notably,
Erdely and Woods interviews with Slate and The Washington Post took place during the
week of November 24-28, well after criticisms of the story had arisen from reporters at
The Washington Post and elsewhere. Even as Rolling Stones story was unraveling,
Erdely continued to defend it by refusing to answer or deflecting questions intended to
uncover the fact that she had never contacted the accused fraternity brothers. Woods
statement that Rolling Stone knew who the alleged assailants were is patently false and
designed to hide the fact that Rolling Stone had never confirmed the existence of the
accused gang-rapists, much less contacted them directly. When Erdely wrote a disclosure
statement saying that Jackie never revealed the full name of her attacker to Rolling Stone,
72

editor Sean Woods cut it from the final version of the Article. The removal of this
disclosure statement disguised the Articles weaknesses, and allowed Rolling Stone to
avoid or deflect questions about whether they knew the identities of Jackies alleged
assailants.

DAMAGES

A Rape on Campus Becomes One of Rolling Stones Most Successful Stories Ever

167.

The reputation that Phi Kappa Psi and its alumni spent decades building

was destroyed overnight by the Defendants. The formerly respected fraternity is now
known colloquially in the University of Virginia community as the rape frat. Pictures
of the Phi Kappa Psi house have been licensed by independent photographers to over 100
media outlets that produced thousands of news stories covering the event, both before and
after the allegations of gang-rape were disproven. As one Phi Kappa Psi brother
observed, the image of our fraternity house has become the symbol for rape on college
campuses. Most often, pictures of the house also prominently feature angry protestors
holding signs about rape or rape culture. Pictures of the house and the protestors are
attached as Exhibit H. The Phi Kappa Psi house pictures have been shared thousands of
times through unlicensed use on social media and elsewhere.
168.

The wide media footprint of the initial Article has magnified the damage

caused by its defamatory lies. In addition to the almost 3 million unique visitors the
original story drew to the RollingStone.com website, the story produced approximately
718 print news stories between its publication and December 31, 2014. The original story
73

was also shared by Facebook users an additional 170,000 times per Rolling Stones
website. For a time, A Rape on Campus was undoubtedly the biggest news story in
America.
169.

The scope of the video journalism coverage of A Rape on Campus was

equally staggering. In the last two weeks of November alone, news networks published
2100 video clips about the story, totaling almost 55 hours of coverage. The coverage
increased in December as more networks sought to take advantage of the publics interest
in the story. Through the month of December, news networks aired 4031 new clips that
represented 100 additional hours of coverage. By the end of December, the world had
consumed over six days of continuous video footage regarding a gang-rape that never
happened at the Phi Kappa Psi house in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Phi Kappa Psi is the Victim of Persistent Physical and Verbal Attacks by the
Misinformed and Outraged Public

170.

Immediately following the Articles publication, the Phi Kappa Psi house

became a symbol against which irate members of the public, driven to outrage by Rolling
Stone, expressed their outrage. On the same night the Article was published, a group of
students vandalized the Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity House where fourteen brothers lived.
Slogans like, UVA Center for Rape Studies and Suspend Us! were spray-painted on
the retaining wall of the house. The fraternity members awoke when the vandals used
chunks of cinder block and glass bottles to smash the windows of a Phi Kappa Psi
brothers bedroom. Pictures of the damage to the house are included as Exhibit I. Three

74

of the brothers who parked next to the house had their cars vandalized. Other anti-rape
related vandalism was observed elsewhere on campus.
171.

Beginning the next day, news trucks crowded the area and reporters

badgered brothers with questions and took pictures. The house continued to serve as a
focal point for public disapproval of Phi Kappa Psi. On the afternoon of November 22, a
group of professional protestors arrived from Washington, D.C. At a protest initiated by
this group, one man used a bullhorn to demand that the protestors burn the frat houses
down. A smaller group advanced onto the porch of the house and refused to move until
the Charlottesville Police Department arrested four of their number and forcibly removed
them from the property. Some of the protestors used cameras and cell phones to capture
images of the inside of the house and the Phi Kappa Psi brothers who lived there. A
media member used a telephoto lens to snap pictures of composite photographs through
the windows and published that information online. On the night of November 23, 2014,
two men attempted to break into the house through a side door.
172.

Many of the Phi Kappa Psi brothers reasonably feared for their safety after

enduring the vandalism of November 19, 2014. Some of the brothers who lived in the
house moved into hotel rooms while the public vented its misplaced anger. Others chose
to stay in the house, but took extraordinary precautions for their personal safety. A media
circus awaited Phi Kappa Psi members who visited the house for any reason in the days
following the publication of the Article.
173.

Phi Kappa Psi was required to hire a security service to protect its property

and members after the initial incident of vandalism. Although effective, it was untenable
to maintain a live security force on the property indefinitely. The risk of another
vandalism incident required Phi Kappa Psi to install a video surveillance system as a
75

continuing security measure. New locks were also required because unauthorized
members of the public attempted to enter the house at night. As Thanksgiving break
approached, parents were extremely concerned for the safety of their sons. Phi Kappa
Psis housing corporation was compelled to write a letter to parents of the student
members explaining some of the safety measures that they had implemented to protect
the members from the Articles backlash.
174.

The fallout from the Article was felt almost as strongly by brothers who

did not live in the house. In UVA classrooms, Phi Kappa Psi members endured
extemporaneous lectures from their academic professors about the absolutely
disgusting behavior of the Phi Kappa Psi members. In one class, a teacher interrupted a
discussion about the Article to request that any Phi Kappa Psi members in the class
identify themselves. In a graduate school in Washington, D.C., a Phi Kappa Psi alumnus
listened in disbelief as his professor addressed the class shortly after the release of the
Article: If you were to remove our brain, we would still be able to carry out normal daily
function. If you dont believe me, just ask those fraternity brothers at UVA. You get them
together, you remove their cortex, and they function perfectlythey can breathe, they
can eat, they can do all kinds of things. Another brother was playing in a collegiate
sports tournament when the news broke, and he was taunted and called a rapist
throughout the ensuing game.
175.

The Articles impacts extended far beyond the United States. One Phi

Kappa Psi brother chose to conceal his fraternity membership from classmates who read
and believed the story in Scotland, where he was studying abroad. News networks in
other countries ran stories based on the belief that the accusations of gang-rape were true.
Rolling Stones Article destroyed Phi Kappa Psis reputation on a worldwide scale.
76

The Article Devastates Phi Kappa Psis 2014-2015 Spring Rush Process
176.

The cloud the Article cast over Phi Kappa Psi persisted through the

Thanksgiving and winter breaks and well into the spring semester. Immediately following
the storys release in November, Phi Kappa Psi national representatives suspended the
fraternitys charter, and the UVA Chapter followed by voluntarily suspending its
Fraternal Operating Agreement with the University. Several days later, University
President Teresa Sullivan suspended all Greek activities on campus until January 9, 2015.
177.

Long after the fraternitys internal investigation had revealed that Jackies

story as reported to Rolling Stone was a lie, President Sullivans suspension of Greek
activities prevented the fraternity from acting in an official capacity to assuage the
concerns of the first-year students who had planned to join the fraternity through the
spring pledge process. The fraternity was unable to repair its relationships with potential
new members in the same way it had formed them: face-to-face in social functions at the
Phi Kappa Psi house. Phi Kappa Psis efforts to repair those relationships were limited to
sterile press releases that most students never read. Many of those relationships never
recovered.
178.

The journalism that challenged A Rape on Campus throughout

December and January was diffused, and much of it appeared during the winter break
when students were disconnected from campus life and spending time with their families.
Although Richard Bradley openly expressed his skepticism about the truthfulness of the
story as early as November 24, 2014, his personal blog enjoys a far smaller readership
than Rolling Stone magazine. The Washington Post described the story as unraveling in
the first week of December, which is also when academic courses end at UVA. The UVA
2014 Academic Calendar lists the exam period for undergraduates as extending from
77

December 8 to December 16. With exams looming in the early part of December, it is
unsurprising that many of the students who read A Rape on Campus failed to follow
the news stories that exposed it as the shoddiest piece of journalism in recent memory,
according to Eric Wemple at The Washington Post.
179.

Over three months passed before the Charlottesville Police Department

publicly announced on March 23, 2015 that they had found no evidence substantiating
the gang-rape alleged in the story. At that time, Chief of Police Timothy Longo explained
that the Department would merely suspend, rather than close the case, because their
investigation was unable to conclude that something terrible did not happen to Jackie.
Phi Kappa Psis reputation will carry a black mark as long as the Charlottesville Police
Departments investigation is ongoing; the inherent difficulty of proving a negative
means that the investigation could linger for years.
180.

The devastating impact of the Article on the fraternitys reputation is

reflected on Greekrank.com, an online discussion forum and ranking system for

fraternities and sororities at the nations top colleges. Prior to November 19, 2014, Phi
Kappa Psi enjoyed a reputation on Greekrank.com as a top-tier fraternity at UVA. Its
ranking as of October 8, 2014, was 68.61%, which placed it solidly within the top tier of
fraternities ranging from 67% to 71%. This ranking was based on 49 ratings and
comments accumulated over approximately three years.
181.

Almost immediately after the release of the Article, angry readers attacked

Phi Kappa Psis reputation on Greekrank.com. Of the 46 rankings posted between

November 19 and December 3, 2014, 29 of them gave the lowest rating permitted by the
website. The average rating during this two-week period was 42.73%, which would have
qualified Phi Kappa Psi as by far the worst-ranked fraternity on UVAs campus.
78

182.

This 42.73% rating is inflated by obviously sarcastic high ratings with

accompanying comments like, their classiness is that of serial killers, brothel-like

atmosphere, and the model fraternity. No means yes. The lowest ratings offer
commentary like, Shame on these nasty excuses for human beings, Shame on you
pigs, and the most disgusting, worthless human beings on the planet. Some of these
comments explicitly reference the Article as the source of their information about Phi
Kappa Psi. In the two weeks that followed the Article, Phi Kappa Psis Greekrank.com
rating fell by 12.5 percentage points into the lower third of the fraternity rankings.
Although based on erroneous information, these ratings and vitriolic comments will
continue to influence future UVA first-years who must decide which fraternities to rush.
183.

During the 2014-2015 academic year, prospective Greek students at UVA

relied on Rolling Stones story and its resulting coverage. For 2014-2015, the InterFraternity Council compressed the rush process into two weeks stretching from the first
open house event on January 15, 2015 to January 31, 2015, when bids were distributed.
Notably, the rush process occurred well before the CPD held a press conference on
March 23, 2015 to announce that they had found no evidence at all to implicate Phi
Kappa Psi in the alleged gang-rape. The rush process also concluded months before the
release of the CJS Report, Rolling Stones retraction, and Rolling Stones apology on
April 5, 2015. Even the news outlets defending Phi Kappa Psi expected the police
investigation and the CJS Report to reveal what actually happened. Students deciding
which fraternity to rush in January 2015 did not have the option of waiting to see the
exculpatory evidence contained in those reports.
184.

The timing of the initial Article and its retraction, the vile nature of the

Articles accusations, the suspension of the fraternitys charter, the lingering CPD
79

investigationthese factors combined to devastate Phi Kappa Psis 2014-2015 rush

process. As part of Phi Kappa Psis risk management policy, it tracks the number of rush
participants hosted each year. Over the past few years, Phi Kappa Psi has hosted
approximately eight hundred students at its initial open house events in the spring
semester. In 2015, the Article cut that number by more than half, to about three hundred
rush participants. As one fraternity member noted, this group included a number of
rushees with no intention of pledging, but who rather were attending rush out of a
curiosity to walk into the rape house.
185.

The rush process was impeded by the media presence immediately outside

the house, some of which gained access during rush events and took pictures of the inside
of the house and its upper rooms. The brothers also contended with journalists and
members of the public who impersonated UVA students in order to enter the house and
question its members about the Article. In contrast, other fraternities on campus
experienced record numbers of rushees for the 2014-2015 academic year.

The Article Disrupts the Careers of Phi Kappa Psi Members and Graduates

186.

The Article interrupted the job search and recruitment process for summer

internships and permanent employment for fourth-year Phi Kappa Psi brothers. Most of
the brothers chose to remove their affiliation with Phi Kappa Psi from their resumes out
of fear that their interview would turn towards the topic of the alleged gang-rape.
Fraternity leadership positions and charitable efforts were deleted from resumes in an
effort to avoid raising questions about a brutal crime that was never committed. The

80

brothers involvement with Phi Kappa Psi and the broader Greek life community was
previously a topic they were proud to discuss in any context.
187.

Of those brothers who chose to leave their affiliation on their resume,

several reported that their interviews focused more on the Article than on the quality of
their job application. One interviewer asked so many questions about the Article that the
business case interviewthe portion of the interview meant to assess the candidates
abilitywas cut short. In another interview in the spring, the recruiter had read the
Article and asked the brother about the story. The Phi Kappa Psi brother was surprised to
learn that the recruiter had never read any of the stories that debunked the Article over the
past several months. Discussing an emotionally charged issue like gang-rape made the
brothers nervous, and it naturally hurt their confidence in job and internship interviews.
Many of the brothers have not yet begun the fourth-year job search process, and dread the
possibility that the Article will come up in future interviews.
188.

The graphic claims of the Article have arisen in professional contexts for

graduates of the fraternity, especially those who were members in September of 2012.
Coworkers questioned Phi Kappa Psi graduates about Jackies rape, Phi Kappa Psi
parties, and its initiation ritual of gang-rape. When one graduate shared with an employer
that he attended UVA, the man replied by asking, Oh, were you in the fraternity that
raped girls? The graduate replied that he was in that fraternity, then tried to defend his
brotherhood to a superior who had only read and believed the original Article.
189.

An employer asked another graduate whether he knew anything about

those rapist frat boys. Other graduates deal with repeated harassment and jokes at
work. At a social event after work hours, one graduate overheard a colleague jokingly
warn people not to let the graduate near their drink because he might drop GHB in it. A
81

different graduate has been nicknamed after the alleged leader of the gang-rapists. The
defamatory story has invaded the careers and professional relationships of Phi Kappa Psi
graduates of all ages.

The Article Creates Threatening and Violent Backlash on Social Media Platforms

190.

The worst reactions to the defamatory story came through social media

networks. On platforms like Facebook and Twitter, commenters denounced all Phi Kappa
Psi brothers as rapists, pigs, and less than human. One Phi Kappa Psi brother received a
direct message on Twitter saying that the messenger hoped he and his ilk would rot in
hell. The message continued, May the despair of all those women you raped be blood
on your hands that will cause you to fail at everything and kill yourselves. Go ahead do it,
kill yourselves, do the world a favor assholes.
191.

Another commenter messaged, I hope you die and get raped. This eye-

for-an-eye sense of justice was mirrored on Facebook, where a commenter wrote that he
wished the over privileged useless human beings the worst when they get to prison. I
hope seven of the worst inmates take their time with each one. A Twitter user wrote: I
cant wait to see you fuckers burn to the ground. His threat was seconded by an irate
father on Facebook, who wrote that Its[sic] just a matter of time before a father like me
will go in and shoot the balls off those bastards and burn down their fu**ing historic
house. A sampling of the vicious social media backlash against Phi Kappa Psi is
attached as Exhibit J.
192.

The Executive Office of Phi Kappa Psi also received threatening and

deranged communications. One woman left a voicemail promising that, Were going to
82

come back one day and burn your fucking organization to the ground, you fucking
asshole.
193.

A Facebook group called Shut Down Phi Psi at UVA was created on

November 20, 2014, and quickly gathered about five hundred likes. The profile
photograph is an image of the Phi Kappa Psi letters with a large red no symbol
overlaying it. A description of the community reads, Its time to shut down the rape
house.
194.

The stated purpose of this group was to permanently suspend the charter

of Phi Kappa Psi at UVA. The group was used to organize protests, rallies, petition
signings, and lobbying efforts to kick Phi Kappa Psi off the UVA campus. It also served
as a community center for men and women to vent about what one commenter called the
animals of the Virginia Alpha Chapter of Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity. This group
continues to lobby against Phi Kappa Psis presence on UVAs campus, among other
causes.
195.

Another Facebook group called Alliance for Social Change at UVA was

formed on November 20, 2014. This group became even more popular and boasts over
two thousand likes. Its members used the board as a tool to organize the protests that
disrupted the lives of the brothers residing in the house. Commenters frequently refer to
the brothers as criminals who should finish their degree in jail. In comments about
Rolling Stones eventual retraction, commenters expressed solidarity with Jackie through
the use of the hashtag #istandwithjackie. Another commenter reiterated that they believe
she was raped, even if there are inconsistencies. The retraction did little to clear Phi
Kappa Psis reputation among this group of vocal advocates for Jackie and sexual assault
victims. See Exhibit K.
83

196.

Shut Down Phi Kappa Psi at UVA and other groups like it entreated

visitors to sign petitions at Change.org, which presently hosts three petitions calling for
the removal of Phi Kappa Psi from the UVA campus. These petitions, entitled UVA
against Sexual Violence, Abolish the Greek System, and End the Culture of Rape at
UVA, have garnered almost eleven thousand signatures together. Each of the petitions
targets the Virginia Alpha Chapter of Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity. UVA Against Sexual
Violence features the Phi Kappa Psi logo covered by a large no symbol as its chief
image. The petition calls for a permanent suspension of the fraternity from the UVA
campus. Abolish the Greek System uses Rolling Stones illustration of a young woman
covered with bloody handprints, and aims to end all Greek culture on campus, which
would include Phi Kappa Psi. End the Culture of Rape at UVA expressly requests that the
Phi Kappa Psi house be permanently shuttered. Each of these groups also explicitly
references the Article as its motivation to take action against PKP. Screen captures of the
groups Change.org pages are attached as Exhibit L.
197.

On websites and apps that permitted anonymous posts, like Yik Yak and

Sneek, the invective reached more disturbing intensity. A user on Yik Yak suggested,
Lets storm Phi Psi and tar and feather those bastards. This post was endorsed by
fourteen others in the first fifteen minutes of posting. On another app, Sneek, a user
posted a picture of the Phi Kappa Psi house with this caption: Phi Kappa Psi where
girls go to get ganged[sic] raped free of charge. On an online discussion board, users
started to doxx, or post the private information of all Phi Kappa Psi brothers, even
those who had not yet joined the fraternity by the fall of 2012. One user posted the name,
hometown, high school, and Facebook profiles of all sixty current members of Phi Kappa

84

Psi. The personal contact information he or she posted was used to threaten and insult the
Phi Kappa Psi brothers.
198.

The release of the brothers private information led to the brothers and

their families receiving phone calls and voice messages from incensed readers of the
Article. The mother of the president of the fraternity received a number of calls from
restricted and blocked numbers immediately following the storys release. One such
caller told Ms. Scipione that her son was a disgusting, repulsive person, and that she
would guarantee that he would never work anywhere in the state of California. Another
brother answered a call from an unknown number, only to be accused of directly
participating in the alleged gang-rape.
199.

Mr. Scipione himself received many disturbing and hurtful emails such as:
a.
Being President of the UVa chapter of Rape Central must make
you and your parents very proud. Were you there? How many girls have
you raped? Please rest assured that as you enter the world, your tenure as
president will guarantee you will never be hired, or even considered for a
job. It is my fervent hope your maggot-infested frat is closed down, and
every last one of you is prosecuted.
b.
A documented legacy of gang rape that goes back to 1984, what a
proud institution. Fuck you and every complicit member of your frat.
Welcome to the brave new world of internet instant fame, Stephen.
c.
I have read the recent Rolling Stone article about the rape culture
in your fraternity. Rape used to be a crime, now it seems to be an
enjoyable evening for the boys.
d.
Shame on you. I went to school in the US in a southern school and
was safe there in spite of being across the globe from my family in an
alien country. Shame on you for raping your co-students and encouraging
this rape through misogynistic poetry.
e.
I read the Rolling Stone article. As an alumna of The University, I
am beyond outraged. May all you Dickless Wonders rot in hell.
f.
Thanks to your Universitys limp policy and the cowardly greek
system, your campus keeps stocking the rapists, the murderers, and the
criminals that terrorize this world.
85

g.
200.

your a piece of shit.. hope you get raped and torturedfuck you.

The most alarming of the reactions to the Article were the death threats

made against Phi Kappa Psi members and their families. A commenter on the Rolling
Stone online version of the Article wrote, Give me the names of the rapists. I will kill
them. Not joking, I will straight up kill them. And while Im at it, Ill kill their families
for failing to raise them. See Exhibit M.
201.

In a Facebook comment on the initial Article, a man wrote that he wanted

to put a bomb inside the Phi Kappa Psi house and shoot the brothers with his rifle as they
ran outside to escape the ensuing explosion. Any lunatic with access to the internet could
find the brothers private information posted online by outraged readers of the Article.
Many of the brothers feared for the lives of themselves and their families for weeks after
the Articles publication.
202.

As recently as June 2, 2015, a Phi Kappa Psi brother and his mother were

confronted on UVA Grounds by a misinformed Charlottesville resident. As the two

packed the brothers car for his return home for the summer, an unfamiliar man
approached them and screamed, Which one of you bitch ass ni**as raped that girl, and
attempted to start a fight with the brother. The threat of violence and confrontation will
persist for as long as the brothers are associated in any capacity with Phi Kappa Psi.
203.

While no organization, for-profit or non-profit, may suffer internal

emotional anguish or distress as the result of defamation, both for-profit and non-profit
organizations may suffer external general harm to their reputations, harm that may be
awarded in the absence of any evidence of proven pecuniary loss (special damages).

86

204.

In the case of non-profit organizations that exist largely to advance

associational and altruistic interests, this general damage to reputation extends broadly
to the organizations brand and public image, which need not be connected to economic
concerns at all. The law is clear that in this sense the general reputational damage that
may be recompensed in a defamation action brought by an associational organization
such as Phi Kappa Psi is the same as the general reputational damage that may be
recovered by a natural individual. Phi Kappa Psi, in short, is entitled to the same degree
of recovery for its general reputational damage as a natural individual would be, if that
individual were accused of complicity in encouraging and condoning ritualized gangrape.
205.

Phi Kappa Psi can recover for the anguish and internal distress visited

upon individual fraternity brothers and alumni as a result of the Rolling Stone Article to
the extent that the attacks endured by individual brothers demonstrate the damage to the
brand and good will of the fraternitya non-profit entity that is dependent upon the
maintenance of its good name for its ongoing prosperity and efficacy. Phi Kappa Psi is
not a giant publically traded corporation like Apple or Exxon. It is a small associational
group in which the reputation of individual members is inextricably intertwined with the
reputation of the organization. The heinous and disgusting crime that Phi Kappa Psi was
accused of perpetrating, the stuff of life prison sentences and war crimes in many
contexts, is a defamation that may well be more extreme and outrageous than any
defamation ever visited upon any organization in the history of the Commonwealth of
Virginia.
206.

The defamatory statements alleged herein pose a substantial danger of

injury to Phi Kappa Psis reputation. The statements suggest that Phi Kappa Psi, as an
87

entity, was engaged in a conspiracy to commit the crime of rape and other crimes related
thereto. These statements would tend to lower the reputation of Phi Kappa Psi in the
community or to deter third persons from associating or dealing with Phi Kappa Psi.
207.

By publishing these statements, Rolling Stone and Erdely did cause harm

to Phi Kappa Psis reputation.

208.

Defendants publication of the statements attached as Exhibits A and B of

this Complaint was negligent and/or made with actual malice, as was the republication,
expansion and defense of the same by Defendants, attached as Exhibits C and D. As a
result of Defendants publication of these statements, as well as their attempts to bolster
and lend credence to Jackies claims by the use of pseudonyms, refusing to answer
questions, deflecting concerns about their reporting, and lying about facts arising from
their reporting, Defendants defamed Phi Kappa Psi directly and by implication, and did
so with actual malice and negligence. Defendants either knew all these statements were
false or published them with a reckless disregard for whether they were true or false, such
that they acted so recklessly as to amount to a willful disregard for the truth, and
demonstrated a high degree of awareness that the statements were probably false.
209.

Defendants actions were malicious, willful, and wanton, and evidence a

conscious disregard for Phi Kappa Psis rights. Accordingly, an award of punitive
damages is appropriate under the facts alleged in this Complaint.
210.

Defendants statements concerning Phi Kappa Psi are defamatory per se

because they accuse Phi Kappa Psi of the commission of criminal offenses involving
moral turpitude, for which Phi Kappa Psi, if the charge is true, may be indicted and
punished. Conspiracy to commit rape and rape are crimes of moral turpitude in Virginia.
Therefore, Phi Kappa Psi is entitled to presumed damages.
88

211.

Defendants statements concerning Phi Kappa Psi are defamatory per se

because they attribute to Phi Kappa Psi activities that would hurt Phi Kappa Psi in its
profession or trade. The trade of Phi Kappa Psi, as an unincorporated association and
associational service organization, is to gather like-minded young men into fraternal
brotherhood to help them improve themselves academically, physically, and socially. The
accusation of raping or causing the rape of Jackie and two other young women, as well as
requiring and conducting gang-rape initiation rituals, have hurt Phi Kappa Psi in its trade
of gathering and improving young men. Therefore, Phi Kappa Psi is entitled to presumed
damages.
212.

The heinous nature of Defendants published statements about Phi Kappa

Psi made substantial danger to Phi Kappa Psis reputation apparent to the Defendants.
Defendants conduct in publishing the Article was highly unreasonable and constituted an
extreme departure from the standards of investigation and reporting ordinarily adhered to
by responsible publishers. Therefore, Phi Kappa Psi is entitled to compensatory and
punitive damages for Defendants defamatory falsehoods even if Phi Kappa Psi were
deemed to be a public figure.
213.

As a direct and proximate result of Rolling Stones false and defamatory

statements, Phi Kappa Psi has suffered damages, including injury to its reputation.

89

COUNT ONE: DEFAMATION FOR STATEMENTS IN THE NOVEMBER 19,

2014 ONLINE EDITION OF THE ROLLING STONE ARTICLE A RAPE ON
CAMPUS
(Against Defendants Wenner Media LLC, Rolling Stone LLC, Straight Arrow
Publishers LLC, and Sabrina Rubin Erdely)

214.

Plaintiff repeats and re-alleges each of the foregoing paragraphs as if set

forth fully herein.

215.

The defamatory statements which comprise Count I include, but are not

limited to, the statements identified in Paragraphs 35 through 56 of this Complaint.

216.

Rolling Stone published A Rape on Campus on November 19, 2014.

The Article was published to a worldwide audience on Rolling Stones website. A true
and correct copy of the online edition of the Article is attached hereto as Exhibit A.

COUNT TWO: DEFAMATION FOR STATEMENTS IN THE DECEMBER 4,

2014 PRINT EDITION OF THE ROLLING STONE ARTICLE A RAPE ON
CAMPUS
(Against Defendants Wenner Media LLC, Rolling Stone LLC, Straight Arrow
Publishers LLC, and Sabrina Rubin Erdely)

217.

Plaintiff repeats and re-alleges each of the foregoing paragraphs as if set

forth fully herein.

218.

The defamatory statements which comprise Count II include, but are not

limited to, the statements identified in Paragraphs 35 through 56 of this Complaint.

90

219.

Rolling Stone published A Rape on Campus in the December 4, 2014

hardcopy edition of Rolling Stone magazine, which Rolling Stone distributes to a national
and international audience. A true and correct copy of the print edition of the Article is
attached hereto as Exhibit B.

COUNT THREE: DEFAMATION FOR STATEMENTS MADE BY ROLLING

STONE IN ITS PRESS RELEASE OF DECEMBER 2, 2014 TO THE NEW YORK
TIMES AND OTHER MAJOR MEDIA OUTLETS
(Against Defendants Wenner Media LLC, Rolling Stone LLC, Straight Arrow
Publishers LLC, and Sabrina Rubin Erdely)

220.

Plaintiff repeats and re-alleges each of the foregoing paragraphs as if set

forth fully herein.

221.

The defamatory statements which comprise Count III include, but are not

limited to, the statements identified in Paragraph 57 of this Complaint.

222.

As part of Rolling Stones effort to prop up and defend the Article as it

was being debunked in late November and early December 2014, Rolling Stone released
a press release and professed its confidence in a story that it subjectively doubted. Rolling
Stones re-averment and republication of the Articles defamatory lies magnified the
damage caused to Phi Kappa Psi. A true and correct copy of the press release is attached
hereto as Exhibit C.

91

COUNT FOUR: DEFAMATION FOR STATEMENTS MADE BY SABRINA

ERDELY ON SIRIUSXM WITH RADIO SHOW HOST MICHAEL
SMERCONISH ON NOVEMBER 25, 2014
(Against Defendants Wenner Media LLC, Rolling Stone LLC, Straight Arrow
Publishers LLC, and Sabrina Rubin Erdely)

223.

Plaintiff repeats and re-alleges each of the foregoing paragraphs as if set

forth fully herein.

224.

The defamatory statements which comprise Count IV include, but are not

limited to, the statements identified in Paragraph 58 of this Complaint.

225.

As part of Rolling Stones effort to prop up and defend the Article as it

was being debunked in late November 2014, Erdely agreed to appear on the Michael
Smerconish talk radio show on SiriusXM on November 25, 2014. During that show,
Erdely lied to Smerconish in a doomed effort to support her false and defamatory
statements regarding Phi Kappa Psi. A true and correct transcription of the radio
interview is attached hereto as Exhibit D.

PRAYER FOR RELIEF

WHEREFORE, Plaintiff, the Virginia Alpha Chapter of Phi Kappa Psi
Fraternity, respectfully moves this Court for judgment in its favor against the
Defendants Rolling Stone LLC, Wenner Media LLC, Straight Arrow Publishers LLC,
and Sabrina Rubin Erdely, jointly and severally, in the following sums:
(1) Twenty-five million dollars ($25,000,000.00) for presumed damages,
compensatory damages, and actual damages for harm and injury to its reputation,
92

for loss or injury to its business, for special damages for economic and pecuniary
losses, and for all damages alleged in this Complaint; and
(2) Three hundred fifty thousand dollars ($350,000.00) for punitive damages against
each Defendant; and
(3) Prejudgment interest pursuant to Va. Code Ann. 8.01-382 on all sums awarded
to Plaintiff, commencing on November 19, 2014, until paid; and
(4) Plaintiffs attorneys fees and costs recoverable at law in an amount to be proved
at trial; and
(5) Such other and further relief as the Court deems just and appropriate.

TRIAL BY JURY IS DEMANDED.

93

EXHIBIT A
(Online version of the Article)

A Rape on Campus: A Brutal Assault and Struggle for Justice at UVA | Rolling Stone
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A Rape on Campus: A Brutal Assault and Struggle for Justice at UVA | Rolling Stone

Photo: Illustration by John Ritter

Jackie was just starting her freshman year at

the University of Virginia when she was
brutally assaulted by seven men at a frat
party. When she tried to hold them
accountable, a whole new kind of abuse
began

A DVERTISEMENT

By Sabrina Rubin Erdely | November 19, 2014

From Rugby Road to Vinegar Hill, we're gonna

get drunk tonight

The faculty's afraid of us, they know we're in the

right
So fill up your cups, your loving cups, as full as
full can be
As long as love and liquor last, we'll drink to the
U of V
"Rugby Road," traditional University of
Virginia fight song

ipping from a plastic cup, Jackie

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grimaced, then discreetly spilled her

spiked punch onto the sludgy
fraternity-house floor. The University

of Virginia freshman wasn't a drinker, but she

Selling the Bro Dream: Are Frat

Boys Peddling Vemma
Suckers?

didn't want to seem like a goody-goody at her

very first frat party and she especially wanted
to impress her date, the handsome Phi Kappa
Psi brother who'd brought her here. Jackie was

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Fraternities in America

sober but giddy with discovery as she looked

around the room crammed with rowdy strangers
guzzling beer and dancing toloud music. She
smiled at her date, whom we'll call Drew, a
good-looking junior or in UVA parlance, a
third-year and he smiled enticingly back.
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AROUND THE WEB

"Want to

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A Rape on Campus: A Brutal Assault and Struggle for Justice at UVA | Rolling Stone

go
The Campus Rate
Epidemic

upstairs,
where it's
quieter?"

Drew shouted into her ear, and Jackie's heart

quickened. She took his hand as he threaded
them out of the crowded room and up a

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staircase.
Four weeks into UVA's 2012 school year, 18year-old Jackie was crushing it at college. A
chatty, straight-A achiever from a rural Virginia
town, she'd initially been intimidated by UVA's
aura of preppy success, where throngs of toned,
tanned and overwhelmingly blond students
fanned across a landscape of neoclassical brick
buildings, hurrying to classes, clubs, sports,

POWERED BY ZERGNET

internships, part-time jobs, volunteer work and

parties; Jackie's orientation leader had warned
her that UVA students' schedules were so
packed that "no one has time to date people
just hook up." But despite her reservations,
Jackie had flung herself into campus life,

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attending events, joining clubs, making friends

and, now, being asked on an actual date. She
and Drew had met while working lifeguard shifts
together at the university pool, and Jackie had
been floored by Drew's invitation to dinner,

WATCH: Snowstorm Batters

Buffalo

followed by a "date function" at his fraternity,

Phi Kappa Psi. The "upper tier" frat had a
reputation of tremendous wealth, and its
imposingly large house overlooked a vast

Kutcher Wants Uber Spying on

Journalists

manicured field, giving "Phi Psi" the undisputed

best real estate along UVA's fraternity row
known as Rugby Road.
Jackie had

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Arrested

taken three

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A Rape on Campus: A Brutal Assault and Struggle for Justice at UVA | Rolling Stone

hours getting
ready,
straightening
her long, dark,

Phi Kappa Psi House

Bono Gets 18 Screws for Bike Injury

wavy hair.
She'd
congratulated

herself on her choice of a tasteful red dress with

a high neckline. Now, climbing the frat-house

Inside Interstellars Big Celeb

Spoiler

stairs with Drew, Jackie felt excited. Drew

ushered Jackie into a bedroom, shutting the
door behind them. The room was pitch-black
inside. Jackie blindly turned toward Drew,
uttering his name. At that same moment, she
says, she detected movement in the room and
felt someone bump into her. Jackie began to
scream.
"Shut up," she heard a man's voice say as a body
barreled into her, tripping her backward and
sending them both crashing through a low glass
table. There was a heavy person on top of her,
spreading open her thighs, and another person
kneeling on her hair, hands pinning down her
arms, sharp shards digging into her back, and
excited male voices rising all around her. When
yet another hand clamped over her mouth,
Jackie bit it, and the hand became a fist that
punched her in the face. The men surrounding
her began to laugh. For a hopeful moment
Jackie wondered if this wasn't some collegiate
prank. Perhaps at any second someone would
flick on the lights and they'd return to the party.
"Grab its motherfucking leg," she heard a voice
say. And that's when Jackie knew she was going
to be raped.

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A Rape on Campus: A Brutal Assault and Struggle for Justice at UVA | Rolling Stone

She remembers every moment of the next three

hours of agony, during which, she says, seven
men took turns raping her, while two more her
date, Drew, and another man gave instruction
and encouragement. She remembers how the
spectators swigged beers, and how they called
each other nicknames like Armpit and Blanket.
She remembers the men's heft and their sour
reek of alcohol mixed with the pungency of
marijuana. Most of all, Jackie remembers the
pain and the pounding that went on and on.
As the last man sank onto her, Jackie was
startled to recognize him: He attended her tiny
anthropology discussion group. He looked like
he was going to cry or puke as he told the crowd
he couldn't get it up. "Pussy!" the other men
jeered. "What, she's not hot enough for you?"
Then they egged him on: "Don't you want to be a
brother?" "We all had to do it, so you do, too."
Someone handed her classmate a beer bottle.
Jackie stared at the young man, silently begging
him not to go through with it. And as he shoved
the bottle into her, Jackie fell into a stupor,
mentally untethering from the brutal tableau,
her mind leaving behind the bleeding body
under assault on the floor.
When Jackie came to, she was alone. It was after
3 a.m. She painfully rose from the floor and ran
shoeless from the room. She emerged to
discover the Phi Psi party still surreally under
way, but if anyone noticed the barefoot,
disheveled girl hurrying down a side staircase,
face beaten, dress spattered with blood, they
said nothing. Disoriented, Jackie burst out a
side door, realized she was lost, and dialed a
friend, screaming, "Something bad happened. I

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need you to come and find me!" Minutes later,

her three best friends on campus two boys and
a girl (whose names are changed) arrived to
find Jackie on a nearby street corner, shaking.
"What did they do to you? What did they make
you do?" Jackie recalls her friend Randall
demanding. Jackie shook her head and began to
cry. The group looked at one another in a panic.
They all knew about Jackie's date; the Phi Kappa
Psi house loomed behind them. "We have to get
her to the hospital," Randall said.
Their other two friends, however, weren't
convinced. "Is that such a good idea?" she recalls
Cindy asking. "Her reputation will be shot for
the next four years." Andy seconded the opinion,
adding that since he and Randall both planned
to rush fraternities, they ought to think this
through. The three friends launched into a
heated discussion about the social price of
reporting Jackie's rape, while Jackie stood
beside them, mute in her bloody dress, wishing
only to go back to her dorm room and fall into a
deep, forgetful sleep. Detached, Jackie listened
as Cindy prevailed over the group: "She's gonna
be the girl who cried 'rape,' and we'll never be
allowed into any frat party again."

wo years later, Jackie, now a thirdyear, is worried about what might

happen to her once this article comes
out. Greek life is huge at UVA, with

nearly one-third of undergrads belonging to a

fraternity or sorority, so Jackie fears the
backlash could be big a "shitshow" predicted
by her now-former friend Randall, who, citing
his loyalty to his own frat, declined to be
interviewed. But her concerns go beyond taking
on her alleged assailants and their fraternity.
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A Rape on Campus: A Brutal Assault and Struggle for Justice at UVA | Rolling Stone

Lots of people have discouraged her from

sharing her story, Jackie tells me with a pained
look, including the trusted UVA dean to whom
Jackie reported her gang-rape allegations more
than a year ago. On this deeply loyal campus,
even some of Jackie's closest friends see her
going public as tantamount to betrayal.
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roommates said, 'Do you want to be responsible
for something that's gonna paint UVA in a bad
light?'" says Jackie, poking at a vegan burger at
a restaurant on the Corner, UVA's popular retail
strip. "But I said, 'UVA has flown under the
radar for so long, someone has to say something
about it, or else it's gonna be this system that
keeps perpetuating!'" Jackie frowns. "My friend
just said, 'You have to remember where your
loyalty lies.'"
From reading headlines today, one might think
colleges have suddenly become hotbeds of
protest by celebratedanti-rape activists. But like
most colleges across America, genteel University
of Virginia has no radical feminist culture
seeking to upend the patriarchy. There are no
red-tape-wearing protests like at Harvard, no
"sex-positive" clubs promoting the female
orgasm like at Yale, no mattress-hauling
performance artists like at Columbia, and
certainly no SlutWalks. UVA isn't an edgy or
progressive campus by any stretch. The pinnacle
of its polite activism is its annual Take Back the

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A Rape on Campus: A Brutal Assault and Struggle for Justice at UVA | Rolling Stone

Night vigil, which on this campus of 21,000

students attracts an audience of less than 500
souls. But the dearth of attention isn't because
rape doesn't happen in Charlottesville. It's
because at UVA, rapes are kept quiet, both by
students who brush off sexual assaults as
regrettable but inevitable casualties of their
cherished partyculture and by an
administration that critics say is less concerned
with protecting students than it is with
protecting its own reputation from scandal.
Some UVA women, so sickened by the
university's culture of hidden sexual violence,
have taken to calling it "UVrApe."
"University of Virginia thinks they're above the
law," says UVA grad and victims-rights advocate
Liz Seccuro. "They go to such lengths to protect
themselves. There's a national conversation
about sexual assault, but nothing at UVA is
changing."

Liz Seccuro with her husband, Mike in front of the Charlottesville

District Court in Charlottesville, Va., Thursday, March 15th,
2007.
(Photo: Steve Helber/AP)

S. Daniel Carter, who as former director of public

policy for the advocacy group Clery Center for
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A Rape on Campus: A Brutal Assault and Struggle for Justice at UVA | Rolling Stone

Security on Campus is a national expert on

college safety, points out that UVA's sexual
assault problems are not much worse than other
schools; if anything, he says, the depressing
reality is that UVA's situation is likely the
norm.Decades of awareness programming
haven't budged the prevalence of campus rape:
One in five women is sexually assaulted in
college, though only about 12 percent report it to
police. Spurred by a wave of activism, the
Obama administration has stepped up pressure
on colleges, announcing Title IX investigations
of 86 schools suspected of denying students
their equal right to education by inadequately
handling sexual-violence complaints; if found in
violation, each school runs the risk of financial
penalties, including the nuclear option (which
has never been deployed) of having its
federalfunding revoked.
The University of Virginia is one of the 86
schools now under federal investigation, but it
has more reason to worry than most of its peers.
Because, unlike most schools under scrutiny,
where complaints are at issue, UVA is one of
only 12 schools under a sweeping investigation
known as "compliance review": a proactive
probe launched by the Department of
Education's Office of Civil Rights itself, triggered
by concerns about deep-rooted issues. "They are
targeted efforts to go after very serious
concerns," says Office of Civil Rights assistant
secretary Catherine Lhamon. "We don't open
compliance reviews unless we have something
that we think merits it."
UVA says it has been complying fully with the
investigation. But Carter notes that UVA and
other elite schools tend not to respond well to
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A Rape on Campus: A Brutal Assault and Struggle for Justice at UVA | Rolling Stone

criticism and sanctify tradition above all else.

"That's common to more
prestigiousinstitutions," Carter says.
Prestige is at the core of UVA's identity. Although
a public school, its grounds of red-brick, whitecolumned buildings designed by founder
Thomas Jefferson radiate old-money privilege,
footnoted by the graffiti of UVA's many secret
societies, whose insignias are neatly painted
everywhere. At $10,000 a year, in-state tuition
is a quarter the cost of the Ivies, but UVA tends
to attract affluent students, and through
aggressive fundraising boasts an endowment of
$5 billion, on par with Cornell. "Wealthy parents
are the norm," says former UVA dean John
Foubert. On top of all that, UVA enjoys a
reputation as one of the best schools in the
country, not to mention a campus so brimming
with fun that in 2012 the year of Jackie's rape
Playboy crowned it the nation's number-one
party school. Students hold themselves up to
that standard: studious by day, wild by night.
"The most impressive person at UVA is the
person who gets straight A's and goes to all the
parties," explains fourth-year student Brian
Head. Partying traditions fuse the decorum of
the Southern aristocracy with binge drinking: At
Cavalier football tailgates, the dress code is
"girls in pearls, guys in ties" while students
guzzle handles of vodka. Not for nothing is a
UVA student nicknamed a Wahoo, as
undergrads like to explain; though derived from
a long-ago yell from Cavalier fans, a wahoo is
also a fish that can drink twice its own body
weight.

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A Rape on Campus: A Brutal Assault and Struggle for Justice at UVA | Rolling Stone

University of Virginia campus

(Photo: Lance King/Getty)

Wahoos are enthralled to be at UVA and can't

wait to tell you the reasons why, beginning,
surprisingly, with Thomas Jefferson, whose lore
is so powerfully woven into everyday UVA life
that you practically expect to glimpse the man
still walking the grounds in his waistcoat and
pantaloons. Nearly every student I interviewed
found a way to mention "TJ," speaking with zeal
about their founding father's vision for an
"academical village" in the idyllic setting of the
Blue Ridge Mountains. They burble about UVA's
honor code, a solemn pledge not to lie, cheat or
steal; students are expected to snitch on
violators, who areexpelled. UVA's emphasis on
honor is so pronounced that since 1998, 183
people have been expelled for honor-code
violations such as cheating on exams. And yet
paradoxically, not a single student at UVA has
ever been expelled for sexual assault.
"Think about it," says Susan Russell, whose UVA
daughter's sexual-assault report helped trigger a
previous federal investigation. "In what world
do you get kicked out for cheating, but if you
rape someone, you can stay?"
Attorney Wendy Murphy, who has filed Title IX

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A Rape on Campus: A Brutal Assault and Struggle for Justice at UVA | Rolling Stone

complaints and lawsuits against schools

including UVA, argues that in matters of sexual
violence, Ivy League and Division I schools'
fixation with prestige is their downfall. "These
schools love to pretend they protect the children
as if they were their own, but that's not true:
They're interested in money," Murphy says. "In
these situations, the one who gets the most
protection is either a wealthy kid, a legacy kid or
an athlete. The more privileged he is, the more
likely the woman has to die before he's held
accountable." Indeed, UVA is the same campus
where the volatile relationship of lacrosse star
George Huguely V and his girlfriend Yeardley
Love was seen as unremarkable his jealous
rages, fanned by over-the-top drinking until
the 2010 day he kicked open her door and beat
her to death.
UVA president Teresa Sullivan denies the
administration sweeps sexual assault under the
rug. "If we're trying to hide the issue, we're not
doing a very good job of it," she says, noting that
this past February UVA hosted the first-ever
sexual-assault summit for college
administrators. It's true that recently, while
under close government scrutiny, the school has
made some encouraging changes, including
designating most UVA authority figures as
mandatory reporters of sexual assault and
teaming up with student activists to create a
bystander-intervention campaign. Students
praise UVA's deans as caring folks who answer
late-night calls from victims and even make
emergency-room visits.

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A Rape on Campus: A Brutal Assault and Struggle for Justice at UVA | Rolling Stone

University of Virginia President Teresa Sullivan

(Photo: AP)

And yet the UVA public-relations team seemed

unenthused about this article, canceling my
interview with the head of UVA's Sexual
Misconduct Board, and forbidding other
administrators from cooperating; even students
seemed infected by their anxiety about how
members of the administration might appear.
And when President Sullivan was at last made
available for an interview, her most frequently
invoked answer to my specific questions about
sexual-assault handling at UVA while two
other UVA staffers sat in on the recorded call
was "I don't know."
All you girls from Mary Washington
and RMWC, never let a Cavalier an inch above
your knee.
He'll take you to his fraternity house and fill you
full of beer.
And soon you'll be the mother of a bastard
Cavalier!
"Rugby Road"
wo weeks after Jackie's rape, she ran
into Drew during her lifeguard shift
at the UVA pool. "Hey, Jackie," Drew
said, startling her. "Are you ignoring
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A Rape on Campus: A Brutal Assault and Struggle for Justice at UVA | Rolling Stone

T
me?" She'd switched her shift in the hopes of
never seeing him again. Since the Phi Kappa Psi
party, she'd barely left her dorm room, fearful of
glimpsing one of her attackers. Jackie stared at
Drew, unable to speak. "I wanted to thank you
for the other night," Drew said. "I had a great
time."
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Jackie left
her shift

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Isabella Tackles Date

early,

Rape

wasn't

saying she
feeling

well. Then she walked back to her dorm and

crawled under the covers. She didn't go to
classes for the rest of the week, and soon quit
her lifeguarding job the first time she could
remember quitting anything. She would never
again return to the Anthropology course she
shared with one of her assailants. She was
constantly on the edge of panic, plagued by
flashbacks and disgusted by her own naivet.
She obsessed over what easy prey she'd been, as
the attention-starved freshman who for weeks
drank up Drew's flirtations. "I still grapple with
'Did I do something that could have been
construed as that's what I wanted?'" she says.
Before Jackie left for college, her parents a
Vietnam vet and retired military contractor, and
a stay-at-home mom had lectured her about
avoiding the perils of the social scene, stressing
the importance of her studies, since Jackie

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hoped to get into medical school. Jackie had a

strained relationship with her father, in whose
eyes she'd never felt good enough, and always
responded by exceeding expectations honor
roll, swim team, first-chair violin becoming
the role model for her two younger brothers.
Jackie had been looking forward to college as an
escape a place to, even, defy her parents'
wishes and go to a frat party. "And I guess they
were right," she says bitterly.
She was having an especially difficult time
figuring out how to process that awful night,
because her small social circle seemed so
underwhelmed. For the first month of school,
Jackie had latched onto a crew of lighthearted
social strivers, and her pals were now impatient
for Jackie to rejoin the merriment. "You're still
upset about that?" Andy asked one Friday night
when Jackie was crying. Cindy, a self-declared
hookup queen, said she didn't see why Jackie
was so bent out of shape. "Why didn't you have
fun with it?" Cindy asked. "A bunch of hot Phi
Psi guys?" One of Jackie's friends told her,
unconcerned, "Andy said you had a bad
experience at a frat, and you've been a baby ever
since."

"SOME OF MY
HALLMATES
WERE
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SKEPTICAL,"
SAYS ONE
SURVIVOR OF
RAPE. "THEY
WERE SILENT
AND AVOIDED
ME
AFTERWARDS.
IT MADE ME
DOUBT
MYSELF."
That reaction of dismissal, downgrading and
doubt is a common theme UVA rape survivors
hear, including from women. "Some of my
hallmates were skeptical," recalls recent grad
Emily Renda, who says that weeks into her first
year she was raped after a party. "They were
silent and avoided me afterwards. It made me
doubt myself." Other students encounter more
overt hostility, as when a first-year student
confided her assault to a friend. "She said she
thought I was just looking for attention," says

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the undergrad. Shrugging off a rape or pointing

fingers at the victim can be a self-protective
maneuver for women, a form of wishful thinking
to reassure themselves they could never be so
vulnerable to violence. For men, skepticism is a
form of self-protection too. For much of their
lives, they've looked forward to the hedonistic
fun of college, bearing every expectation of
booze and no-strings sex. A rape heralds the
uncomfortable idea that all that harmless
mayhem may not be so harmless after all.
Easier, then, to assume the girl is lying, even
though studies indicate that false rape reports
account for, at most, eight percent of reports.

Emily Renda
(Photo: Courtesy of Emily Renda)

And so at UVA, where social status is paramount,

outing oneself as a rape victim can be a form of
social suicide. "I don't know many people who
are engrossed in the party scene and have
spoken out about their sexual assaults," says
third-year student Sara Surface. After all, no one
climbs the social ladder only to cast themselves
back down. Emily Renda, for one, quickly
figured out that few classmates were
sympathetic to her plight, and instead channeled

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her despair into hard partying. "My drinking

didn't stand out," says Renda, who often ended
her nights passed out on a bathroom floor. "It
does make you wonder how many others are
doing what I did: drinking to self-medicate."
By the middle of her first semester, Jackie's
alarm would ring and ring in her dorm room
until one of her five suitemates would pad down
the hall to turn it off. Jackie would barely stir in
her bed. "That was when we realized she was
even there," remembers suitemate Rachel Soltis.
"At the beginning of the year, she seemed like a
normal, happy girl, always with friends. Then
her door was closed all the time. We just figured
she was out." Long since abandoned by her
original crew, Jackie had slept through half a
semester's worth of classes and had bought a
length of rope with which to hang herself.
Instead, as the semester crawled to an end, she
called her mother. "Come and get me," Jackie
told her, crying. "I need your help."

he first weeks of freshman year are

when students are most vulnerable to
sexual assault. Spend a Friday night
in mid-September walking along

Rugby Road at UVA, and you can begin to see

why. Hundreds of women in crop tops and men
in khaki shorts stagger between handsome
fraternity houses, against a call-and-response
soundtrack of "Whoo!" and breaking glass. "Do
you know where Delta Sig is?" a girl slurs,
sloshed. Behind her, one of her dozen or so
friends stumbles into the street, sending a beer
bottle shattering. ("Whoo!" calls a far-away
voice.)
"These are all first-years," narrates one of my

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small group of upperclasswomen guides. We

walk the curving length of tree-lined Rugby
Road as they explain the scene. The women
rattle off which one is known as the "roofie frat,"
where supposedly four girls have been drugged
and raped, and at which house a friend had a
recent "bad experience," the Wahoo euphemism
for sexual assault. Studies have shown that
fraternity men are three times as likely to
commit rape, and a spate of recent high-profile
cases illustrates the dangers that can lurk at frat
parties, like a University of WisconsinMilwaukee frat accused of using color-coded
hand stamps as a signal to roofie their guests,
and this fall's suspension of Brown University's
chapter of Phi Kappa Psi of all fraternities
after a partygoer tested positive for the daterape drug GHB. Presumably, the UVA freshmen
wobbling around us are oblivious to any specific
hazards along Rugby Road; having just arrived
on campus, they can hardly tell one fraternity
from another. As we pass another frat house,
one of my guides offers, "I know a girl who got
assaulted there."

Phi Kappa Psi House

"I do too!" says her friend in mock-excitement.

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"That makes two! Yay!"

Frats are often the sole option for an underage
drinker looking to party, since bars are offlimits, sororities are dry and first-year students
don't get many invites to apartment soirees.
Instead, the kids crowd the walkways of the big,
anonymous frat houses, vying for entry. "Hot
girls who are drunk always get in it's a good
idea to act drunker than you really are," says
third-year Alexandria Pinkleton, expertly clad in
the UVA-after-dark uniform of a midriff-baring
sleeveless top and shorts. "Also? You have to
seem very innocent and vulnerable. That's why
they love first-year girls."
Once successfully inside the frat house, women
play the role of grateful guests in unfamiliar
territory where men control the variables. In
dark, loud basements, girls accept drinks, are
pulled onto dance floors to be ground and
groped and, later, often having lost sight of their
friends, led into bathrooms or up the stairs for
privacy. Most of that hooking up is consensual.
But against that backdrop, as psychologist David
Lisak discovered, lurk undetected predators.
Lisak's 2002 groundbreaking study of more
than 1,800 college men found that roughly nine
out of 10 rapes are committed by serial
offenders, who are responsible for an
astonishing average of six rapes each. None of
the offenders in Lisak's study had ever been
reported. Lisak's findings upended general
presumptions about campus sexual assault: It
implied that most incidents are not bumbling,
he-said-she-said miscommunications, but rather
deliberate crimes by serial sex offenders.
In his study, Lisak's subjects described the ways

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in which they used the camouflage of college as

fruitful rape-hunting grounds. They told Lisak
they target freshmen for being the most nave
and the least-experienced drinkers. One
offender described how his party-hearty friends
would help incapacitate his victims: "We always
had some kind of punch....We'd make it with a
real sweet juice. It was really powerful stuff. The
girls wouldn't know what hit them." Presumably,
the friends mixing the drinks did so without
realizing the offender's plot, just as when they
probably high-fived him the next morning, they
didn't realize the behavior they'd just endorsed.
That's because the serial rapist's behavior can
look ordinary at college. "They're not acting in a
vacuum," observes Lisak of predators. "They're
echoing that message and that culture that's
around them: the objectification and
degradation of women."
One need only glance around at some recent
college hijinks to see spectacular examples of the
way the abasement of women has broken
through to no-holds-barred misogyny: a
Dartmouth student's how-to-rape guide posted
online this past January; Yale pledges chanting
"No means yes! Yes means anal!" And despite its
air of mannered civility, UVA has been in on the
naughty fun for at least 70 years with its jolly
fight song "Rugby Road," which celebrates the
sexual triumphs of UVA fraternity men, named
for the very same street where my guides and I
are now enveloped in a thickening crowd of
wasted first-years. Through the decades, the
song has expanded to 35 verses, with the more
recent, student-penned stanzas shedding the
song's winking tone in favor of something more
jarringly explicit:

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A hundred Delta Gammas, a thousand AZDs

Ten thousand Pi Phi bitches who get down on
their knees
But the ones that we hold true,the ones that we
hold dear
Are the ones who stay up late at night, and take
it in the rear.
In 2010, "Rugby Road" was banned from football
games despite a petition calling it "an integral
part" of UVA culture. But Wahoos fearing the
loss of tradition can take heart that "Rugby
Road" verses are still performed on campus by
UVA's oldest a cappella group, the Virginia
Gentlemen.

t the end of her freshman year,

Jackie found herself in the Peabody
Hall office of Dean Nicole Eramo,
head of UVA's Sexual Misconduct

Board. This was a big step for Jackie. She still

hadn't even managed to tell her own mother
exactly what had happened at Phi Kappa Psi.
Upon returning to school for her second
semester, Jackie had tried to put on a brave face
and simply move forward, but instead continued
falling apart. Though a psychiatrist had put
Jackie on Wellbutrin, she had remained
depressed, couldn't concentrate, and spent the
semester so frightened and withdrawn that her
academic dean finally called her in to discuss
why she'd failed three classes. In his office, with
her mother beside her, she'd burst into tears,
and her mother explained she'd had a "bad
experience" at a party. He'd blanched and given
Jackie the e-mail for Dean Eramo.
If Dean Eramo was surprised at Jackie's story of
gang rape, it didn't show. A short woman with

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curly dark hair and a no-nonsense demeanor,

Eramo surely has among the most difficult jobs
at UVA. As the intake person on behalf of the
university for all sexual-assault complaints since
2006, it's her job to deal with a parade of
sobbing students trekking in and out of her
office. (UVA declined to make Eramo available
for comment.) A UVA alum herself, Eramo is
beloved by survivors, who consider her a friend
and confidante even though, as only a few
students are aware, her office isn't a confidential
space at all. Each time a new complaint comes
through Eramo's office, it activates a review by
UVA's Title IX officer, is included in UVA's tally
of federally mandated Clery Act crime statistics,
and Eramo may, at her discretion, reveal details
of her conversation with the student to other
administrators. (Jackie was mortified to learn
later that Eramo had shared her identity with
another UVA administrator.) After all, a dean's
foremost priority is the overall safety of the
campus.

JACKIE SAYS
WHEN SHE
ASKED WHY
UVA'S RAPE
STATS WERE
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HARD TO
FIND, THE
DEAN SAID,
"BECAUSE
NOBODY
WANTS TO
SEND THEIR
DAUGHTER TO
THE RAPE
SCHOOL."
When Jackie finished talking, Eramo comforted
her, then calmly laid out her options. If Jackie
wished, she could file a criminal complaint with
police. Or, if Jackie preferred to keep the matter
within the university, she had two choices. She
could file a complaint with the school's Sexual
Misconduct Board, to be decided in a "formal
resolution" with a jury of students and faculty,
and a dean as judge. Or Jackie could choose an
"informal resolution," in which Jackie could
simply face her attackers in Eramo's presence
and tell them how she felt; Eramo could then
issue a directive to the men, such as suggesting

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counseling. Eramo presented each option to

Jackie neutrally, giving each equal weight. She
assured Jackie there was no pressure whatever
happened next was entirely her choice.
Like many schools, UVA has taken to
emphasizing that in matters of sexual assault, it
caters to victim choice. "If students feel that we
are forcing them into a criminal or disciplinary
process that they don't want to be part of,
frankly, we'd be concerned that we would get
fewer reports," says associate VP for student
affairs Susan Davis. Which in theory makes
sense: Being forced into an unwanted choice is a
sensitive point for the victims. But in practice,
that utter lack of guidance can be
counterproductive to a 19-year-old so
traumatized as Jackie was that she was
contemplating suicide. Setting aside for a
moment the absurdity of a school offering to
handle the investigation and adjudication of a
felony sex crime something Title IX requires,
but which no university on Earth is equipped to
do the sheer menu of choices, paired with the
reassurance that any choice is the right one,
often has the end result of coddling the victim
into doing nothing.
"This is an alarming trend that I'm seeing on
campuses," says Laura Dunn of the advocacy
group SurvJustice. "Schools are assigning
people to victims who are pretending, or even
thinking, they're on the victim's side, when
they're actually discouraging and silencing
them. Advocates who survivors love are part of
the system that is failing to address sexual
violence."

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Phi Kappa Psi House

(Photo: Illustration by John Ritter)

Absent much guidance, Jackie would eventually

wonder how other student victims handled her
situation. But when she clicked around on UVA's
website, she found no answers. All she found
were the UVA police's crime logs, which the
university makes available online, but are
mostly a list of bike theft, vandalism and publicdrunkenness complaints. That's because only a
fraction of UVA students who report sex crimes
turn to campus police. The rest go to Dean
Eramo's office, to Charlottesville police or the
county sheriff's office. Yet when RS asked UVA
for its statistics, the press office repeatedly
referred us to the UVA police crime logs. UVA
parent Susan Russell believes that misdirection
is deliberate. "When a parent goes to the campus
crime log, and they don't see sexual assault, they
think the school is safe," Russell says, adding
that her daughter's 2004 sexual assault once
appeared in the log mislabeled "Suspicious
Circumstances."
Eventually, UVA furnished Rolling Stone with
some of its most recent tally: In the last
academic year, 38 students went to Eramo about

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a sexual assault, up from about 20 students

three years ago. However, of those 38, only nine
resulted in "complaints"; the other 29 students
evaporated. Of those nine complaints, four
resulted in Sexual Misconduct Board hearings.
UVA wasn't willing to disclose their outcomes,
citing privacy. Like most colleges, sexual-assault
proceedings at UVA unfold in total secrecy.
Asked why UVA doesn't publish all its data,
President Sullivan explains that it might not be
in keeping with "best practices" and thus may
inadvertently discourage reporting. Jackie got a
different explanation when she'd eventually
asked Dean Eramo the same question. She says
Eramo answered wryly, "Because nobody wants
to send their daughter to the rape school."
For now, however, Jackie left her first meeting
with Eramo feeling better for having
unburdened herself, and with the dean's
assurance that nothing would be done without
her say-so. Eramo e-mailed a follow-up note
thanking Jackie for sharing, saying, "I could tell
that was very difficult for you," and restating
that while she respected Jackie's wish not to file
a report, she'd be happy to assist "if you decide
that you would like to hold these men
accountable." In the meantime, having
presumably judged there to be no threat to
public safety, the UVA administration took no
action to warn the campus that an allegation of
gang rape had been made against an active
fraternity.
All the first-year women are morally uptight.
They'll never do a single thing unless they know
it's right.
But then they come to Rugby Road and soon
they've seen the light.
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And you never know how many men they'll

bring home every night.
"Rugby Road"

ou can trace UVA's cycle of sexual

violence and institutional
indifference back at least 30 years
and incredibly, the trail leads back

to Phi Psi. In October 1984, Liz Seccuro was a

17-year-old virgin when she went to a party at
the frat and was handed a mixed drink. "They
called it the house special," she remembers.
Things became spotty after Seccuro had a few
sips. But etched in pain was a clear memory of a
stranger raping her on a bed. She woke up
wrapped in a bloody sheet; by rifling through
the boy's mail before fleeing, she discovered his
name was Will Beebe. Incredibly, 21 years later,
Beebe wrote Seccuro a letter, saying he wanted
to make amends as part of his 12-step program.
Seccuro took the correspondence to
Charlottesville police. And in the midst of the
2006 prosecution that followed, where Beebe
would eventually plead guilty to aggravated
sexual battery, investigators made a startling
discovery: That while at Phi Psi that night,
Seccuro had been assaulted not by one man, but
by three. "I had been gang-raped," says Seccuro,
who detailed her ordeal in a 2011 memoir.

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William N. Beebe out of the Charlottesville, Va. Juvenile and

Domestic Relations Court on Tuesday, Jan. 17th, 2006.
(Photo:
Brady Wolfe/Daily Progress/AP)

That it took two decades for Seccuro to achieve

some justice is even more disgraceful, since she
reported her rape to the UVA administration
after leaving the Phi Psi house on that 1984
morning. "I went to the dean covered in scabs
and with broken ribs," she remembers. "And he
said, 'Do you think it was just regrettable sex?'"
Seccuro wanted to call police, but she was
incorrectly told Charlottesville police lacked
jurisdiction over fraternity houses.
If Seccuro's story of administrative cover-up and
apathy sounds outrageous, it's actually in
keeping with the stories told by other UVA
survivors. After one alumna was abducted from
a dark, wooded section of campus and raped in
1993, she says she asked a UVA administrator
for better lighting. "They told me it would ruin
Jefferson's vision of what the university was
supposed to look like," the alum says. "As if
Thomas Jefferson even knew about electric
lights!" In 2002 and 2004, two female students,
including Susan Russell's daughter, were
unhappy with their sexual-misconduct hearings,
which each felt didn't hold their alleged

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perpetrators accountable and each was

admonished by UVA administrators to never
speak publicly about the proceedings or else
they could face expulsion for violating the honor
code. For issuing that directive, in 2008 UVA
was found in violation of the Clery Act.
"UVA is more egregious than most," says John
Foubert, a UVA dean from 1998 to 2002, and
founder of the national male sex-assault peer
education group One in Four. "I've worked for
five or six colleges, and the stuff I saw happen
during my time there definitely stands out." For
example, Foubert recalls, in one rare case in
which the university applied a harsh penalty, an
undergrad was suspended after stalking five
students. Heated discussion ensued over
whether the boy should be allowed back after his
suspension. Though the counseling center
wanted him to stay gone, Foubert says, the thendean of students argued in favor of his return,
saying, "We can pick our lawsuit from a
potential sixth victim, or from him, for denying
him access to an education."
The few stories leaking out of UVA's present-day
justice system aren't much better. One student,
whose Title IX complaint against UVA is
currently under investigation by the Office of
Civil Rights, said that in December 2011,
another student raped her while she was
blackout drunk, possibly drugged. As she wrote
in a student publication, evidence emerged that
the man had previously been accused of
drugging others, but the information was
rejected as "prejudicial." The Sexual Misconduct
Board told the young woman it found her
"compelling and believable," but found the man
not guilty. "I had never felt so betrayed and let
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down in my life," wrote the woman. "They said

that they believed me. They said that UVA was
my home and that it loved me. Yet, how could
they believe me and let him go completely
unpunished?"
Rolling Stone has discovered that this past
spring a UVA first-year student, whom we'll call
Stacy, filed a report stating that while vomiting
up too much whiskey into a male friend's toilet
one night, he groped her, plunged his hands
down her sweatpants and then, after carrying
her semi-conscious to his bed, digitally
penetrated her. When the Charlottesville DA's
office declined to file charges, she says, Stacy
asked for a hearing with the Sexual Misconduct
Board, and was surprised when UVA authority
figures tried to talk her out of it. "My counselors,
members of the Dean of Students office,
everyone said the trial process would be way too
hard on me," says Stacy. "They were like, 'You
need to focus on your healing.'" Stacy insisted
upon moving forward anyway, even when the
wealthy family of the accused kicked up a fuss.
"They threatened to sue deans individually, they
threatened to sue me," she recalls. But Stacy
remained stalwart, because she had additional
motivation: She'd been shaken to discover two
other women with stories of assault by the same
man. "One was days after mine, at a rush
function at his frat house," says Stacy. "So I was
like, 'I have to do something before someone
else is hurt.'" Her determination redoubled after
the Dean of Students office informed her that
multiple assaults by a student would be grounds
for his expulsion a mantra that Eramo
repeated at a Take Back the Night event in April.

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JACKIE CAME
ACROSS
SOMETHING
DISTURBING:
TWO OTHER
YOUNG
WOMEN
CONFIDED
THAT THEY,
TOO, HAD
BEEN VICTIMS
OF PHI KAPPA
PSI GANG
RAPES.
Bearing her deans' words in mind, at her ninehour formal hearing in June, Stacy took pains to

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present not only her own case, but also the other
two allegations, submitting witness statements
that were allowed in as "pattern evidence." The
board pronounced the man guilty for sexual
misconduct against Stacy, making him only the
14th guilty person in UVA's history. Stacy was
relieved at the verdict. "I was like, 'He's gone!'
'Cause he's a multiple assailant, I'd been told so
many times that that was grounds for
expulsion!" So she was stunned when she
learned his actual penalty: a one-year
suspension. (Citing privacy laws, UVA would not
comment on this or any case.)
Turns out, when UVA personnel speak of
expulsion for "multiple assaults," they mean
multiple complaints that are filed with the
Sexual Misconduct Board, and then adjudicated
guilty. Under that more precise definition, the
two other cases introduced in Stacy's case didn't
count toward his penalty. Stacy feels offended by
the outcome and misled by the deans. "After two
rapes and an assault, to let him back on grounds
is an insult to the honor system that UVA brags
about," she says. "UVA doesn't want to expel.
They were too afraid of getting negative
publicity or the pants sued
off them."
She's a helluva twat from Agnes Scott, she'll fuck
for 50 cents.
She'll lay her ass upon the grass, her panties on
the fence.
You supply the liquor,and she'll supply the lay.
And if you can't get it up,you sunuva
bitch,you're not from UVA.
"Rugby Road"
hen did it happen to you?" Emily

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Renda asked Jackie as they sat

forcoffee at the outdoor
Downtown Mall in the fall of

2013.
"September 28th," Jackie whispered.
"October 7th, 2010," Emily responded, not
breaking her gaze, and Jackie knew she'd found
a friend. As Jackie had begun her second year at
UVA, she'd continued struggling. Dean Eramo
had connected her with Emily, a fourth-year
who'd become active in One Less, a student-run
sexual-assault education organization that
doubles as a support group. Sitting with Emily,
Jackie poured out her story,wiping her eyes
with napkins as she confided to Emily that she
felt like a broken person. "You're not broken,"
Emily told her. "They're the ones who are fucked
up, and what happened to you wasn't your
fault." Jackie was flooded with gratitude,
desperate to hear those words at last and from
someone who knew. Emily invited her to a
meeting of One Less, thus introducing her to
UVA's true secret society.

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Photo: Illustration by John Ritter: Photo of Nicole Eramo in

Illustration by Jenna Truong/Cavalier Daily

In its weekly meetings, the 45-member group

would discuss how to foster dialogue on campus.
Afterward they'd splinter off and share stories of
sexual assault, each tale different and yet very
much the same. Many took place on tipsy nights
with men who refused to stop; some were of sex
while blackout drunk; rarer stories involved
violence, though none so extreme as Jackie's.
But no matter the circumstances, their peers'
reactions were largely the same: Assaults were
brushed off, with attackers defended ("He'd
never do anything like that"), the victim
questioned ("Are you sure?"). After feeling
isolated for more than a year, Jackie was
astonished at how much she and this sisterhood
had in common, including the fact that a
surprising number hadn't pursued any form of
complaint. Although many had contacted Dean
Eramo, whom they laud as their best advocate
and den mother Jackie repeatedly calls her "an
asset to the community" few ever filed reports
with UVA or with police. Instead, basking in the
safety of one another's company, the members
of One Less applauded the brave few who chose
to take action, but mostly affirmed each other's
choices not to report, in an echo of their
university's approach. So profound was the
students' faith in its administration that
although they were appalled by Jackie's story,
no one voiced questions about UVA's strategy of
doing nothing to warn the campus of gang-rape
allegations against a fraternity that still held
parties and was rushing a new pledge class.
Some of these women are disturbed by the

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contradiction. "It's easy to cover up a rape at a

university if no one is reporting," admits Jackie's
friend Alex Pinkleton. And privately, some of
Jackie's confidantes were outraged. "The
university ignores the problem to make itself
look better," says recent grad Rachel Soltis,
Jackie's former roommate. "They should have
done something in Jackie's case. Me and several
other people know exactly who did this to her.
But they want to protect even the people who
are doing these horrible things."
But no such doubts shadowed the meetings of
One Less, which was fine by Jackie. One Less
held seminars for student groups on bystander
intervention and how to be supportive of
survivors. Jackie dove into her new roles as peer
adviser and Take Back the Night committee
member and began to discover just how wide
her secret UVA survivor network was because
the more she shared her story, the more girls
sought her out, waylaying her after
presentations or after classes, even calling in the
middle of the night with a crisis. Jackie has been
approached by so many survivors that she
wonders whether the one-in-five statistic may
not apply in Charlottesville. "I feel like it's one in
three at UVA," she says.
But payback for being so public on a campus
accustomed to silence was swift. This past
spring, in separate incidents, both Emily Renda
and Jackie were harassed outside bars on the
Corner by men who recognized them from
presentations and called them "cunt" and
"feminazi bitch." One flung a bottle at Jackie
that broke on the side of her face, leaving a
blood-red bruise around her eye.

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A Rape on Campus: A Brutal Assault and Struggle for Justice at UVA | Rolling Stone

She e-mailed Eramo so they could discuss the

attack and discuss another matter, too, which
was troubling Jackie a great deal. Through her
everexpanding network, Jackie had come across
something deeply disturbing: two other young
women who, she says, confided that they, too,
had recently been Phi Kappa Psi gang-rape
victims.

bruise still mottling her face, Jackie

sat in Eramo's office in May 2014
and told her about the two others.
One, she says, is a 2013 graduate,

who'd told Jackie that she'd been gang-raped as

a freshman at the Phi Psi house. The other was a
first-year whose worried friends had called
Jackie after the girl had come home wearing no
pants. Jackie said the girl told her she'd been
assaulted by four men in a Phi Psi bathroom
while a fifth watched. (Neither woman was
willing to talk to RS.)
As Jackie wrapped up her story, she was
disappointed by Eramo's nonreaction. She'd
expected shock, disgust, horror. For months,
Jackie had been assuaging herdespair by
throwing herself into peer education, but there
was no denying her helplessness when she
thought about Phi Psi, or about her own alleged
assailants still walking the grounds. She'd
recently been aghast to bump into Drew, who
greeted her with friendly nonchalance. "For a
whole year, I thought about how he had ruined
my life, and how he is the worst human being
ever," Jackie says. "And then I saw him and I
couldn't say anything."
"You look different," Drew told Jackie while she
stared back at him in fear, and he was right:

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A Rape on Campus: A Brutal Assault and Struggle for Justice at UVA | Rolling Stone

Since arriving at UVA, Jackie had gained 25

pounds from antidepressants and lack of
exercise. That interaction would render her too
depressed to leave her room for days. Of all her
assailants, Drew was the one she wanted to see
held accountable but with Drew about to
graduate, he was going to get away with it.
Because, as she miserably reminded Eramo in
her office, she didn't feel ready to file a
complaint. Eramo, as always, understood.
Given the swirl of gang-rape allegations Eramo
had now heard against one of UVA's oldest and
most powerful fraternities founded in 1853, its
distinguished chapter members have included
President Woodrow Wilson the school may
have wondered about its responsibilities to the
rest of the campus. Experts apprised of the
situation by RS agreed that despite the absence
of an official report, Jackie's passing along two
other allegations should compel the school to
take action out of regard for campus safety. "The
fact that they already had that first victim, they
should have been taking action," says
SurvJustice's Laura Dunn. "That school could
really be sued."
If the UVA administration was roiled by such
concerns, however, it wasn't apparent this past
September, as it hosted a trustees meeting. Two
full hours had been set aside to discuss campus
sexual assault, an amount of time that, as many
around the conference table pointed out,
underscored the depth of UVA's commitment.
Those two hours, however, were devoted
entirely to upbeat explanations of UVA's new
prevention and response strategies, and to selfcongratulations to UVA for being a "model"
among schools in this arena. Only once did the
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A Rape on Campus: A Brutal Assault and Struggle for Justice at UVA | Rolling Stone

room darken with concern, when a trustee in

UVA colors blue sport coat, orange bow tie
interrupted to ask, "Are we under any federal
investigation with regard to sexual assault?"
Dean of students Allen Groves, in a blue suit and
orange necktie of his own, swooped in with a
smooth answer. He affirmed that while like
many of its peers UVA was under investigation,
it was merely a "standard compliance review."
He mentioned that a student's complaint from
the 2010-11 academic year had been folded into
that "routine compliance review." Having
downplayed the significance of a Title IX
compliance review which is neither routine
nor standard he then elaborated upon the
lengths to which UVA has cooperated with the
Office of Civil Rights' investigation, his tone and
manner so reassuring that the room relaxed.
Told of the meeting, Office of Civil Rights'
Catherine Lhamon calls Groves'
mischaracterization "deliberate and
irresponsible." "Nothing annoys me more than a
school not taking seriously their review from the
federal government about their civil rights
obligations," she says.
Within days of the board meeting, having
learned of Rolling Stone's probe into Jackie's
story, UVA at last placed Phi Kappa Psi under
investigation. Or rather, as President Sullivan
carefully answered my question about
allegations of gang rape at Phi Psi, "We do have
a fraternity under investigation." Phi Kappa Psi
national executive director Shawn Collinsworth
says that UVA indeed notified him of sexual
assault allegations; he immediately dispatched a
representative to meet with the chapter. UVA

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A Rape on Campus: A Brutal Assault and Struggle for Justice at UVA | Rolling Stone

chapter president Stephen Scipione recalls being

only told of a vague, anonymous "fourth-hand"
allegation of a sexual assault during a party. "We
were not told that it was rape, but rather that
something of a sexual nature took place," he
wrote to RS in an e-mail. Either way,
Collinsworth says, given the paucity of
information, "we have no evidence to
substantiate the alleged assaults."
"Under investigation," President Sullivan insists
when I ask her to elaborate on how the
university is handling the case. "I don't know
how else to spell that out for you." But Jackie
may have gotten a glimpse into the extent of the
investigation when, in the days following my
visit to campus, she was called into Eramo's
office, bringing along her friend Alex for moral
support. According to both women, Eramo
revealed that she'd learned "through the
grapevine" that "all the boys involved have
graduated." Both girls were mystified. Not only
had Jackie just seen one of the boys riding his
bike on grounds but, as Alex pointed out,
"Doesn't that mean they're admitting something
happened?" No warning has yet been issued to
the campus.

ith a pocketknife and pepper

spray tucked into her handbag,
and a rape whistle hanging from
her key chain, Jackie is prepared

for a Friday night at UVA. In a restaurant on the

Corner, Jackie sips water through a straw as the
first of the night's "Whoo!"s reverberate from
the sidewalk outside. "It makes me really
depressed, almost," says Jackie with a sad
chuckle. "There's always gonna be another
Friday night, and another fraternity party, and
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A Rape on Campus: A Brutal Assault and Struggle for Justice at UVA | Rolling Stone

another girl."
Across the table, Alex sighs. "I know," she says.
Bartenders and bouncers all along the Corner
are wearing T-shirts advertising the new "Hoos
Got Your Back" bystander-intervention
campaign, which all seems very hopeful. But this
week, the third week of September, has been a
difficult one. Charlottesville police received their
first sexual-assault report of the academic year;
Jackie and Alex were also each approached by
someone seeking help about an assault. And as
this weekend progresses, things will get far
worse at UVA: Two more sexual assaults will be
reported to police, and, in every parent's worst
fears come true, an 18-year-old student on her
way to a party will vanish; her body will be
discovered five weeks later.
Suspect Jesse Matthew Jr., a 32-year-old UVA
hospital worker, will be charged with Hannah
Graham's "abduction with intent to defile," and
a chilling portrait will emerge of an alleged
predator who got his start, a decade ago, as a
campus rapist. Back in 2002, and again in 2003,
Matthew was accused of sexual assault at two
different Virginia colleges where he was
enrolled, but was never prosecuted. In 2005,
according to the new police indictment,
Matthew sexually assaulted a 26-year-old and
tried to kill her. DNA has also reportedly linked
Matthew to the 2009 death of Virginia Tech
student Morgan Harrington, who disappeared
after a Metallica concert in Charlottesville. The
grisly dossier of which Matthew has been
accused underscores the premise that campus
rape should be seen not through the schema of a
dubious party foul, but as a violent crime and
that victims should be encouraged to come
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A Rape on Campus: A Brutal Assault and Struggle for Justice at UVA | Rolling Stone

forward as an act of civic good that could

potentially spare future victims.
Jackie is hoping she will get there someday. She
badly wants to muster the courage to file
criminal charges or even a civil case. But she's
paralyzed. "It's like I'm in my own personal
prison," she says. "I'm so terrified this is going to
be the rest of my life." She still cries a lot, and
she has been more frightened than usual to be
alone or to walk in the dark. When Jackie talks
about her assault, she fixates on the moment
before Drew picked her up for their date: "I
remember looking at the mirror and putting on
mascara and being like, 'I feel really pretty,'"
Jackie recalls. "I didn't know it would be the last
time I wouldn't see an empty shell of a person."
Jackie tells me of a recurring nightmare she's
been having, in which she's watching herself
climb those Phi Kappa Psi stairs. She frantically
calls to herself to stop, but knows it's too late:
That in real life, she's already gone up those
stairs and into that terrible room, and things will
never be the same. It bothers Jackie to know
that Drew and the rest get to walk away as if
nothing happened, but that she still walks
toward that room every night and blames
herself for it during the day.
"Everything bad in my life now is built around
that one bad decision that I made," she says. "All
because I went to thatstupid party."
From The Archives Issue 1223: December 4, 2014

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A Rape on Campus: A Brutal Assault and Struggle for Justice at UVA | Rolling Stone
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A Rape on Campus: A Brutal Assault and Struggle for Justice at UVA | Rolling Stone
IN ASSOCIATION WITH

https://web.archive.org/web/20141119200349/http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/features/a-rape-on-campus-20141119[10/15/2015 11:14:49 AM]

EXHIBIT B
(Print version of the Article)

EXHIBIT C
(Rolling Stones December 2-4, 2014 press release)

Rolling Stones Dec 2-4, 2014 Statement

The story we published was one womans account of a sexual assault at a UVA
fraternity in September 2012 and the subsequent ordeal she experienced at
the hands of University administrators in her attempts to work her way
through the trauma of that evening. The indifference with which her
complaint was met was, we discovered, sadly consistent with the experience of
many other UVA women who have tried to report such assaults. Through our
extensive reporting and factchecking, we found Jackie to be entirely credible
and courageous and we are proud to have given her disturbing story the
attention it deserves.

EXHIBIT D
(Transcript of Erdelys statements on the Nov. 24, 2014 Michael Smerconish SiriusXM radio
show)

The Michael Smerconish Program

Details of the Alleged UVa Rape

October 14, 2015

Page 1

TRANSCRIPTION

OF

THE MICHAEL SMERCONISH PROGRAM

AUDIO FILE NAME:

DETAILS OF THE ALLEGED UVA RAPE 179769940

PARTICIPANTS:
Michael Smerconish
Sabrina Erdely

Job No. 28693

TRANSCRIBED BY:

LORI A. BOEDING, CCR

(434) 975-5400
Cavalier Reporting & Videography
(434) 293-3300
www.cavalier-reporting.com
[email protected]

The Michael Smerconish Program

Details of the Alleged UVa Rape

October 14, 2015

Page 2
1

(Program introduction)

2
3

MR. SMERCONISH:

Sabrina, let's go back

to the incident itself.

So it's the fall of 2012,

and Jackie, who is a freshman, comes from

Virginia, not a big drinker, you say knocking them

dead academically at the outset when she gets to

UVA, gets invited to go to this fraternity party

by a third year, a good looking junior, or in UVA

10

parlance, you say a third year.

He smiled

11

enticingly back at her when they were together at

12

the party.

13

She's got one of those plastic cups.

She's got -- I can picture the scene.

14

MS. ERDELY:

Mm-hmm.

15

MR. SMERCONISH:

One of those -- a Solo

16

cup, that's what I'm, I'm thinking of.

He invites

17

her to go upstairs where quote-unquote it's

18

quieter, and she accepts that invitation.

19

when they get upstairs, the door opens.

20

behind her.

21

inside that room are all of the individuals that

22

she claims then proceed to violate, to physically

23

rape her.

24

consensual in the way that she explains this to

25

you.

And
He's

She's now in a darkened room, and

I mean, there's no hint of anything

This is not a woman who is feeling loopy

(434) 975-5400
Cavalier Reporting & Videography
(434) 293-3300
www.cavalier-reporting.com
[email protected]

The Michael Smerconish Program

Details of the Alleged UVa Rape

October 14, 2015

Page 3
1

because she's been drinking grain alcohol.

is a brutal, violent rape.

MS. ERDELY:

And the other thing -- I mean,

This

It is.

everything about this attack is so shocking,

including the fact that the way that she describes

it makes it sound very much like it is a

pre-planned attack.

like -- encouraging one another to take turns.

And she heard them say things

10

She heard them say things like, well, don't you

11

want to be a brother?

12

believe that this is some kind of initiation

13

ritual.

14

Which would lead one to

And, in fact, over the course of the

15

following year, it came to Jackie's attention, as

16

she began to sort of, you know, meet other rape

17

survivers and her network of rape survivers became

18

wider, she actually wound up coming to the

19

administration with reports to two other women who

20

told her that they were also gang raped at the

21

same fraternity, so that was -- that is incredibly

22

alarming, now that the University has three

23

allegations of gang rape at the same fraternity.

24
25

This, by the way, being the same

fraternity where there was another situation quite

(434) 975-5400
Cavalier Reporting & Videography
(434) 293-3300
www.cavalier-reporting.com
[email protected]

The Michael Smerconish Program

Details of the Alleged UVa Rape

October 14, 2015

Page 4
1

like this 30 years ago, so this is a fraternity

that's been on the radar screen for a while, and

there are these recent allegations, and once

again, the administration did absolutely nothing.

MR. SMERCONISH:

Let me read, if I

might, the crux of the incident as you've

reconstructed it in Rolling Stone.

this is Sabrina Rubin Erdely, and the piece is

titled, A Rape on Campus:

10

By the way,

A Brutal Assault and a

Struggle for Justice at UVA.

11

I should point out, I know you didn't

12

write the headline, but there's no alleged in

13

there.

14

this happened.

It's offered in the headline like, hey,

15
16

MS. ERDELY:

Um, yeah, I don't write the

headline.

17

MR. SMERCONISH:

18

MS. ERDELY:

I know.

Okay.

But I think that we do -- I

19

mean, this is Jackie's perspective, you know, um,

20

you know, on, on her, you know, her assault.

21

do, we do wedge a lot of alleges in there, in

22

there, so I think that there's a lot of implied

23

alleges.

24
25

MR. SMERCONISH:
of it.

Okay.

We

Here's the crux

Jackie had taken three hours getting

(434) 975-5400
Cavalier Reporting & Videography
(434) 293-3300
www.cavalier-reporting.com
[email protected]

The Michael Smerconish Program

Details of the Alleged UVa Rape

October 14, 2015

Page 5
1

ready, straightening her long dark, wavy hair.

She congratulated herself on her choice of a

tasteful red dress with a high neckline.

climbing the frat house stairs with Drew, Jackie

felt excited.

shutting the door behind them.

pitch-black inside.

Drew uttering his name; at that same moment, she

says she detected movement in the room and felt

10

Drew ushered Jackie into a bedroom,

The room was

Jackie blindly turned toward

someone bump into her.

11

Now

Jackie began to scream.

"Shut up," she heard a man's voice say,

12

as a body barreled into her, tripping her backward

13

and sending them both crashing through a low glass

14

table.

15

spreading her open thighs and another person

16

kneeling on her hair, hands pinned down her arms,

17

sharp shards digging into her back, and excited

18

male voices rising all around her.

19

another hand clamped over her mouth, Jackie bit

20

it, and the hand became a fist that punched her in

21

the face.

22

For a hopeful moment, Jackie wondered if this

23

wasn't some collegiate prank.

24

second someone would flick on the lights, and they

25

would return to the party.

There was a heavy person on top of her

When yet

The men surrounding her began to laugh.

Perhaps at any

(434) 975-5400
Cavalier Reporting & Videography
(434) 293-3300
www.cavalier-reporting.com
[email protected]

The Michael Smerconish Program

Details of the Alleged UVa Rape

October 14, 2015

Page 6
1

"Grab its mother-fucking leg," she heard

a voice say, and that's when Jackie knew she was

going to be raped.

the next three hours of agony, during which she

says seven men took turns raping her while two

more, her date, Drew, and another man, gave

instruction and encouragement.

She remembers every moment of

Among my many questions, does Jackie

believe Drew -- that Drew totally set this up;

10

that he invited her to the party, invited her

11

upstairs knowing that all these guys would be

12

waiting and rape her?

13

MS. ERDELY:

Yes, that is her feeling,

14

and it's part of the reason why she actually,

15

believe it or not, is plagued by self blame.

16

Because she feels -- you know, the two of them had

17

actually spent weeks getting to know each other.

18

They worked together as life guards at the

19

University pool.

20

understand why he, this handsome junior, was

21

paying so much attention to her, this very naive

22

freshman, especially when -- I don't think this is

23

in the article, but she said that the other life

24

guards who worked on their shift were like these

25

model gorgeous blonds, and looking back on the

And she could never really

(434) 975-5400
Cavalier Reporting & Videography
(434) 293-3300
www.cavalier-reporting.com
[email protected]

The Michael Smerconish Program

Details of the Alleged UVa Rape

October 14, 2015

Page 7
1

entire scenario, she was really kicking herself

and thinking like, well, why would he have chosen

me.

attention to me, showing so much interest in

everything that I had to say, and all she could

think is that he was probably grooming her for

something like this and testing her for something

like this.

Why -- you know, he was paying so much

When he asked her out on this date, she

10

could not have been more thrilled.

11

of Virginia, she had already been told that, you

12

know, this is a very elite and very competitive

13

school where the kids are just so busy that she

14

had already been told that the kids there, they

15

tend not to date; they just hookup because they

16

don't have the time.

17

herself into UVA life, and the idea that she had

18

been invited on this date just seemed like she was

19

just winning.

20

at college.

21

said, were like -- it as like the best month of

22

her life.

23

At University

So she had really thrown

You know, she was just crushing it

Her first four weeks of college, she

MR. SMERCONISH:

And no hint, no hint

24

when they are downstairs at the party, no hint in

25

any of the preamble to that particular night that,

(434) 975-5400
Cavalier Reporting & Videography
(434) 293-3300
www.cavalier-reporting.com
[email protected]

The Michael Smerconish Program

Details of the Alleged UVa Rape

October 14, 2015

Page 8
1

I mean, that, that there could be multiple

partners?

anything that comes close to what transpired?

There's never any discussion of, of

MS. ERDELY:

None.

You know something,

Drew actually took her -- he picked her up from

her dorm room like a gentleman.

dinner before taking her to the fraternity

party --

MR. SMERCONISH:

He took her to

And, and two weeks, and

10

two weeks later, this was stunning to me, two

11

weeks later they see each other at the UVA pool,

12

and he says, Hey, I want to thank you for the

13

other night.

14

I had, I had a great time.

MS. ERDELY:

Isn't that shocking?

15
16

(Program remarks)

17
18

---

19
20
21
22
23
24
25

(434) 975-5400
Cavalier Reporting & Videography
(434) 293-3300
www.cavalier-reporting.com
[email protected]

The Michael Smerconish Show

Interview with Sabrina Erdely

10/2/2015

Page 1

1
2
3
4

TRANSCRIPTION

5
6

OF

7
8

THE MICHAEL SMERCONISH PROGRAM

9
10
11

AUDIO FILE NAME:

12

ROLLING STONE WRITER - EVERYTHING ABOUT JACKIE

IS ENTIRELY CREDIBLE - 179606891

13
14
15
16
17

PARTICIPANTS:

18

Michael Smerconish

19

Sabrina Erdely

20
21
22
23
24
25
Job # 28692

Job No. 28693

TRANSCRIBED BY:

LORI A. BOEDING, CCR

Reported by Lori A Boeding of Cavalier Reporting & Videography

(434) 293-3300

The Michael Smerconish Show

Interview with Sabrina Erdely

10/2/2015

Page 2

(Program introduction)

2
3

MS. ERDELY:

This may not be a great

criminal case, believe it or not.

still is her word against other people's.

so the idea -- she's very, she's very

(unintelligible) --

8
9
10

MR. SMERCONISH:
No, no bloody dress?

I mean, it

No forensic evidence?
You make reference to her

bleeding.

11

MS. ERDELY:

It's not clear to me whether

12

she's held on to those things.

13

pictures afterwards.

14

circumstantial evidence.

15

people immediately afterwards and --

16
17

And

MR. SMERCONISH:

There were no

There is a lot of sort of

She told a lot of

Can she identify all

seven?

18

MS. ERDELY:

19

MR. SMERCONISH:

I believe she can.

And, and, finally,

20

because I have a healthy dose of cynicism about

21

all matters, so I bring it to a case like this

22

and everything else, as you were interviewing

23

her and interviewing all the people that you

24

did for the story, you, Sabrina, had to be

25

saying, hey, you know, does it pass the smell

Job # 28692

Reported by Lori A Boeding of Cavalier Reporting & Videography

(434) 293-3300

The Michael Smerconish Show

Interview with Sabrina Erdely

10/2/2015

Page 3

test?

intonation of your voice that you buy it, you

believe it.

I'm gleaning from you wrote and the

MS. ERDELY:

Yes.

I, I mean, at the end

of the day, you know, it's -- it is -- you

know, I wasn't in that room, you know, so I

can't, I can't really know what happened.

everything about Jackie is entirely credible.

I put her story through the wringer.

But

I talked

10

to all of her friends, all the people that she

11

confided in along the way.

12

consistent.

13

tremendous trauma, and I don't doubt that

14

something happened to her that night.

Her story is very

She has clearly been through a

15
16

(Programming remarks)

17
18

---

19
20
21
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Job # 28692

Reported by Lori A Boeding of Cavalier Reporting & Videography

(434) 293-3300

The Michael Smerconish Program

October 14, 2015
Shocking Response of UVa Student Jackie Friends
Page 1

TRANSCRIPTION

OF

THE MICHAEL SMERCONISH PROGRAM

AUDIO FILE NAME:

SHOCKING RESPONSE OF UVA STUDENT JACKIE
FRIENDS FOLLOWING ALLEGED 7-MEN GANG RAPE 179769497

PARTICIPANTS:
Michael Smerconish
Sabrina Erdely

Job No. 28693

(434) 975-5400
Cavalier Reporting & Videography
(434) 293-3300
www.cavalier-reporting.com
[email protected]

The Michael Smerconish Program

October 14, 2015
Shocking Response of UVa Student Jackie Friends
Page 2
1

(Program introduction)

2
3

MR. SMERCONISH:

I've been talking

extensively about that which you wrote, but, but I

don't want to take for granted that everybody

who's listening to us knows the story, so

hopefully we can just review a couple of the basic

outline points.

9
10

Okay?

MS. ERDELY:

Sure.

MR. SMERCONISH:

Absolutely.

You tell the story of

11

Jackie two years ago this fall -- I presume that

12

she's now a junior and still on the UVA campus.

13

Actually, I should ask that question.

14

still there, as we speak?

She is.

Is she

15

MS. ERDELY:

She is.

16

I discovered a young woman named Jackie,

17

who is now a junior, and when she was -- she told

18

me that when she was a freshman, just a few weeks

19

into her freshman year, she had been brutally gang

20

raped at a fraternity, and that she had gone to

21

the University to report this gang rape and that

22

the University did nothing with this information.

23

MR. SMERCONISH:

Is it fair to say she

24

didn't go and report it to the University until

25

the end of her freshman year where this happened

(434) 975-5400
Cavalier Reporting & Videography
(434) 293-3300
www.cavalier-reporting.com
[email protected]

The Michael Smerconish Program

October 14, 2015
Shocking Response of UVa Student Jackie Friends
Page 3
1

four weeks into her freshman year?

MS. ERDELY:

That's right.

It took her

some time -- it took her a long time to even tell

her own mother.

the reaction -- I mean, not only was she

incredibly traumatized -- this is a gang rape by,

she says, seven men while two others watched, so

she was incredibly traumatized.

really shocking was the reaction that Jackie got

And, in part, it was because of

But what was

10

from her fellow students when she confided in

11

them.

12

immediately after the attack, and their reaction

13

was -- they told her not to report her rape,

14

because they told her that she was going to be

15

blackballed from the social scene for the next

16

four years.

17

girl who cried rape, and we're not going to get to

18

any other fraternity parties.

19

She called some friends for help

They told her, you're going to be the

MR. SMERCONISH:

And her friend Cindy

20

said quote-unquote, Why didn't you just have fun

21

with it, a bunch of hot Phi Psi guys?

22

MS. ERDELY:

And, I mean, believe it or

23

not, that was the way she was treated.

She was

24

told not to be such a baby.

25

after the incident, she was being chastised for

A couple of weeks

(434) 975-5400
Cavalier Reporting & Videography
(434) 293-3300
www.cavalier-reporting.com
[email protected]

The Michael Smerconish Program

October 14, 2015
Shocking Response of UVa Student Jackie Friends
Page 4
1

still crying about it, and like you said, you

know, her friend, who I call Cindy said, you know,

why didn't you just enjoy it?

sick.

her about it.

Which is pretty

You know, they were sort of making fun of

What I came to discover is that that

story is actually very consistent with that of

other rape survivers at UVA, you know, who suffer

far less extreme, you know, rape situations, far

10

more typical rape.

11

situation, the students find themselves brushed

12

off.

13

told to just kind of get back to the party

14

culture, get back to their scene and just move on.

15
16
17

But no matter what the

They are, you know, sort of dismissed and

MR. SMERCONISH:

Are those still her

friends now that she's a junior?

MS. ERDELY:

No.

They actually parted

18

ways fairly quickly because Jackie fell very

19

quickly into a depression that first semester and,

20

basically, barely left her dorm room.

21

friends went on their merry way, that particular

22

group of friends.

23

And so her

You know how when you first go to

24

college and you become very tight with a group of

25

people at first, you know, and then sometimes,

(434) 975-5400
Cavalier Reporting & Videography
(434) 293-3300
www.cavalier-reporting.com
[email protected]

The Michael Smerconish Program

October 14, 2015
Shocking Response of UVa Student Jackie Friends
Page 5
1

sometimes it's the right fit and sometimes it's

not, so they wound up going their separate ways,

and Jackie is no longer friends with this group.

4
5

(Programming remarks)

6
7

---

8
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14
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18
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21
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25

(434) 975-5400
Cavalier Reporting & Videography
(434) 293-3300
www.cavalier-reporting.com
[email protected]

The Michael Smerconish Program

October 14, 2015
Surprise Response from UVa Dean to Jackie's Sexual Assault Claim
Page 1

TRANSCRIPTION

OF

THE MICHAEL SMERCONISH PROGRAM

AUDIO FILE NAME:

SURPRISING RESPONSE FROM UVA DEAN TO
JACKIE'S SEXUAL ASSAULT CLAIM - 179770397

PARTICIPANTS:
Michael Smerconish
Sabrina Erdely

Job No. 28693

TRANSCRIBED BY:

LORI A. BOEDING, CCR

(434) 975-5400
Cavalier Reporting & Videography
(434) 293-3300
www.cavalier-reporting.com
[email protected]

The Michael Smerconish Program

October 14, 2015
Surprise Response from UVa Dean to Jackie's Sexual Assault Claim
Page 2
1

(Program introduction)

2
3
4

MR. SMERCONISH:

The Dean who handles

these sexual assaults has told Jackie,

quote-unquote, All the boys involved have

graduated.

8
9
10

But Jackie has seen at least one of them

on campus recently, true?
MS. ERDELY:

Yes, that's right.

She saw

11

him riding his bike through the campus, and, and

12

it was a, it was a strange thing for the Dean to

13

have said to Jackie, because as Jackie's friend

14

noted, she said, well, doesn't that mean that

15

Phi Psi is making some kind of admission that

16

something happened, you know, that -- because

17

Jackie has actually never, um, um -- you know, she

18

doesn't know -- she doesn't even know the

19

identities of some of these boys who attacked her.

20

She can identify them all visually, but she's

21

never -- she doesn't know what some of their names

22

are, so how would, how would the Dean even know --

23

I don't know.

24

very strange, and it's all kind of, I think, very

25

consistent with the way that UVA has handled this

The whole, the whole response was

(434) 975-5400
Cavalier Reporting & Videography
(434) 293-3300
www.cavalier-reporting.com
[email protected]

The Michael Smerconish Program

October 14, 2015
Surprise Response from UVa Dean to Jackie's Sexual Assault Claim
Page 3
1

whole case, which is to try to keep it as quiet as

possible and to just sort of, you know, cover it

up and move on.

I mean, really, this is, this is an

attitude that radiates throughout the University

from the administration on down.

surprising that the students have this kind of

attitude, because this is, this is just the way

everybody treats it.

It's almost not

Not as a, not as a violent

10

crime, but as a, you know, misunderstanding, bad

11

behavior, party foul, you know, and something

12

that's best just to forget about it and move on.

13
14

(Programming remarks)

15
16

---

17
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20
21
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(434) 975-5400
Cavalier Reporting & Videography
(434) 293-3300
www.cavalier-reporting.com
[email protected]

EXHIBIT E
(Rolling Stone and UVA: The Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism Report: An
anatomy of a journalistic failure)

Rolling Stone and UVA: The Columbia School of Journalism Report | Rolling Stone

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Rolling Stone and UVA: The Columbia

University Graduate School of Journalism
Report
An anatomy of a journalistic failure
BY SHEILA CORONEL, STEVE COLL, DEREK KRAVITZ
April 5, 2015

Email

AROUND THE WEB

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Rolling Stone and UVA: The Columbia School of Journalism Report | Rolling Stone

A NOTE FROM THE EDITOR: Last November, we

published a story, 'A Rape on Campus' [RS 1223],
thatcentered around a University of Virginia student's
areajust better to watch.
horrifying account ofher allegedSome
gangstories
rape at
Follow us on YouTube.
campus fraternity house.Within days, commentators
10 Big Stars and Movies
started to question the veracity of ournarrative. Then,
They Regret Making
when The Washington Post uncovered details
suggestingthat the assault could not have taken place
the way we described it, thetruth of the story became a
subject of national controversy.
As we asked ourselves how we could have gotten the
story wrong, we decidedthe only responsible and
credible thing to do was to ask someone fromoutside
the magazine to investigate any lapses in reporting,
editing andfact-checking behind the story. We reached
out to Steve Coll, dean of the Columbia School of
Journalism, and a Pulitzer Prize-winning
reporterhimself, who accepted our offer. We agreed
that we would cooperate fully,that he and his team
could take as much time as they needed and
writewhatever they wanted. They would receive no
payment, and we promised topublish their report in
full. (A condensed version of the report will appear in
the next issue of the magazine, out April 8th.)
This report was painful reading, to me personally and
to all of us atRolling Stone. It is also, in its own way, a
fascinating document - apiece of journalism, as
Coll describes it, about a failure of journalism.With its
publication, we are officially retracting 'A Rape on
Campus.' Weare also committing ourselves to a series
of recommendations aboutjournalistic practices that
are spelled out in the report.We would like to

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Rolling Stone and UVA: The Columbia School of Journalism Report | Rolling Stone

apologize to our readers and to all of those who

weredamaged by our story and the ensuing fallout,
including members of the PhiKappa Psi fraternity and
UVA administrators and students.Sexual assault is a
serious problem on college campuses, and it
isimportant that rape victims feel comfortable stepping
forward. It saddensus to think that their willingness to
do so might be diminished by ourfailings.

People Think This Norwegian

Rapper Sounds JUST Like
Eminem

Will Dana, Managing Editor

Last July 8, Sabrina Rubin Erdely, a writer for Rolling
Stone, telephoned Emily Renda, a rape survivor
working on sexual assault issues as a staff member at
the University of Virginia. Erdely said she was
searching for a single, emblematic college rape case
that would show "what it's like to be on campus now
where not only is rape so prevalent but also that
there's this pervasive culture of sexual harassment/rape
culture," according to Erdely's notes of the
conversation.1
Renda told Erdely that many assaults take place during
parties where "the goal is to get everyone blackout
drunk." She continued, "There may be a much darker
side of this" at some fraternities. "One girl I worked
with closely alleged she was gang-raped in the fall,
before rush, and the men who perpetrated it were
young guys who were not yet members of the
fraternity, and she remembers one of them saying to
another 'C'mon man, don't you want to be a
brother?'"
Renda added, "And obviously, maybe her memory of it
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Rolling Stone and UVA: The Columbia School of Journalism Report | Rolling Stone

isn't perfect."
Erdely's notes set down her reply: "I tell her that it's
totally plausible."
Renda put the writer in touch with a rising junior at
UVA who would soon be known to millions of Rolling
Stone readers as "Jackie," a shortened version of her
true first name. Erdely said later that when she first
encountered Jackie, she felt the student "had this stamp
of credibility" because a university employee had
connected them. Earlier that summer, Renda had even
appeared before a Senate committee and had made
reference to Jackie's allegations during her testimony
another apparent sign of the case's seriousness.
"I'd definitely be interested in sharing my story," Jackie
wrote in an email a few days later.
On July 14, Erdely phoned her. Jackie launched into a
vivid account of a monstrous crime. She said,
according to Erdely's notes, that in September 2012,
early in her freshman year, a third-year student she
knew as a fellow lifeguard at the university's aquatic
center had invited her to "my first fraternity party
ever." After midnight, her date took her upstairs to a
darkened bedroom. "I remember looking at the clock
and it was 12:52 when we got into the room," she told
Erdely. Her date shut the door behind them. Jackie
continued, according to the writer's notes:
My eyes were adjusting to the dark. And I said his
nameand turned around. I heard voices and I
started to scream andsomeone pummeled into me and
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Rolling Stone and UVA: The Columbia School of Journalism Report | Rolling Stone

told me to shut up. And that'swhen I tripped and fell

against the coffee table and it smashedunderneath me
and this other boy, who was throwing his weighton top
of me. Then one of them grabbed my shoulders. One
of themput his hand over my mouth and I bit him and
he straight-uppunched me in the face. One of them
said, 'Grab its motherfuckingleg.' As soon as they said
it, I knew they were going to rape me.
The rest of Jackie's account was equally precise and
horrifying. The lifeguard coached seven boys as they
raped her one by one. Erdely hung up the phone
"sickened and shaken," she said. She remembered
being "a bit incredulous" about the vividness of some
of the details Jackie offered, such as the broken glass
from the smashed table. Yet Jackie had been
"confident, she was consistent." (Jackie declined to
respond to questions for this report. Her lawyer said it
"is in her best interest to remain silent at this time." The
quotations attributed to Jackie here come from notes
Erdely said she typed contemporaneously or from
recorded interviews.)2
Between July and October 2014, Erdely said, she
interviewed Jackie seven more times. The writer was
based in Philadelphia and had been reporting for
Rolling Stone since 2008. She specialized in true-crime
stories like "The Gangster Princess of Beverly Hills,"
about a high-living Korean model and self-styled
Samsung heiress accused of transporting 7,000 pounds
of marijuana. She had written about pedophile priests
and sexual assault in the military. Will Dana, the
magazine's managing editor, considered her "a very
thorough and persnickety reporter who's able to

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Rolling Stone and UVA: The Columbia School of Journalism Report | Rolling Stone

navigate extremely difficult stories with a lot of

different points of view."
Jackie proved to be a challenging source. At times, she
did not respond to Erdely's calls, texts and emails. At
two points, the reporter feared Jackie might withdraw
her cooperation. Also, Jackie refused to provide Erdely
the name of the lifeguard who had organized the attack
on her. She said she was still afraid of him. That led to
tense exchanges between Erdely and Jackie, but the
confrontation ended when Rolling Stone's editors
decided to go ahead without knowing the lifeguard's
name or verifying his existence. After that concession,
Jackie cooperated fully until publication.
Erdely believed firmly that Jackie's account was
reliable. So did her editors and the story's fact-checker,
who spent more than four hours on the telephone with
Jackie, reviewing every detail of her experience. "She
wasn't just answering, 'Yes, yes, yes,' she was
correcting me," the checker said. "She was describing
the scene for me in a very vivid way. I did not have
doubt." (Rolling Stone requested that the checker not be
named because she did not have decision-making
authority.)
Rolling Stone published "A Rape on Campus: A Brutal
Assault and Struggle for Justice at UVA" on Nov. 19,
2014. It caused a great sensation. "I was shocked to
have a story that was going to go viral in this way,"
Erdely said. "My phone was ringing off the hook." The
online story ultimately attracted more than 2.7 million
views, more than any other feature not about a celebrity
that the magazine had ever published.

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Rolling Stone and UVA: The Columbia School of Journalism Report | Rolling Stone

A week after publication, on the day before

Thanksgiving, Erdely spoke with Jackie by phone.
"She thanked me many times," Erdely said. Jackie
seemed "adrenaline-charged feeling really good."
Erdely chose this moment to revisit the mystery of the
lifeguard who had lured Jackie and overseen her
assault. Jackie's unwillingness to name him continued
to bother Erdely. Apparently, the man was still
dangerous and at large. "This is not going to be
published," the writer said, as she recalled. "Can you
just tell me?"
Jackie gave Erdely a name. But as the reporter typed,
her fingers stopped. Jackie was unsure how to spell the
lifeguard's last name. Jackie speculated aloud about
possible variations.
"An alarm bell went off in my head," Erdely said. How
could Jackie not know the exact name of someone she
said had carried out such a terrible crime against her
a man she professed to fear deeply?
Over the next few days, worried about the integrity of
her story, the reporter investigated the name Jackie had
provided, but she was unable to confirm that he worked
at the pool, was a member of the fraternity Jackie had
identified or had other connections to Jackie or her
description of her assault. She discussed her concerns
with her editors. Her work faced new pressures. The
writer Richard Bradley had published early if
speculative doubts about the plausibility of Jackie's
account. Writers at Slate had challenged Erdely's
reporting during a podcast interview. She also learned
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Rolling Stone and UVA: The Columbia School of Journalism Report | Rolling Stone

that T. Rees Shapiro, a Washington Post reporter, was

preparing a story based on interviews at the University
of Virginia that would raise serious doubts about
Rolling Stone's reporting.
Late on Dec. 4, Jackie texted Erdely, and the writer
called back. It was by now after midnight. "We
proceeded to have a conversation that led me to have
serious doubts," Erdely said.
She telephoned her principal editor on the story, Sean
Woods, and said she had now lost confidence in the
accuracy of her published description of Jackie's
assault. Woods, who had been an editor at Rolling
Stone since 2004, "was just stunned," he said. He
"raced into the office" to help decide what to do next.
Later that day, the magazine published an editor's note
that effectively retracted Rolling Stone's reporting on
Jackie's allegations of gang rape at the University of
Virginia. "It was the worst day of my professional life,"
Woods said.
***
Failure and Its Consequences
Rolling Stone's repudiation of the main narrative in "A
Rape on Campus" is a story of journalistic failure that
was avoidable. The failure encompassed reporting,
editing, editorial supervision and fact-checking. The
magazine set aside or rationalized as unnecessary
essential practices of reporting that, if pursued, would
likely have led the magazine's editors to reconsider
publishing Jackie's narrative so prominently, if at all.
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Rolling Stone and UVA: The Columbia School of Journalism Report | Rolling Stone

The published story glossed over the gaps in the

magazine's reporting by using pseudonyms and by
failing to state where important information had come
from.
In late March, after a four-month investigation, the
Charlottesville, Va., police department said that it had
"exhausted all investigative leads" and had concluded,
"There is no substantive basis to support the account
alleged in the Rolling Stone article."3
The story's blowup comes as another shock to
journalism's credibility amid head-swiveling change in
the media industry. The particulars of Rolling Stone's
failure make clear the need for a revitalized consensus
in newsrooms old and new about what best journalistic
practices entail, at an operating-manual-level of detail.
As at other once-robust print magazines and
newspapers, Rolling Stone's editorial staff has shrunk
in recent years as print advertising revenue has fallen
and shifted online. The magazine's full-time editorial
ranks, not including art or photo staff, have contracted
by about 25 percent since 2008. Yet Rolling Stone
continues to invest in professional fact-checkers and to
fund time-consuming investigations like Erdely's. The
magazine's records and interviews with participants
show that the failure of "A Rape on Campus" was not
due to a lack of resources. The problem was
methodology, compounded by an environment where
several journalists with decades of collective
experience failed to surface and debate problems about
their reporting or to heed the questions they did receive
from a fact-checking colleague.

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Rolling Stone and UVA: The Columbia School of Journalism Report | Rolling Stone

Erdely and her editors had hoped their investigation

would sound an alarm about campus sexual assault and
would challenge Virginia and other universities to do
better. Instead, the magazine's failure may have spread
the idea that many women invent rape allegations.
(Social scientists analyzing crime records report that
the rate of false rape allegations is 2 to 8 percent.) At
the University of Virginia, "It's going to be more
difficult now to engage some people because they
have a preconceived notion that women lie about
sexual assault," said Alex Pinkleton, a UVA student
and rape survivor who was one of Erdely's sources.
There has been other collateral damage. "It's completely
tarnished our reputation," said Stephen Scipione, the
chapter president of Phi Kappa Psi, the fraternity Jackie
named as the site of her alleged assault. "It's
completely destroyed a semester of our lives,
specifically mine. It's put us in the worst position
possible in our community here, in front of our peers
and in the classroom."
The university has also suffered. Rolling Stone's
account linked UVA's fraternity culture to a horrendous
crime and portrayed the administration as neglectful.
Some UVA administrators whose actions in and around
Jackie's case were described in the story were depicted
unflatteringly and, they say, falsely. Allen W. Groves,
the University dean of students, and Nicole Eramo, an
assistant dean of students, separately wrote to the
authors of this report that the story's account of their
actions was inaccurate.4
In retrospect, Dana, the managing editor, who has
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Rolling Stone and UVA: The Columbia School of Journalism Report | Rolling Stone

worked at Rolling Stone since 1996, said the story's

breakdown reflected both an "individual failure" and
"procedural failure, an institutional failure. Every
single person at every level of this thing had
opportunities to pull the strings a little harder, to
question things a little more deeply, and that was not
done."
Yet the editors and Erdely have concluded that their
main fault was to be too accommodating of Jackie
because she described herself as the survivor of a
terrible sexual assault. Social scientists, psychologists
and trauma specialists who support rape survivors have
impressed upon journalists the need to respect the
autonomy of victims, to avoid re-traumatizing them
and to understand that rape survivors are as reliable in
their testimony as other crime victims. These insights
clearly influenced Erdely, Woods and Dana.
"Ultimately, we were too deferential to our rape victim;
we honored too many of her requests in our reporting,"
Woods said. "We should have been much tougher, and
in not doing that, we maybe did her a disservice."
Erdely added: "If this story was going to be about
Jackie, I can't think of many things that we would have
been able to do differently. Maybe the discussion
should not have been so much about how to
accommodate her but should have been about whether
she would be in this story at all." Erdely's reporting led
her to other, adjudicated cases of rape at the university
that could have illustrated her narrative, although none
was as shocking and dramatic as Jackie's.
Yet the explanation that Rolling Stone failed because it

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Rolling Stone and UVA: The Columbia School of Journalism Report | Rolling Stone

deferred to a victim cannot adequately account for what

went wrong. Erdely's reporting records and interviews
with participants make clear that the magazine did not
pursue important reporting paths even when Jackie had
made no request that they refrain. The editors made
judgments about attribution, fact-checking and
verification that greatly increased their risks of error
but had little or nothing to do with protecting Jackie's
position.
It would be unfortunate if Rolling Stone's failure were
to deter journalists from taking on high-risk
investigations of rape in which powerful individuals or
institutions may wish to avoid scrutiny but where the
facts may be underdeveloped. There is clearly a need
for a more considered understanding and debate among
journalists and others about the best practices for
reporting on rape survivors, as well as on sexual assault
allegations that have not been adjudicated. This report
will suggest ways forward. It will also seek to clarify,
however, why Rolling Stone's failure with "A Rape on
Campus" need not have happened, even accounting for
the magazine's sensitivity to Jackie's position. That is
mainly a story about reporting and editing.
***
'How Else Do You Suggest I Find It Out?'
By the time Rolling Stone's editors assigned an article
on campus sexual assault to Erdely in the spring of
2014, high-profile rape cases at Yale, Harvard,
Columbia, Vanderbilt and Florida State had been in the
headlines for months. The Office of Civil Rights at the
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federal Department of Education was leaning on

colleges to reassess and improve their policies. Across
the country, college administrators had to adjust to
stricter federal oversight as well as to a new generation
of student activists, including women who declared
openly that they had been raped at school and had not
received justice.
There were numerous reports of campus assault that had
been mishandled by universities. At Columbia, an
aggrieved student dragged a mattress around campus to
call attention to her account of assault and injustice.
The facts in these cases were sometimes disputed, but
they had generated a wave of campus activism. "My
original idea," Dana said, was "to look at one of these
cases and have the story be more about the process of
what happens when an assault is reported and the sort
of issues it brings up."
Jackie's story seemed a powerful candidate for such a
narrative. Yet once she heard the story, Erdely
struggled to decide how much she could independently
verify the details Jackie provided without jeopardizing
Jackie's cooperation. In the end, the reporter relied
heavily on Jackie for help in getting access to
corroborating evidence and interviews. Erdely asked
Jackie for introductions to friends and family. She
asked for text messages to confirm parts of Jackie's
account, for records from Jackie's employment at the
aquatic center and for health records. She even asked to
examine the bloodstained red dress Jackie said she had
worn on the night she said she was attacked.
Jackie gave the reporter some help. She provided emails

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from a pool supervisor as evidence of her employment

there. She introduced Erdely to Rachel Soltis, a
freshman-year suitemate. Soltis confirmed that in
January 2013, four months after the alleged attack,
Jackie had told her that she had been gang-raped.
Yet Jackie could also be hard to pin down. Other
interviews Jackie said she would facilitate never
materialized. "I felt frustrated, but I didn't think she
didn't want to produce" corroboration, Erdely said.
Eventually, Jackie told Erdely that her mother had
thrown away the red dress. She also said that her
mother would be willing to talk to Erdely, but the
reporter said that when she called and left messages
several times, the mother did not respond.
There were a number of ways that Erdely might have
reported further, on her own, to verify what Jackie had
told her. Jackie told the writer that one of her rapists
had been part of a small discussion group in her
anthropology class. Erdely might have tried to verify
independently that there was such a group and to
identify the young man Jackie described. She might
have examined Phi Kappa Psi's social media for
members she could interview and for evidence of a
party on the night Jackie described. Erdely might have
looked for students who worked at the aquatic center
and sought out clues about the lifeguard Jackie had
described. Any one of these and other similar reporting
paths might have led to discoveries that would have
caused Rolling Stone to reconsider its plans. But three
failures of reporting effort stand out. They involve
basic, even routine journalistic practice not special
investigative effort. And if these reporting pathways

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had been followed, Rolling Stone very likely would

have avoided trouble.
Three friends and a 'shit show'
During their first interview, Jackie told Erdely that after
she escaped the fraternity where seven men, egged on
by her date, had raped her, she called three friends for
help.
She described the two young men and one woman
now former friends, she told Erdely as Ryan, Alex
and Kathryn. She gave first names only, according to
Erdely's notes. She said they met her in the early hours
of Sept. 29, 2012, on the campus grounds. Jackie said
she was "crying and crying" at first and that all she
could communicate was that "something bad" had
happened. She said her friends understood that she had
been sexually assaulted. (In interviews for this report,
Ryan and Alex said that Jackie told them that she had
been forced to perform oral sex on multiple men.) In
Jackie's account to Erdely, Ryan urged her to go to the
university women's center or a hospital for treatment.
But Alex and Kathryn worried that if she reported a
rape, their social lives would be affected. "She's going
to be the girl who cried 'rape' and we'll never be
allowed into any frat party again," Jackie recalled
Kathryn saying.
Jackie spoke of Ryan sympathetically, but the scene she
painted for Rolling Stone's writer was unflattering to all
three former friends. Journalistic practice and basic
fairness require that if a reporter intends to publish
derogatory information about anyone, he or she should
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seek that person's side of the story.

Erdely said that while visiting UVA, she did ask Alex
Pinkleton, a student and assault survivor, for help in
identifying or contacting the three. (Pinkleton was not
the "Alex" to whom Jackie referred in her account.)
But Pinkleton said she would need to ask Jackie for
permission to assist the writer. Erdely did not follow up
with her. It should have been possible for Erdely to
identify the trio independently. Facebook friend listings
might have shown the names. Or, Erdely could have
asked other current students, besides Pinkleton, to help.
Instead, Erdely relied on Jackie. On July 29, she asked
Jackie for help in speaking to Ryan, "about
corroborating that night, just a second voice?" Jackie
answered, according to the writer's notes, that while
"Ryan may be awkward, I don't understand why he
wouldn't." But Jackie did not respond to follow-up
messages Erdely left.
On Sept. 11, Erdely traveled to Charlottesville and met
Jackie in person for the first time, at a restaurant near
the UVA campus. With her digital recorder running,
the reporter again asked about speaking to Ryan. "I did
talk to Ryan," Jackie disclosed. She said she had
bumped into him and had asked if he would be
interested in talking to Rolling Stone. Jackie went on to
quote Ryan's incredulous reaction: "No! I'm in a
fraternity here, Jackie, I don't want the Greek system to
go down, and it seems like that's what you want to
happen. I don't want to be a part of whatever little
shit show you're running."

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"Ryan is obviously out," Erdely told Jackie a little later.

Yet Jackie never requested then or later that Rolling
Stone refrain from contacting Ryan, Kathryn or Alex
independently. "I wouldn't say it was an obligation" to
Jackie, Erdely said later. She worried, instead, that if "I
work round Jackie, am I going to drive her from the
process?" Jackie could be hard to get hold of, which
made Erdely worry that her cooperation remained
tentative. Yet Jackie never said that she would
withdraw if Erdely sought out Ryan or conducted other
independent reporting.
"They were always on my list of people" to track down,
Erdely said of the three. However, she grew busy
reporting on UVA's response to Jackie's case, she said.
She doesn't remember having a distinct conversation
about this issue with Woods, her editor. "We just kind
of agreed. We just gotta leave it alone." Woods,
however, recalled more than one conversation with
Erdely about this. When Erdely said she had exhausted
all the avenues for finding the friends, he said he
agreed to let it go.
If Erdely had reached Ryan Duffin his true name he
would have said that he had never told Jackie that he
would not participate in Rolling Stone's "shit show,"
Duffin said in an interview for this report. The entire
conversation with Ryan that Jackie described to Erdely
"never happened," he said. Jackie had never tried to
contact him about cooperating with Rolling Stone. He
hadn't seen Jackie or communicated with her since the
previous April, he said.

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If Erdely had learned Ryan's account that Jackie had

fabricated their conversation, she would have changed
course immediately, to research other UVA rape cases
free of such contradictions, she said later.
If Erdely had called Kathryn Hendley and Alex Stock
their true names to check their sides of Jackie's
account of Sept. 28 and 29, they would have denied
saying any of the words Jackie attributed to them (as
Ryan would have as well). They would have described
for Erdely a history of communications with Jackie that
would have left the reporter with many new questions.
For example, the friends said that Jackie told them that
her date on Sept. 28 was not a lifeguard but a student in
her chemistry class named Haven Monahan. (The
Charlottesville police said in March they could not
identify a UVA student or any other person named
Haven Monahan.) All three friends would have spoken
to Erdely, they said, if they had been contacted.
The episode reaffirms a truism of reporting: Checking
derogatory information with subjects is a matter of
fairness, but it can also produce surprising new facts.
'Can you comment?'
Throughout her reporting, Erdely told Jackie and others
that she wanted to publish the name of the fraternity
where Jackie said she had been raped. Erdely felt
Jackie "was secure" about the name of the fraternity:
Phi Kappa Psi.
Last October, as she was finishing her story, Erdely
emailed Stephen Scipione, Phi Kappa Psi's local
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chapter president. "I've become aware of allegations of

gang rape that have been made against the UVA
chapter of Phi Kappa Psi," Erdely wrote. "Can you
comment on those allegations?"
It was a decidedly truncated version of the facts that
Erdely believed she had in hand. She did not reveal
Jackie's account of the date of the attack. She did not
reveal that Jackie said Phi Kappa Psi had hosted a "date
function" that night, that prospective pledges were
present or that the man who allegedly orchestrated the
attack was a Phi Kappa Psi member who was also a
lifeguard at the university aquatic center. Jackie had
made no request that she refrain from providing such
details to the fraternity.
The university's administration had recently informed
Phi Kappa Psi that it had received an account of a
sexual assault at the fraternity that had reportedly taken
place in September 2012. Erdely knew that the
fraternity had received a briefing from UVA but did
not know its specific contents. In fact, in this briefing,
Scipione said in a recent interview, UVA provided a
mid-September date as the night of the assault not
Sept. 28. And the briefing did not contain the details
that Jackie had provided Erdely. The university said
only that according to the account it had received, a
freshman woman had been drinking at a party, had
gone upstairs and had been forced to have oral sex with
multiple men.
On Oct. 15, Scipione replied to Erdely's request for
comment. He had learned, he wrote to her by email,
"that an individual who remains unidentified had

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supposedly reported to someone who supposedly

reported to the University that during a party there was
a sexual assault." He added, "Even though this
allegation is fourth hand and there are no details and no
named accuser, the leadership and fraternity as a whole
have taken this very seriously."
Erdely next telephoned Shawn Collinsworth, then Phi
Kappa Psi's national executive director. Collinsworth
volunteered a summary of what UVA had passed on to
the fraternity's leaders: that there were allegations of
"gang rape during Phi Psi parties" and that one assault
"took place in September 2012."
Erdely asked him, according to her notes, "Can you
comment?"
If Erdely had provided Scipione and Collinsworth the
full details she possessed instead of asking simply for
"comment," the fraternity might have investigated the
facts she presented. After Rolling Stone published, Phi
Kappa Psi said it did just that. Scipione said in an
interview that a review of the fraternity's social media
archives and bank records showed that the fraternity
had held no date function or other party on the night
Jackie said she was raped. A comparison of fraternity
membership rolls with aquatic center employment
records showed that it had no members who worked as
lifeguards, Scipione added.
Erdely said Scipione had seemed "really vague," so she
focused on getting a reply from Collinsworth. "I felt
that I gave him a full opportunity to respond," she said.
"I felt very strongly that he already knew what the
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allegations were because they'd been told by UVA." As

it turned out, however, the version of the attack
provided to Phi Kappa Psi was quite different from and
less detailed than the one Jackie had provided to
Erdely.
Scipione said that Rolling Stone did not provide the
detailed information the fraternity required to respond
properly to the allegations. "It was complete bullshit,"
he said. "They weren't telling me what they were going
to write about. They weren't telling me any dates or
details." Collinsworth said that he was also not
provided the details of the attack that ultimately
appeared in Rolling Stone.
There are cases where reporters may choose to withhold
some details of what they plan to write while seeking
verification for fear that the subject might "front run"
by rushing out a favorably spun version pre-emptively.
There are sophisticated journalistic subjects in politics
and business that sometimes burn reporters in this way.
Even so, it is risky for a journalist to withhold detailed
derogatory information from any subject before
publication. Here, there was no apparent need to fear
"front-running" by Phi Kappa Psi.
Even if Rolling Stone did not trust Phi Kappa Psi's
motivations, if it had given the fraternity a chance to
review the allegations in detail, the factual
discrepancies the fraternity would likely have reported
might have led Erdely and her editors to try to verify
Jackie's account more thoroughly.
The mystery of "Drew"

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In her interviews, Jackie freely used a first name but

no last name of the lifeguard she said had
orchestrated her rape. On Sept. 16, for the first time,
Erdely raised the possibility of tracking this man down.
"Any idea what he's up to now?" Erdely asked,
according to her notes.
"No, I just know he's graduated. I've blocked him on
Facebook," Jackie replied. "One of my friends looked
him up she wanted to see him so she could recognize
and kill him," Jackie said, laughing. "I couldn't even
look at his Facebook page."
"How would you feel if I reached out to him for a
comment?" Erdely asked, the notes record.
"I'm not sure I would be comfortable with that."
That exchange inaugurated a six-week struggle between
Erdely and Jackie. For a while, it seemed to Erdely as
if the stalemate might lead Jackie to withdraw from
cooperation altogether.
On Oct. 20, Erdely asked again for the man's last name.
"I'm not going to use his name in the article, but I have
to do my due diligence anyway," Erdely told Jackie,
according to the writer's notes. "I imagine he's going to
say nothing, but it's something I need to do."
"I don't want to give his last name," Jackie replied. "I
don't even want to get him involved in this. He
completely terrifies me. I've never been so scared of a

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person in my entire life, and I've never wanted to tell

anybody his last name. I guess part of me was
thinking that he'd never even know about the article."
"Of course he's going to know about the article," Erdely
said. "He's going to read it. He probably knows about
the article already."
Jackie sounded shocked, according to Erdely's notes. "I
don't want to be the one to give you the name," Jackie
said.
"How else do you suggest I find it out?"
"I guess you could ask Phi Psi for their list," Jackie
suggested.
After this conversation, Jackie stopped responding to
Erdely's calls and messages. "There was a point in
which she disappeared for about two weeks," Erdely
said, "and we became very concerned" about Jackie's
well-being. "Her behavior seemed consistent with a
victim of trauma."
Yet Jackie made no demand that Rolling Stone not try
to identify the lifeguard independently. She even
suggested a way to do so by checking the fraternity's
roster. Nor did she condition her participation in the
story on Erdely agreeing not to try to identify the
lifeguard.
Erdely did try to identify the man on her own. She
asked Jackie's friends if they could help. They
demurred. She searched online to see if the clues she
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had would produce a full name. This turned up nothing

definitive. "She was very aggressive about contacting"
the lifeguard, said Pinkleton, one of the students Erdely
asked for assistance.
With the benefit of hindsight, to succeed, Erdely
probably would have had to persuade students to access
the aquatic center's employment records, to find
possible name matches. That might have taken time
and luck.
By October's end, with the story scheduled for closing
in just two weeks, Jackie was still refusing to answer
Erdely's texts and voicemails. Finally, on Nov. 3, after
consulting with her editors, Erdely left a message for
Jackie proposing to her a "solution" that would allow
Rolling Stone to avoid contacting the lifeguard after all.
The magazine would use a pseudonym; "Drew" was
eventually chosen.
After Erdely left this capitulating voicemail, Jackie
called back quickly. According to Erdely, she now
chatted freely about the lifeguard, still without using
his last name. From that point on, through the story's
publication, Jackie cooperated.
In December, Jackie told The Washington Post in an
interview that after several interviews with Erdely, she
had asked to be removed from the story, but that Erdely
had refused. Jackie told the Post she later agreed to
participate on condition that she be allowed to factcheck parts of her story. Erdely said in an interview for
this report that she was completely surprised by
Jackie's statements to the Post and that Jackie never
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told her she wanted to withdraw from the story. There

is no evidence of such an exchange between Jackie and
Erdely in the materials Erdely submitted to Rolling
Stone.
There was, in fact, an aquatic center lifeguard who had
worked at the pool at the same time as Jackie and had
the first name she had used freely with Erdely. He was
not a member of Phi Kappa Psi, however. The police
interviewed him and examined his personal records.
They found no evidence to link him to Jackie's assault.
If Rolling Stone had located him and heard his response
to Jackie's allegations, including the verifiable fact that
he did not belong to Phi Kappa Psi, this might have led
Erdely to reconsider her focus on that case. In any
event, Rolling Stone stopped looking for him.
***
'What Are They Hiding?'
"A Rape on Campus" had ambitions beyond recounting
one woman's assault. It was intended as an
investigation of how colleges deal with sexual
violence. The assignment was timely. The systems
colleges have put in place to deal with sexual
misconduct have come under intense scrutiny. These
systems are works in progress, entangled in changing
and sometimes contradictory federal rules that seek at
once to keep students safe, hold perpetrators to account
and protect every student's privacy.
The legal issues date to 1977, when five female students
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sued Yale University, arguing that they had been

sexually harassed. The students invoked Title IX of the
Education Amendments of 1972, a federal law that
bans gender discrimination in education. They lost their
case, but their argument that sexual harassment and
violence on campus threatened women's access to
education prevailed over time. By the mid-1980s,
hundreds of colleges had adopted procedures to
manage sexual misconduct, from stalking to rape. If
universities failed to do so adequately, they could lose
federal funding.
In late 2009, the Center for Public Integrity began to
publish a series of articles that helped inspire even
stricter federal guidelines. The articles bared problems
with the first generation of campus response: botched
investigations by untrained staff members; adjudication
processes shrouded in secrecy; and sanctions so lacking
that they sometimes allowed rapists, including repeat
offenders, to remain on campus while their victims fled
school.
The Obama administration took up the cause. It
pressured colleges to adopt more rigorous systems, and
it required a lower threshold of guilt to convict a
student before school tribunals. The new pressure
caused confusion, however, and, in some cases,
charges of injustice. Last October, a group of Harvard
Law School professors wrote that its university's
revised sexual misconduct policy was "jettisoning
balance and fairness in the rush to appease certain
federal administrative officials."
Erdely's choice of the University of Virginia as a case

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study was well timed. The week she visited campus, an

18-year-old UVA sophomore went missing and was
later found to have been abducted and killed. The
university had by then endured a number of highly
visible sexual assault cases. The Department of
Education's Office of Civil Rights had placed the
school, along with 54 others, under a broad compliance
review.
"The overarching point of the article," Erdely wrote in
response to questions from The Washington Post last
December, was not Jackie, but "the culture that greeted
her and so many other UVA women I interviewed, who
came forward with allegations, only to be met with
indifference."
Erdely saw her reporting about UVA as an examination,
she said in an interview for this report, of "the way
colleges handle these types of things." Jackie "was just
the most dramatic example."
'A chilling effect'
After she heard Jackie's shocking story, Erdely zeroed
in on the obligation of universities under federal law to
issue timely warnings when there is a "serious or
continuing" threat to student safety. Erdely understood
from Jackie that eight months after the alleged assault,
she had reported to UVA about being gang-raped at the
Phi Kappa Psi house on campus grounds, in what
appeared to be a hazing ritual. The university, Rolling
Stone reported in its published story, was remiss in not
warning its students about this apparently predatory
fraternity.
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According to the Charlottesville police, Jackie did meet

with assistant dean of students Nicole Eramo on May
20, 2013. During that meeting, Jackie described her
assault differently than she did later for Erdely, the
police said, declining to provide details. According to
members of the UVA community knowledgeable about
the case, who asked not to be identified in order to
speak about confidential university matters, Jackie
recounted to Eramo the same story she had told her
friends on the night of Sept. 28: She was forced to have
oral sex with several men while at a fraternity party.
Jackie did not name the fraternity where the assault
occurred or provide names or details about her
attackers, the sources said. No mention was made of
hazing. (Citing student privacy and ongoing
investigations, the UVA administration, through its
communications office, declined to answer questions
about the case.)
Over the years, the Department of Education has issued
guidelines that stress victim confidentiality and
autonomy. This means survivors decide whether to
report and what assistance they would like. "If she did
not identify any individual or Greek organization by
name, the university was very, very limited in what it
can do," said S. Daniel Carter, a campus safety
advocate and director of the nonprofit 32 National
Campus Safety Initiative.
As Rolling Stone reported, at their May 2013 meeting,
Eramo presented Jackie her options: reporting the
assault to the police or to the university's Sexual
Misconduct Board. The dean also offered counseling
and other services. She checked with Jackie in
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succeeding weeks to see whether she wanted to take

action. She introduced Jackie to One Less, a student
group made up of sexual assault survivors and their
advocates.
The university did not issue a warning at this point
because Jackie did not file a formal complaint and her
account did not include the names of assailants or a
specific fraternity, according to the UVA sources. It
also made no mention of hazing.
Between that time and April 2014, the university
received no further information about Jackie's case,
according to the police and UVA sources.
On April 21, 2014, Jackie again met with Eramo,
according to the police. She told the dean that she was
now coming under pressure for her visible activism on
campus with assault prevention groups such as Take
Back the Night, according to the UVA sources. Three
weeks earlier, she said, she had been hit in the face by a
bottle thrown by hecklers outside a Charlottesville bar.
She also added a new piece of information to her
earlier account of the gang rape she had endured. She
named Phi Kappa Psi as the fraternity where the assault
had taken place, the police said later. Moreover, she
mentioned to Eramo two other students who she said
had been raped at that fraternity. But she did not reveal
the names of these women or any details about their
assaults.
When there is credible information about multiple acts
of sexual violence by the same perpetrator that may put
students at risk, Department of Education guidelines
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indicate the university should take action even when no

formal complaint has been filed. The school should
also consider whether to issue a public safety warning.
Once more, the University of Virginia did not issue a
warning. Whether the administration should have done
so, given the information it then possessed, is a
question under review by the University of Virginia's
governing Board of Visitors, aided by fact-finding and
analysis by the law firm O'Melveny & Myers. (On
March 30, UVA updated its sexual assault policy to
include more clearly defined procedures for assessing
threats and issuing timely warnings.)
The day after her meeting with the dean, Jackie met
with Charlottesville and UVA police in a meeting
arranged by Eramo. Jackie reported both the bottlethrowing incident and her assault at the Phi Kappa Psi
house. The police later said that she declined to provide
details about the gang rape because "[s]he feared
retaliation from the fraternity if she followed through
with a criminal investigation." The police also said they
found significant discrepancies in Jackie's account of
the day she said she was struck by the bottle.
That summer, Erdely began interviewing multiple UVA
assault survivors. University officials still hoped that
Jackie and the two other victims she had mentioned
would file formal charges, the UVA sources said.
Erdely knew this: On July 14, Emily Renda, who had
graduated in May and taken a job in the university's
student affairs office, told the reporter that it might be
unwise for Rolling Stone to name Phi Kappa Psi in its
story because "there are two other women who have
not come forward fully yet, and we are trying to

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persuade them to get punitive action against the

fraternity." Renda wrote later in an email for this report
that she had tried to dissuade the writer "because of due
process concerns and the way in which publicly
accusing a fraternity might both prevent any future
justice, but also infringe on their rights." Renda's
warning to Erdely a notice from a UVA employee
that Phi Kappa Psi was under university scrutiny over
allegations made by Jackie and two others added to
the impression that UVA regarded Jackie's narrative as
reliable.
As it turned out, however, all of the information that the
reporter, Renda and UVA possessed about the two
other reported victims, in addition to Jackie, came only
from Jackie. One of the women filed an anonymous
report through the UVA online system Jackie told
Erdely she was there when the student pressed the
"send" button but neither of the women has been
heard from since.
'I'm afraid it may look like we're trying to hide
something'
In early September, Erdely asked to interview Eramo.
The request created a dilemma for UVA. Universities
must comply with a scaffold of federal laws that limit
what they can make public about their students. The
most important of these is the Family Educational
Rights and Privacy Act, or FERPA, which protects
student privacy and can make it difficult for university
staff members to release records or answer questions
about any enrollee.

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Eramo was willing to talk if she wasn't asked about

specific cases, but about hypothetical situations, as
Erdely had cleverly suggested as a way around student
privacy limitations.
"Since [Erdely] was referred to me by the students she
interviewed, I'm afraid it may look like we are trying to
hide something for me not to speak with her," Eramo
said in an email to the UVA communications staff,
recently released in response to a Freedom of
Information Act request.
The communications office endorsed the interview, but
Vice President for Student Life Patricia Lampkin
vetoed the idea. "This is not reflective of Nicole," she
wrote in an email, "but of the issue and how reporters
turn the issue." Asked to clarify that statement for this
review, Lampkin said she felt that given FERPA
restrictions, there was nothing Eramo could say in an
interview that would give Erdely "a full and balanced
view of the situation."
The distrust was mutual. "I had actually gone to campus
thinking that they were going to be very helpful,"
Erdely said. Now she felt she was being stonewalled.
Among other things, she said Jackie and Alex
Pinkleton told her that after Rolling Stone started
asking questions on campus, UVA administrators
contacted Phi Kappa Psi for the first time about the
allegations of sexual assault at the fraternity house.
To Erdely, UVA looked as if it was in damage control
mode. "So I think that instead of being skeptical of
Jackie," she said, "I became skeptical of UVA.
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What are they hiding and why are they acting this
way?"
It is true that UVA did not get in touch with Phi Kappa
Psi until Erdely showed up on campus. University
sources offered an explanation. They said that
administrators had contemplated suspending the
fraternity's charter, but that would mean no university
oversight over Phi Kappa Psi. They had also put off
contacting the fraternity in the summer in the hope that
Jackie and the other alleged victims would file charges.
That hadn't happened, so they decided to act, even
before Erdely started asking questions, these sources
said. (At the time of the writing of this report, the
university had released no documentary evidence to
support the decision-making sequence these sources
described.) In any event, there was reason for Rolling
Stone to be skeptical. UVA's history of managing
sexual misconduct is checkered, as Erdely illustrated in
other cases she reported on.
On Oct. 2, Erdely interviewed UVA President Teresa
Sullivan. The reporter asked probing questions that
revealed the gap between the number of assault cases
that the university reported publicly and the cases that
had been brought to the university's attention
internally. Erdely described the light sanctions imposed
on students found guilty of sexual misconduct. She
asked about allegations of gang rapes at Phi Kappa Psi.
Sullivan said that a fraternity was under investigation
but declined to comment further about specific cases.
Following the recent announcement by the
Charlottesville police that they could find no basis for

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Rolling Stone's account of Jackie's assault, Sullivan

issued a statement. "The investigation confirms what
federal privacy law prohibited the university from
sharing last fall: That the university provided support
and care to a student in need, including assistance in
reporting potential criminal conduct to law
enforcement," she said.
Erdely concluded that UVA had not done enough.
"Having presumably judged there to be no threat," she
wrote in her published story, UVA "took no action to
warn the campus that an allegation of gang rape had
been made against an active fraternity." Overall, she
wrote, "rapes are kept quiet" at UVA in part because of
"an administration that critics say is less concerned
with protecting students than it is with protecting its
own reputation from scandal."
During the six months she worked on the story, Erdely
concentrated her reporting on the perspectives of
victims of sexual violence at the University of Virginia
and other campuses. She was moved by their
experiences and their diverse frustrations. Her access to
the perspectives of UVA administrators was much
more limited, in part because some of them were not
permitted to speak with her but also because Erdely
came to see them as obstacles to her reporting.
In the view of some of Erdely's sources, the portrait she
created was unfair and mistaken. "The university's
response is not, 'We don't care,' " said Pinkleton,
Jackie's confidante and a member of One Less. "When
I reported my own assault, they immediately started
giving me resources."

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For her part, Eramo rejects the article's suggestion that

UVA places its own reputation above protecting
students. In an email provided by her lawyers, the dean
wrote that the article falsely attributes to her statements
she never made (to Jackie or otherwise) and that it
"trivializes the complexities of providing traumainformed support to survivors and the real difficulties
inherent in balancing respect for the wishes of
survivors while also providing for the safety of our
communities."
"UVA does have plenty of room to grow in regard to
prevention and response, as most if not all, colleges
do," said Sara Surface, a junior who co-chairs UVA's
Sexual Violence Prevention Coalition. She added, "The
administrators and staff that work directly with and
advocate for survivors are not more interested in the
college's reputation over the well-being of its students."
***
The Editing: 'I Wish Somebody Had Pushed Me
Harder'
Sean Woods, Erdely's primary editor, might have
prevented the effective retraction of Jackie's account by
pressing his writer to close the gaps in her reporting.
He started his career in music journalism but had been
editing complex reported features at Rolling Stone for
years. Investigative reporters working on difficult,
emotive or contentious stories often have blind spots. It
is up to their editors to insist on more phone calls, more
travel, more time, until the reporting is complete.
Woods did not do enough.
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Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner said he typically

reads about half of the stories in each issue before
publication. He read a draft of Erdely's narrative and
found Jackie's case "extremely strong, powerful,
provocative. I thought we had something really
good there." But Wenner leaves the detailed editorial
supervision to managing editor Will Dana, who has
been at the magazine for almost two decades. Dana
might have looked more deeply into the story drafts he
read, spotted the reporting gaps and insisted that they
be fixed. He did not. "It's on me," Dana said. "I'm
responsible."
In hindsight, the most consequential decision Rolling
Stone made was to accept that Erdely had not contacted
the three friends who spoke with Jackie on the night
she said she was raped. That was the reporting path, if
taken, that would have almost certainly led the
magazine's editors to change plans.
Erdely said that as she was preparing to write her first
draft, she talked with Woods about the three friends.
"Sean advised me that for now we should just put this
aside," she said. "He actually suggested that I change
their names for now." Woods said that he intended this
decision to be temporary, pending further reporting and
review.
Erdely used pseudonyms in her first draft: "Randall,"
"Cindy" and "Andrew." She relied solely on Jackie's
information and wrote vividly about how the three
friends had reacted after finding Jackie shaken and
weeping in the first hours of Sept. 29:
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The group looked at each other in a panic. They all

knew aboutJackie's date that evening at Phi Kappa
Psi, the house loomingbehind them. "We have got to
get her to the hospital," Randall declared.The other
two friends, however, weren't convinced."Is that such
a good idea?" countered Cindy. "Her reputationwill
be shot for the next four years." Andrew seconded the
opinion.The three friends launched into a heated
discussionabout the social price of reporting Jackie's
rape, while Jackiestood behind them, mute in her
bloody dress.
Erdely inserted a note in her draft, in bold type: "she
says all her POV" to indicate to her editors that the
dialogue had come only from Jackie.
"In retrospect, I wish somebody had pushed me harder"
about reaching out to the three for their versions,
Erdely said. "I guess maybe I was surprised that
nobody said, 'Why haven't you called them?' But
nobody did, and I wasn't going to press that issue." Of
course, just because an editor does not ask a reporter to
check derogatory information with a subject, that does
not absolve the reporter of responsibility.
Woods remembered the sequence differently. After he
read the first draft, he said, "I asked Sabrina to go
reach" the three friends. "She said she couldn't. I did
repeatedly ask, 'Can we reach these people? Can we?'
And I was told no." He accepted this because "I felt we
had enough." The documentary evidence provided by
Rolling Stone sheds no light on whose recollection -Erdely's or Wood's is correct.

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Woods said he ultimately approved pseudonyms

because he didn't want to embarrass the three students
by having Jackie's account of their self-involved patter
out there for all their friends and classmates to see. "I
wanted to protect them," he said.
For his part, Dana said he did not recall talking with
Woods or Erdely about the three friends at all.
'We need to verify this'
None of the editors discussed with Erdely whether Phi
Kappa Psi or UVA, while being asked for "comment,"
had been given enough detail about Jackie's narrative
to point out holes or contradictions. Erdely never raised
the subject with her editors.
As to "Drew," the lifeguard, Dana said he was not even
aware that Rolling Stone did not know the man's full
name and had not confirmed his existence. Nor was he
told that "we'd made any kind of agreement with Jackie
to not try to track this person down."
As noted, there was no such explicit compact between
Erdely and Jackie, according to Erdely's records. Jackie
requested Erdely not to contact the lifeguard, but there
was no agreement.
"Can you call the pool? Can you call the frat? Can you
look at yearbooks?" Woods recalled asking Erdely after
he read the first draft. "If you've got to go around
Jackie, fine, but we need to verify this," meaning
Drew's identity. He remembered having this discussion
"at least three times."
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But when Jackie became unresponsive to Erdely in late

October, Woods and Dana gave in. They authorized
Erdely to tell Jackie they would stop trying to find the
lifeguard. Woods resolved the issue as he had done
earlier with the three friends: by using a pseudonym in
the story.
'I had a faith'
It is not possible in journalism to reach every source a
reporter or editor might wish. A solution is to be
transparent with readers about what is known or
unknown at the time of publication.
There is a tension in magazine and narrative editing
between crafting a readable story a story that flows
and providing clear attribution of quotations and facts.
It can be clunky and disruptive to write "she said" over
and over. There should be room in magazine
journalism for diverse narrative voicing if the
underlying reporting is solid. But the most egregious
failures of transparency in "A Rape on Campus" cannot
be chalked up to writing style. They obfuscated
important problems with the story's reporting.
-- Rolling Stone's editors did not make clear to
readers that Erdely and her editors did not know
"Drew's" true name, had not talked to him and had
been unable to verify that he existed. That was
fundamental to readers' understanding. In one draft of
the story, Erdely did include a disclosure. She wrote
that Jackie "refuses to divulge [Drew's] full name to
RS," because she is "gripped by fears she can barely

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articulate." Woods cut that passage as he was editing.

He "debated adding it back in" but "ultimately chose
not to."
-- Woods allowed the "shit show" quote from
"Randall" into the story without making it clear that
Erdely had not gotten it from him but from Jackie. "I
made that call," Woods said. Not only did this mislead
readers about the quote's origins, it also compounded
the false impression that Rolling Stone knew who
"Randall" was and had sought his and the other friends'
side of the story.
The editors invested Rolling Stone's reputation in a
single source. "Sabrina's a writer I've worked with for
so long, have so much faith in, that I really trusted her
judgment in finding Jackie credible," Woods said. "I
asked her a lot about that, and she always said she
found her completely credible."
Woods and Erdely knew Jackie had spoken about her
assault with other activists on campus, with at least one
suitemate and to UVA. They could not imagine that
Jackie would invent such a story. Woods said he and
Erdely "both came to the decision that this person was
telling the truth." They saw her as a "whistle blower"
who was fighting indifference and inertia at the
university.
The problem of confirmation bias the tendency of
people to be trapped by pre-existing assumptions and to
select facts that support their own views while
overlooking contradictory ones is a well-established
finding of social science. It seems to have been a factor
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here. Erdely believed the university was obstructing

justice. She felt she had been blocked. Like many other
universities, UVA had a flawed record of managing
sexual assault cases. Jackie's experience seemed to
confirm this larger pattern. Her story seemed well
established on campus, repeated and accepted.
"If I had been informed ahead of time of one problem or
discrepancy with her overall story, we would have
acted upon that very aggressively," Dana said. "There
were plenty of other stories we could have told in this
piece." If anyone had raised doubts about how
verifiable Jackie's narrative was, her case could have
been summarized "in a paragraph deep in the story."
No such doubts came to his attention, he said. As to the
apparent gaps in reporting, attribution and verification
that had accumulated in the story's drafts, Dana said, "I
had a faith that as it went through the fact-checking that
all this was going to be straightened out."
***
Fact-Checking: 'Above My Pay Grade'
At Rolling Stone, every story is assigned to a factchecker. At newspapers, wire services and in broadcast
newsrooms, there is no job description quite like that of
a magazine fact-checker. At newspapers, frontline
reporters and editors are responsible for stories'
accuracy and completeness. Magazine fact-checking
departments typically employ younger reporters or
college graduates. Their job is to review a writer's story
after it has been drafted, to double-check details like
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dates and physical descriptions. They also look at

issues such as attribution and whether story subjects
who have been depicted unfavorably have had their
say. Typically, checkers will speak with the writer's
sources, sometimes including confidential sources, to
verify facts within quotations and other details. To be
effective, checkers must be empowered to challenge
the decisions of writers and editors who may be much
more senior and experienced.
In this case, the fact-checker assigned to "A Rape on
Campus" had been checking stories as a freelancer for
about three years, and had been on staff for one and a
half years. She relied heavily on Jackie, as Erdely had
done. She said she was "also aware of the fact that
UVA believed this story to be true." That was a
misunderstanding. What Rolling Stone knew at the time
of publication was that Jackie had given a version of
her account to UVA and other student activists. A
university employee, Renda, had made reference to that
account in congressional testimony. UVA had placed
Phi Kappa Psi under scrutiny. None of this meant that
the university had reached a conclusion about Jackie's
narrative. The checker did not provide the school with
the details of Jackie's account to Erdely of her assault
at Phi Kappa Psi.
The checker did try to improve the story's reporting and
attribution of quotations concerning the three friends.
She marked on a draft that Ryan "Randall" under
pseudonym had not been interviewed, and that his
"shit show" quote had originated with Jackie. "Put this
on Jackie?" the checker wrote. "Any way we can
confirm with him?" She said she talked about this

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problem of clarity with Woods and Erdely. "I pushed.

They came to the conclusion that they were
comfortable" with not making it clear to readers that
they had never contacted Ryan.
She did not raise her concerns with her boss, Coco
McPherson, who heads the checking department. "I
have instructed members of my staff to come to me
when they have problems or are concerned or feel that
they need some muscle," McPherson said. "That did
not happen." Asked if there was anything she should
have been notified about, McPherson answered: "The
obvious answers are the three friends. These decisions
not to reach out to these people were made by editors
above my pay grade."
McPherson read the final draft. This was a provocative,
complex story heavily reliant on a single source. She
said later that she had faith in everyone involved and
didn't see the need to raise any issues with the editors.
She was the department head ultimately responsible for
fact-checking.
Natalie Krodel, an in-house lawyer for Wenner Media,
conducted a legal review of the story before
publication. Krodel had been on staff for several years
and typically handled about half of Rolling Stone's prepublication reviews, sharing the work with general
counsel Dana Rosen.5 It is not clear what questions the
lawyer may have raised about the draft. Erdely and the
editors involved declined to answer questions about the
specifics of the legal review, citing instructions from
the magazine's outside counsel, Elizabeth McNamara, a
partner at Davis Wright Tremaine. McNamara said

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Rolling Stone would not answer questions about the

legal review of "A Rape on Campus" in order to protect
attorney-client privilege.
***
The Editor's Note: 'I Was Pretty Freaked Out'
On Dec. 5, following Erdely's early-morning
declaration that she had lost confidence in her sourcing,
Rolling Stone posted an editor's note on its website that
effectively withdrew the magazine's reporting on
Jackie's case.
The note was composed and published hastily. The
editors had heard that The Washington Post intended to
publish a story that same day calling the magazine's
reporting into question. They had also heard that Phi
Kappa Psi would release a statement disputing some of
Rolling Stone's account. Dana said there was no time to
conduct a "forensic investigation" into the story's
issues.He wrote the editor's note "very quickly" and
"under a lot of pressure."
He posted it at about noon, under his signature. "In the
face of new information, there now appear to be
discrepancies in Jackie's account, and we have come to
the conclusion that our trust in her was misplaced," it
read. That language deflected blame from the magazine
to its subject and it attracted yet more criticism. Dana
said he rued his initial wording. "I was pretty freaked
out," he said. "I regretted using that phrase pretty
quickly." Early that evening, he changed course in a
series of tweets. "That failure is on us not on her," he
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wrote. A revised editor's note, using similar language,

appeared the next day.
Yet the final version still strained to defend Rolling
Stone's performance. It said that Jackie's friends and
student activists at UVA "strongly supported her
account." That implied that these friends had direct
knowledge of the reported rape. In fact, the students
supported Jackie as a survivor, friend and fellow
campus reformer. They had heard her story, but they
could not independently confirm it.
***
Looking Forward
For Rolling Stone: An Exceptional Lapse or a Failure
of Policy?
The collapse of "A Rape on Campus" does not involve
the kinds of fabrication by reporters that have occurred
in some other infamous cases of journalistic meltdown.
In 2003, the New York Times reporter Jayson Blair
resigned after editors concluded that he had invented
stories from whole cloth. In February, NBC News
suspended anchor Brian Williams after he admitted that
he told tall tales about his wartime reporting in Iraq.
There is no evidence in Erdely's materials or from
interviews with her subjects that she invented facts; the
problem was that she relied on what Jackie told her
without vetting its accuracy.
"It's been an extraordinarily painful and humbling
experience," Woods said. "I've learned that even the
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most trusted and experienced people including, and

maybe especially, myself can make grave errors in
judgment."
Yet Rolling Stone's senior editors are unanimous in the
belief that the story's failure does not require them to
change their editorial systems. "It's not like I think we
need to overhaul our process, and I don't think we need
to necessarily institute a lot of new ways of doing
things," Dana said. "We just have to do what we've
always done and just make sure we don't make this
mistake again." Coco McPherson, the fact-checking
chief, said, "I one hundred percent do not think that the
policies that we have in place failed. I think decisions
were made around those because of the subject matter."
Yet better and clearer policies about reporting practices,
pseudonyms and attribution might well have prevented
the magazine's errors. The checking department should
have been more assertive about questioning editorial
decisions that the story's checker justifiably doubted.
Dana said he was not told of reporting holes like the
failure to contact the three friends or the decision to use
misleading attributions to obscure that fact.
Stronger policy and clearer staff understanding in at
least three areas might have changed the final outcome:
Pseudonyms. Dana, Woods and McPherson said using
pseudonyms at Rolling Stone is a "case by case" issue
that requires no special convening or review.
Pseudonyms are inherently undesirable in journalism.
They introduce fiction and ask readers to trust that this
is the only instance in which a publication is inventing
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details at its discretion. Their use in this case was a

crutch it allowed the magazine to evade coming to
terms with reporting gaps. Rolling Stone should
consider banning them. If its editors believe
pseudonyms are an indispensable tool for its forms of
narrative writing, the magazine should consider using
them much more rarely and only after robust discussion
about alternatives, with dissent encouraged.
Checking Derogatory Information. Erdely and Woods
made the fateful agreement not to check with the three
friends. If the fact-checking department had understood
that such a practice was unacceptable, the outcome
would almost certainly have changed.
Confronting Subjects With Details. When Erdely sought
"comment," she missed the opportunity to hear
challenging, detailed rebuttals from Phi Kappa Psi
before publication. The fact-checker relied only on
Erdely's communications with the fraternity and did not
independently confirm with Phi Kappa Psi the account
Rolling Stone intended to publish about Jackie's
assault. If both the reporter and checker had understood
that by policy they should routinely share specific,
derogatory details with the subjects of their reporting,
Rolling Stone might have veered in a different
direction.
For Journalists: Reporting on Campus Rape
Rolling Stone is not the first news organization to be
sharply criticized for its reporting on rape. Of all
crimes, rape is perhaps the toughest to cover. The
common difficulties that reporters confront including
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scarce evidence and conflicting accounts can be

magnified in a college setting. Reporting on a case that
has not been investigated and adjudicated, as Rolling
Stone did, can be even more challenging.
There are several areas that require care and should be
the subject of continuing deliberation among
journalists:
Balancing sensitivity to victims and the demands of
verification. Over the years, trauma counselors and
survivor support groups have helped journalists
understand the shame attached to rape and the
powerlessness and self-blame that can overwhelm
victims, particularly young ones. Because questioning a
victim's account can be traumatic, counselors have
cautioned journalists to allow survivors some control
over their own stories. This is good advice. Yet it does
survivors no good if reporters documenting their cases
avoid rigorous practices of verification. That may only
subject the victim to greater scrutiny and skepticism.
Problems arise when the terms of the compact between
survivor and journalist are not spelled out. Kristen
Lombardi, who spent a year and a half reporting the
Center for Public Integrity's series on campus sexual
assault, said she made it explicit to the women she
interviewed that the reporting process required her to
obtain documents, collect evidence and talk to as many
people involved in the case as possible, including the
accused. She prefaced her interviews by assuring the
women that she believed in them but that it was in their
best interest to make sure there were no questions
about the veracity of their accounts. She also allowed

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victims some control, including determining the time,

place and pace of their interviews.
If a woman was not ready for such a process, Lombardi
said, she was prepared to walk away.
Corroborating survivor accounts. Walt Bogdanich, a
Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter for The
New York Times who has spent the past two years
reporting on campus rape, said he tries to track down
every available shred of corroborating evidence
hospital records, 911 calls, text messages or emails that
have been sent immediately after the assault. In some
cases, it can be possible to obtain video, either from
security cameras or from cellphones.
Many assaults take place or begin in semipublic places
such as bars, parties or fraternity houses. "Campus
sexual violence probably has more witnesses,
bystanders, etc. than violence in other contexts," said
Elana Newman, a University of Tulsa psychology
professor who has advised journalists on
trauma."Itmight be useful for journalists to think
about all the early signals and signs" and people who
saw or ignored them early on, she said.
Every rape case has multiple narratives, Newman said.
"If there are inconsistencies, explain those
inconsistencies." Reporters should also bear in mind
that trauma can impair a victim's memory and that this
can be a cause of fragmentary and contradictory
accounts.
Victims often interact with administrators, counselors
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Rolling Stone and UVA: The Columbia School of Journalism Report | Rolling Stone

and residence hall staff members. "I've always found

that the people most willing to talk are these front-line
staff," said Lombardi, who said she phoned or visited
potential sources at home and talked to them on
background because of their concerns about student
privacy.
FERPA restrictions are severe, yet the law allows
students to access their own school records. Students at
public universities can also sign privacy waivers that
would allow reporters to obtain their records, including
case files and reports.
Moreover, there's a FERPA exception: In sexual assault
cases that have reached final disposition and a student
has been found responsible, campus authorities can
release the name of the student, the violation
committedand any sanction imposed. (The Student
Press Law Center provides good advice on navigating
FERPA.)
Holding institutions to account. Given the difficulties,
journalists are rarely in a position to prove guilt or
innocence in rape. "The real value of what we do as
journalists is analyzing the response of the institutions
to the accusation," Bogdanich said. This approach can
also make it easier to persuade both victims and
perpetrators to talk. Lombardi said the women she
interviewed were willing to help because the story was
about how the system worked or didn't work. The
accused, on the other hand, was often open to talking
about perceived failings of the adjudication process.
To succeed at such reporting, it is necessary to gain a
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Rolling Stone and UVA: The Columbia School of Journalism Report | Rolling Stone

deep understanding of the tangle of rules and

guidelines on campus sexual assault. There's Title IX,
the Clery Act and the Violence Against Women Act.
There are directives from the Office of Civil Rights and
recommendations from the White House. Congress and
state legislatures are proposing new laws.
The responsibilities that universities have in preventing
campus sexual assault and the standards of
performance they should be held to are important
matters of public interest. Rolling Stone was right to
take them on. The pattern of its failure draws a map of
how to do better.
NOTES:
1. This report is intended as a work of journalism about
a failure of journalism. Last November, Rolling Stone
published "A Rape on Campus" by Sabrina Rubin
Erdely. Its principal narrative recounted a horrible gang
rape at a University of Virginia fraternity. Early in
December, Rolling Stone effectively retracted that
narrative. Several weeks later, the magazine contacted
the Columbia University Graduate School of
Journalism about conducting an investigation of what
had gone wrong. Rolling Stone provided access to
Erdely's reporting records as well as drafts of the story.
The authors enjoyed the freedom to investigate and
write about any subject related to "A Rape on Campus"
that they judged to be germane and in the public
interest. The magazine agreed to publish Columbia's
review in full on its website, after a legal review, but
without editing. Rolling Stone also pledged to publish
mutually agreed excerpts in its print magazine.

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Rolling Stone and UVA: The Columbia School of Journalism Report | Rolling Stone

Over several months, the authors conducted interviews

and investigations that ranged widely in scope. Yet the
final report is not intended to be encyclopedic. The
report has several intended purposes. One is to
illuminate the key reasons Rolling Stone's failure was
avoidable and to draw lessons. In that respect, the
report focuses on several of Rolling Stone's failures of
reporting, editing and supervision but not on every
single misstep that might be inventoried. Another
purpose of the report is to assess independently and
through fresh reporting some of the subjects Rolling
Stone covered in the story, beyond Jackie's account of
sexual assault particularly the timeline of how UVA
handled Jackie's information. The report also addresses
how Rolling Stone's editorial policies might be
reconsidered to prevent future failure. And it evaluates
how journalists might begin to define best practices
when reporting about rape cases on campus or
elsewhere.
Rolling Stone's staff cooperated fully during the review.
Coll and Coronel agreed to Rolling Stone's request not
to name the story's fact-checker in its report on the
grounds that she was a junior employee without
ultimate decision-making authority. Several
participants from the magazine did decline to answer
certain questions that they said invaded attorney-client
privilege. Neither Columbia nor the authors
individually received compensation for the work.
Rolling Stone agreed to reimburse expenses.
Sheila Coronel is dean of academic affairs at the
Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University.
Steve Coll is dean of the school and the author of seven
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Rolling Stone and UVA: The Columbia School of Journalism Report | Rolling Stone

nonfiction books. Derek Kravitz is a postgraduate

research scholar at Columbia.
2.Rolling Stone provided a 405-page record of Erdely's
interviews and research notes as well as access to
original audio recordings. Erdely turned this record
over to Rolling Stone before she or the magazine
believed there were any problems with the story.
Erdely said she typed notes contemporaneously on a
laptop during phone and in-person interviews. In some
cases, she taped interviews and meetings and
transcribed them later. We compared transcripts Erdely
submitted of her recorded interviews with Jackie with
the audio files and found the transcripts to be accurate.
Erdely's typed notes of interviews contain her own
questions or remarks, sometimes placed in brackets, as
well as those of her interview subject. Erdely said that
she sometimes typed her own questions or remarks
contemporaneously but that other times she typed them
after the interview was over, summarizing the
questions she had asked or the comments she had
made.
3.Rolling Stone's retraction of its reporting about Jackie
concerned the story it printed. The retraction cannot be
understood as evidence about what actually happened
to Jackie on the night of Sept. 28, 2012. If Jackie was
attacked and, if so, by whom, cannot be established
definitively from the evidence available.
Jackie's phone records from September 2012 would
provide strong evidence about what might have
befallen her. But the Charlottesville police said the
company they asked to produce Jackie's phone records

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Rolling Stone and UVA: The Columbia School of Journalism Report | Rolling Stone

no longer had her records from 2012. After

interviewing about 70 people and obtaining access to
some university and fraternity records, the
Charlottesville police could say only that they found no
evidence of the gang rape Rolling Stone described. This
finding, said Police Chief Timothy Longo, "doesn't
mean that something terrible didn't happen to Jackie"
that night.
4. In a letter, Groves objected to Rolling Stone's
portrayal of his actions during a University of Virginia
Board of Visitors meeting last September. A video of
the meeting is available on a UVA website. Groves
wrote that Erdely "did not disclose the significant
details that I had offered into the scope" of a
Department of Education compliance review of UVA.
Groves's full letter is here.
In the email sent through her lawyer, Eramo wrote,
Rolling Stone "made numerous false statements and
misleading implications about the manner in which I
conducted my job as the Chair of University of
Virginia's Sexual Misconduct Board, including
allegations about specific student cases. Although the
law prohibits me from commenting on those specific
cases in order to protect the privacy of the students who
I counsel, I can say that the account of my actions in
Rolling Stone is false and misleading. The article
trivializes the complexities of providing traumainformed support to survivors and the real difficulties
inherent in balancing respect for the wishes of
survivors while also providing for the safety of our
communities. As a general matter, I do not and have
never allowed the possibility of a media story to

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Rolling Stone and UVA: The Columbia School of Journalism Report | Rolling Stone

influence the way I have counseled students or the

decisions I have made in my position. And contrary to
the quote attributed to me in Rolling Stone, I have
never called the University of Virginia "the rape
school," nor have I ever suggested either
professionally or privately that parents would not
"want to send their daughter" to UVA. As a UVA
alumna, and as someone who has lived in the
Charlottesville community for over 20 years, I have a
deep and profound love for this University and the
students who study here."
5. Last December, Rosen left Wenner Media for ALM
Media, where she is general counsel. Rosen said her
departure had no connection with "A Rape on Campus"
and that she had played no part in reviewing the story
before publication. She said she began talking with
ALM in September, before Erdely's story was filed,
about the position she ultimately accepted.

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EXHIBIT F
(Transcript of Erdelys statements on the Nov. 26, 2014 DoubleX Gabfest podcast with Hanna
Rosin)

The Double XX Gabfest with Hanna Rosin

Interview with Sabrina Erdely

10/2/2015

Page 1

1
2
3
4

TRANSCRIPTION

5
6

OF

7
8

DOUBLEX GABFEST

9
10
11
12

AUDIO FILE NAME:

DOUBLE XX GABFEST WITH HANNA ROSIN NOV. 26,
2014 WITH ERDELY

13
14
15
16

PARTICIPANTS:

17

Hanna Rosin

18

June Thomas

19

Katy Waldman

20
21
22
23
24
25
Job # 28693

Job No. 28693

TRANSCRIBED BY:

LORI A. BOEDING, CCR

Reported by Lori A Boeding of Cavalier Reporting & Videography

(434) 293-3300

The Double XX Gabfest with Hanna Rosin

Interview with Sabrina Erdely

10/2/2015

Page 2

(Program introduction)

2
3

MS. ROSIN:

Welcome to the DoubleX

Gabfest for Thursday, November 27th, the Butch

Goddess Edition.

I'm Hanna Rosin, a writer for DoubleX.

I'm joined in the VC studio today by Slate writer,

Katy Waldman.

MS. WALDMAN:

10
11

Hi, Slate.

Hi, Katy.

Hi, Hanna.

MS. ROSIN:

I'm just so excited to have

a human with me in the studio today.

12
13

Hi, Katy.

MS. WALDMAN:

I speak on behalf of the

institution, the Holland institution at Slate.

14

MS. ROSIN:

15

And we're joined in New York by June

Of course, you do.

16

Thomas, editor Outward.

17

LGBTQ blog.

18

Outward is.

I'm going to stop saying

My listeners by now should know what

19

So, hi, June.

20

MS. THOMAS:

21

Hanna.

22

They surely should.

Hey,

Hey, Katy.
MS. ROSIN:

So our three topics for

23

today:

24

in this month's Rolling Stone about a gang rape

25

that happened at a University of Virginia

Job # 28693

First, we're going to talk about a story

Reported by Lori A Boeding of Cavalier Reporting & Videography

(434) 293-3300

The Double XX Gabfest with Hanna Rosin

Interview with Sabrina Erdely

10/2/2015

Page 3

fraternity and how it prompted the University to

suspend all frat activities.

Second, a new study showing that

husbands, not children, are what holds women's

careers back, and third, does the new Hunger Games

movie show us what a feminine utopia would look

like.

8
9

Okay.

Let's move on to our first topic.

In this month's Rolling Stone, Sabrina Rubin

10

Erdely reports on a shocking 2012 incident that

11

took place at a UVA frat.

12

girl named Jackie followed her date upstairs at a

13

frat party into a dark room.

14

down and essentially gang raped by a group of frat

15

boys while a couple of other boys looked on.

16

Erdely looks into the party culture at UVA and

17

then how the administration responded.

She describes how a

She was then pinned

18

Sabrina, welcome to the show.

19

MS. ERDELY:

20

Thank you.

Thank you for

having me.

21

MS. ROSIN:

22

So how did you find Jackie, first of

23
24
25
Job # 28693

Sure.

all?
MS. ERDELY:

Well, I, first I looked

around at a number of different campuses.

Reported by Lori A Boeding of Cavalier Reporting & Videography

It took
(434) 293-3300

The Double XX Gabfest with Hanna Rosin

Interview with Sabrina Erdely

10/2/2015

Page 4

me a while to figure out where I wanted to focus

on, but when I finally decided on the University

of Virginia, one of the compelling reasons that

made me focus on the University of Virginia was

when I found Jackie.

I, I made contact with a student

activist at the school who told me a lot about the

culture of the school.

of important things, sort of the criteria that I

That was one of the, sort

10

wanted when I was looking for the right school to

11

focus on.

12

her to put me in touch with other rape survivers,

13

and she had mentioned a bunch of people with

14

different situations, and she kind of casually

15

mentioned that she knew somebody who had been gang

16

raped, and she had mentioned it in the context

17

of -- we had been talking about self-blame and so

18

forth, and she was telling me that even in the

19

situation of this horrendous gang rape, there is

20

somebody who had been -- who just really continues

21

to blame herself.

22

pricked up, because I was like, gang rape?

23

mean, that was just something I did not really

24

expect to find.

25
Job # 28693

And then I had asked her, I had asked

And my ears just totally

I

So, so in any event, you know, my net

Reported by Lori A Boeding of Cavalier Reporting & Videography

(434) 293-3300

The Double XX Gabfest with Hanna Rosin

Interview with Sabrina Erdely

10/2/2015

Page 5

got wider and wider.

to introduced me to more, and, you know, Jackie

was one of the first people that I did get in

touch with, but I just kept coming back to her.

Her story was just so compelling that she

basically, you know, kind of overtook the story.

MS. ROSIN:

Each survivor that I talked

And can you tell us a little

bit about what, for our listeners, what Jackie

told you?

Kind of how did the story unfold?

10

she tell you right away?

11

slowly?

12

MS. ERDELY:

Did

Did the details come out

That was one of the things

13

that surprised me; the details came out right

14

away.

15

ready to -- she was so ready to tell her story;

16

that she was, she was a freshman at the University

17

of Virginia, just a few weeks into her freshman

18

year having the time of her life.

19

said that the first month of her, of her freshman

20

year was just like the happiest four weeks she had

21

ever had.

22

by this handsome junior, who invited her out to

23

dinner and then to a fraternity party.

24
25
Job # 28693

The minute we got on the phone, she was

I mean, she

And she had been invited out on a date

And at that party, he invited her up the

stairs into a bedroom, and she says that waiting
Reported by Lori A Boeding of Cavalier Reporting & Videography

(434) 293-3300

The Double XX Gabfest with Hanna Rosin

Interview with Sabrina Erdely

10/2/2015

Page 6

in that bedroom -- it was pitch-black in there --

were seven men who took turns gang raping her for

the next three hours while her date and another

guy gave them encouragement and instruction.

MS. ROSIN:

MS. ERDELY:

It's just a crazy story.

I know, it's, it's, it

boggles the mind, it boggles the mind.

it, actually -- I mean, it sort of -- it becomes

even more disturbing when I found out that Jackie

But then

10

told me that she had actually told her friends who

11

had discouraged her from reporting and who had

12

totally down-played the situation.

13

eventually kind of, you know, mustered up the

14

courage to tell the administration that she had

15

been brutally gang raped and that the University

16

did nothing with this information, and that they

17

continued to do nothing even when she eventually

18

then told them that she had become aware of two

19

other women who were also gang raped at that same

20

fraternity.

21

She had

So the idea that this was some kind of

22

culture in which there was so much indifference

23

and apathy towards rape victims and it was

24

radiating everywhere, from the student body and

25

from the administration itself, I felt like, you

Job # 28693

Reported by Lori A Boeding of Cavalier Reporting & Videography

(434) 293-3300

The Double XX Gabfest with Hanna Rosin

Interview with Sabrina Erdely

10/2/2015

Page 7

know, this is just something that I, I did not

really expect to find.

MS. ROSIN:

Before we get to the

administration's response, because that's like an

unfolding story, which has been amazing to watch,

what about Drew or who these guys are?

you have a sense of who they are or who Drew is?

I mean, you call him Drew.

his name, but --

10
11

MS. ERDELY:

Like, do

I don't know if that's

That's not his name; that's

a pseudonym.

12

MS. ROSIN:

13

MS. ERDELY:

So who is he?
I don't want to say much

14

about them as individuals, but I will just say

15

that the, the -- this particular fraternity, Phi

16

Kappa Psi, it's, it's really emblematic in a lot

17

of ways, sort of like an elitist fraternity

18

culture.

19

fraternity at the University of Virginia, even

20

though I've seen a lot of chatter online about,

21

like, oh, it's not really top tier, you know.

22

it's considered to be like a really high ranking

23

fraternity at the University of Virginia, in part

24

because they are just so incredibly wealthy.

25

Their alumni are very influential.

Job # 28693

It's considered to be a sort of top-tier

Reported by Lori A Boeding of Cavalier Reporting & Videography

But

You know,
(434) 293-3300

10/2/2015

The Double XX Gabfest with Hanna Rosin

Interview with Sabrina Erdely

they're on Wall Street; they're in politics.

like, really sort of tangible bit of their totem,

I guess, of their, of this fraternity's status is

that they have the biggest and best fraternity

house that has the best piece of real estate on

all of Rugby Road, which is like their legendary

fraternity strip.

8
9
10

MS. ROSIN:

One,

Yeah, I think there was a

photograph of the frat house, actually, in the

story.

11

MS. ERDELY:

12

MS. ROSIN:

Yeah.
But did they say anything?

13

Like, did they respond about this?

14

it?

15

allegation?

16

Page 8

Did they deny

What was their response to, to this, to the

MS. ERDELY:

There was never a need for

17

a response until I, until I stepped in,

18

apparently, because it wasn't until I started

19

asking questions that the University put them

20

under some kind of investigation, or so they said.

21

It was unclear to me whether there was actually an

22

investigation.

23

under an investigation, but when I spoke to the

24

Phi Psi chapter and also the Phi Psi national

25

representative, both of them said they were not

Job # 28693

The University said that they were

Reported by Lori A Boeding of Cavalier Reporting & Videography

(434) 293-3300

The Double XX Gabfest with Hanna Rosin

Interview with Sabrina Erdely

10/2/2015

Page 9

aware of any kind of University investigation.

But both said that they had been informed by the

University that there was some kind of hazy

allegation that had been made; they both said that

they really hadn't been told about any kind of

specifics, and that without any real information

to go on, they weren't able to do any kind of

investigation on their own.

MS. ROSIN:

But did the boys say

10

anything to you, or did they say -- I mean, the

11

thing about it is everybody in the story seems to

12

know who they are.

13

who were saying, oh, yeah -- I mean, he's on her

14

life guard shift, and then there was that other

15

guy in her anthropology class.

16

wondered, did they --

17

MS. ERDELY:

Like there were her friends

Like I just

Oh, yeah, there's no,

18

there's no doubt that -- I mean, the people in --

19

you know, people, people seem to know who these

20

people are.

21

would speculate that life inside of a frat house

22

is probably -- you know, you have this kind of

23

communal life where everybody is sort of sharing

24

information.

25

you know, people are living their lives very

Job # 28693

And then it also, I, I, I mean, I

It's a very -- it's a life where,

Reported by Lori A Boeding of Cavalier Reporting & Videography

(434) 293-3300

The Double XX Gabfest with Hanna Rosin

Interview with Sabrina Erdely

10/2/2015

Page 10

closely with one another, and it seems impossible

to imagine that people didn't know about this,

that some people didn't know about this.

not everybody.

There's something like 82 brothers in -- you know,

that are currently in there.

impossible to imagine that, that people did not

know about it.

It's a fairly large fraternity.

MS. ROSIN:

But it seems

Did they try and contact

10

you?

11

any communication between you and them?

Did you try and call them?

12

Maybe

MS. ERDELY:

Like, was there

Yeah, I reached out to -- I

13

reached out to them in multiple ways.

14

kind of hard to get in touch with because their

15

contact data was pretty outdated, but I wound up

16

speaking -- I wound up getting in touch with their

17

local president, who sent me an email, and then I

18

talked with their, sort of their national guy,

19

whose kind of like their crisis, their national

20

crisis manager.

21
22
23

They were

You know, they were --

MS. ROSIN:

But not the actual boys

like -MS. ERDELY:

They are both helpful in

24

their own way, I guess.

25

they -- they were -- all they really said was, you

Job # 28693

You know, I mean, all

Reported by Lori A Boeding of Cavalier Reporting & Videography

(434) 293-3300

The Double XX Gabfest with Hanna Rosin

Interview with Sabrina Erdely

10/2/2015

Page 11

know, this is a -- they both claim to have been

really shocked by the allegations when they were

told by the University, and they both said that

this is a really tragic thing, and, you know, if

only we had more information, we could look into

it, and, you know, that's the end of that, you

know.

8
9

MS. ROSIN:

But the thing that's hard to

get your head around is, like, this is not -- you

10

know, we've read lots of campus sexual assault

11

stories.

12

gang rape.

13

Like, I couldn't -- it doesn't seem -- like I know

14

we're talking about it like it's the norm, but the

15

situation seems so unbelievably extreme that a guy

16

would take a freshman and orchestrate a gang rape

17

that, you know, that like people like that should

18

be immediately in prison.

19

University heard any hint of such a story, like

20

you would call the police and say, get this psycho

21

out of our school.

22

unless you think it was like a hazing ritual that

23

got encouraged.

24

down sort of what you were actually saying about

25

the boys and sort of which category we should

Job # 28693

I mean, this is like a really serious

Like it's a highly criminal thing.

So I would think if the

Like it's not a casual thing,

Like that's why I couldn't pin

Reported by Lori A Boeding of Cavalier Reporting & Videography

(434) 293-3300

The Double XX Gabfest with Hanna Rosin

Interview with Sabrina Erdely

10/2/2015

Page 12

think of them in.

MS. ERDELY:

Oh, I see.

Like are they

serial rapists, or is this some kind of initiation

(unintelligible) --

MS. ROSIN:

It's a gang rape, like they

smashed her over a glass table, you know, they

told five or six people to rape her.

like, you know, how can that -- that can be the

norm?

10

It seems --

I mean, that seems such an extreme

situation.

11

MS. ERDELY:

It definitely is incredibly

12

extreme.

13

perpetrated by, you know, like a serial rapist who

14

is -- who has like, you know, many victims -- you

15

know, I mean, it seems, it seems like no matter,

16

no matter what, this was, this was -- I mean, this

17

is an incredibly messed up situation, but it was

18

absolutely a violent crime, and I think what was

19

really telling was the idea that -- and this is,

20

this really underscores the entire article -- is

21

that both -- is that the student body and the

22

administration doesn't really treat rape as a

23

crime, as a violent crime.

24

general as some kind of behavioral problem.

25
Job # 28693

I mean, whether this was, you know,

MS. ROSIN:

They treat it in

Even this kind of rape?

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MS. ERDELY:

Right.

Exactly.

Page 13

And this

is, this is why this case blew my mind, that

Jackie's situation blew my mind; that even in a

situation that was so extreme and so obviously

within the realm of, you know, criminal that they

would seek to suppress something like this.

mean, because that's really what they did.

you know, they didn't -- not only did they not

report it to the police, but, I mean, really she

I
They,

10

was kind of -- you know, I feel she was sort of

11

discouraged from moving this forward.

12

would think that the first thing that they would

13

do would be to tell her, you know, this needs to

14

go to police.

15

hurting people, who are hurting people.

16

hurt you, you know -- and, you know, she heard

17

them saying things during the rape like, oh, you

18

know, you have to -- you know, egging people --

19

egging each other on, saying things like, don't

20

you want to be a brother?

21

indicate that this is some kind of initiation

22

ritual.

23

I mean, I

These are dangerous people who are

MS. THOMAS:

If they

Which would seem to

Sabrina, one of the things

24

that you talk about is how there are kind of three

25

options; that Dean Eramo presented Jackie with

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Page 14

three options, as, as, you know, all people in

this position do.

informal report, you can take it to the police, or

you can have a kind of an internal investigation,

an investigation at the school.

6
7

That you can sort of do an

And has Jackie done any of those things

at this point?

MS. ERDELY:

none of those things.

10

MS. THOMAS:

She has not.

She's done

And is there any limit on

11

how long she can wait?

12

that she's so willing to talk to you.

13

said, you know, she, she told you this story the

14

first time you talked to her, but she hasn't -- is

15

it that she hasn't decided which of the options

16

she wants to take?

17

MS. ERDELY:

I mean, it, it's striking

As you

Um, I think that she -- I

18

think it's a couple of things.

19

is that she's incredibly -- she's very traumatized

20

by this whole situation, and she is very afraid of

21

the men who she's saying did these things to her.

22

She's particularly afraid of Drew, who she has

23

assigned a tremendous amount of power in her own

24

mind.

25

really by orchestrating this, you know, he

Job # 28693

I think that one

You know, he's this person who, you know,

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Page 15

transformed her from this happy person she was

before into a, you know, a person that -- you

know, she describes herself as being like an empty

shell.

So I think that the idea of facing him

or them down in any way is, is really just

emotionally crippling for her.

very hard time facing up to that, and I think that

she needs a lot of support if she's going to get

She's having a

10

to the place where she, she can actually confront

11

them.

12

When she does -- she does actually run

13

into some of her alleged assailants on campus

14

sometimes.

15

identify them all.

16

just the sight of them, it's, obviously, it's a

17

shock, but it also tends to send her into a, a

18

depression.

19

emotional toll that something like this would

20

take.

21

She recognizes them all.

She can

And, um, when she sees them,

So it just goes to show sort of the

I just think that it would require a

22

great deal of support for her to move forward into

23

any of these options to resolve her case, and

24

that's something that's been completely absent.

25

She really has not had any of that support from

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Page 16

her friends, from the administration, nor from her

family.

MS. WALDMAN:

Sabrina, could you talk a

little bit more about the relationship between

like the community of survivers, these alleged

victims, and the University, particularly Dean

Eramo, but, I mean, there were lines in the

article that implied that they had so much faith

in the University and they believe, oh, you know,

10

UVA loves us, they care about us, and they have

11

faith in the institution, and then -- but it also

12

seems like there would be grounds for a lot of

13

anger, and I'm just wondering like what the, what

14

the general sense was you got of like how these

15

women thought about the institution and the people

16

who were tasked with helping them.

17

MS. ERDELY:

What I found is that, um,

18

UVA is a place where their culture is one of

19

extreme loyalty.

20

surprised me that the community of survivers, they

21

are totally devoted to the University, even as

22

they're not very happy with the way that their

23

cases are handled.

24

attitude that radiates from the administration

25

that doing nothing is a fine option.

Job # 28693

So I guess it shouldn't have

They totally buy into the

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You know, if
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Page 17

you unburden yourself to the Dean and take care of

your own mental health, then that's good enough.

And they created this support group, you

know, which is, which is great for them, and they

do activism.

seminars -- I mean, intervention seminars and

things like that, which is great.

they are kind of doing is affirming one another's

choices not to report, which is, of course, an

They do bystander support

But really what

10

echo of their own administration's, you know, kind

11

of egos.

12
13

MS. ROSIN:

Yeah, I saw that, the

reactions have been interesting.

14

Just the last thing, so the way this

15

will probably spin out now is the University will

16

do some kind of investigation.

17

will find these guys and put them on the record,

18

and it's possible the guys will just deny it.

19

Right?

20

her life guard shift; he can't be that hard to

21

find, you know.

22

case?

23

was true?

24

were her lawyer in court, what would make you --

25

how would you prove her case?

Job # 28693

I imagine they

Because everyone knows who -- Drew was on

And so how will Jackie prove her

Like what made you believe that her story

What were the most convincing -- if you

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MS. ERDELY:

Page 18

Well, look, I'm not a

lawyer; I'm a journalist.

that I, I found her story to be very -- I found

her to be very credible.

MS. ROSIN:

MS. ERDELY:

But I will just say

Uh-huh.
She -- you know, I put her

story through the wringer to the extent that I

could.

friends to find out what she had told them at

10
11

I spoke to, you know, virtually all of her

various points.
MS. ROSIN:

And those, those match?

12

Like the friends she spoke to at the time said,

13

yes, she had bruises from going through the glass

14

table or whatever?

15

MS. ERDELY:

Well, I just -- I found it

16

to be very convincing, and, and I think that --

17

and, you know, the degree of her trauma, like

18

there's no doubt in my mind that something

19

happened to her that night.

20

MS. ROSIN:

21

MS. ERDELY:

Mm-hmm.
What exactly happened, you

22

know, I wasn't in that room, I don't know, and I

23

do tell it from her point of view.

24

hope is that -- I mean, it's my great hope that

25

she will be able to come forward and be able to

Job # 28693

Reported by Lori A Boeding of Cavalier Reporting & Videography

But my, my

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Page 19

hold these men accountable, you know, in criminal

court.

MS. ROSIN:

Well, thank you, Sabrina.

Um, I really appreciate you coming on to join us

today.

MS. ERDELY:

Thank you for having me.

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(End of requested transcription)

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---

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Page 20

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REPORTER'S CERTIFICATE

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I do hereby certify that the foregoing

is a true and correct transcript of the audio

file to the best of my ability in this matter.

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__________________________________
Lori A. Boeding, CCR
Notary Public No. 239861
Commonwealth of Virginia at Large
Commission expires: 8/31/16

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Job # 28693

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(434) 293-3300

EXHIBIT G
(Transcript of Erdelys statements on the Nov. 26, 2014 Brian Lehrer Show)

The Brian Lehrer Show

Interview with Sabrina Erdely

10/2/2015

Page 1

1
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3
4

TRANSCRIPTION

5
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OF

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THE BRIAN LEHRER SHOW

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AUDIO FILE NAME:

THE BRIAN LEHRER SHOW NOV. 26, 2014 WITH ERDELY

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15
16
17

PARTICIPANTS:

18

Brian Lehrer

19

Sabrina Erdely

20

Jed Rubenfeld, Yale Law Professor

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23
24
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Job # 28690

Job No. 28693

TRANSCRIBED BY:

LORI A. BOEDING, CCR

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The Brian Lehrer Show

Interview with Sabrina Erdely

10/2/2015

Page 2

(Program introduction)

2
3

MR. LEHRER:

Today on the Brian Lehrer

show, the thousands of New Yorkers who took to the

streets last night weren't just protesting the

death of Michael Brown.

fatal police shooting here in New York last week

of Akai Gurley in a public housing stairwell.

Commissioner Bratton has called it a tragic

We'll talk about the

10

accident, an accidental shooting.

11

aren't buying it.

12

former police officer Eric Adams will be our

13

guest.

14

policing in NYCHA buildings, and we'll talk

15

generally about life after the Ferguson

16

non-indictment with Eric Adams today.

Protesters

Brooklyn Borough president and

He's calling for a different kind of

17

Also today, looking for things to talk

18

about at Thanksgiving with your red state

19

relatives?

20

what popular culture liberals and conservatives

21

both seem to like.

22

Hunger Games and the Jersey Shore, the place, not

23

the show, are all on the list of things you might

24

talk about to break the ice over Thanksgiving

25

dinner tomorrow.

Job # 28690

We'll check out Facebook's findings on

For example, Taylor Swift, The

We'll see what else.

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The Brian Lehrer Show

Interview with Sabrina Erdely

10/2/2015

1
2

Page 3

And we'll share tips for getting to and

through LaGuardia, JFK and Newark airports.

(Audio clip played:

"They say no one's

ever beaten the Van Wyck, but, gentleman, I tell

you this, I came as close as anyone ever has.")

6
7

Elaine knows.
coming up later.

8
9

We'll see what you know

But first the big article on campus at

Thanksgiving break is Rolling Stone magazine's

10

investigation of campus rape, and it's having an

11

impact.

12

heard this? -- where the main incident described

13

in the article took place has suspended all

14

fraternity activity until after Christmas break.

15

So we will ask, How much is frat culture

16

responsible for campus rape?

17

frats permanently?

The University of Virginia -- have you

18
19

22
23
24
25
Job # 28690

And what about other schools?

Joining us now is the writer of the

Rolling Stone article, Sabrina Rubin Erdely.

20
21

Should UVA ban its

Sabrina, thank you very much for coming

on today.

Good morning.
MS. ERDELY:

Good morning.

Thank you

for having me.

MR. LEHRER:

And also with us is Jed

Rubenfeld, Yale Law Professor, who had an opinion

Reported by Lori A Boeding of Cavalier Reporting & Videography

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10/2/2015

The Brian Lehrer Show

Interview with Sabrina Erdely

piece in The New York Times last week called

Mishandling Rape.

Page 4

Jed, welcome back to WNYC.

MR. RUBENFELD:

MR. LEHRER:

Hi.

Thanks.

And, Jed, be patient while

for a few minutes while we get some of the basics

on the table here for listeners who haven't read

the Rolling Stone article.

And, Sabrina, first, I just have to

10

acknowledge out loud the shocking brutality of the

11

fraternity gang rape, as you describe it at the

12

top of your article.

13

Jackie, just starting her college career wooed by

14

a high status junior, as you describe it, and then

15

just raped and raped for three hours by this group

16

of guys.

17
18

The poor freshman girl,

Would you describe some of what you

documented for people who didn't read the article.

19

MS. ERDELY:

Sure.

The article begins

20

with a freshman named Jackie, who -- she was four

21

weeks into her freshman year, she was having the

22

time of her life at the University of Virginia,

23

and she had been asked out on a date by this

24

handsome junior, who took her to a fraternity

25

party.

Job # 28690

And while at this party, he took her

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The Brian Lehrer Show

Interview with Sabrina Erdely

Page 5

upstairs to a bedroom where she said it was

pitch-black inside and there were seven men

waiting inside, who then, for the next three

hours, took turns raping her while her date and

another man stood by giving the men encouragement

and instruction.

MR. LEHRER:

I mean, this is not your

vague circumstance's date rape, which is getting

most of the attention these days.

This is like a

10

thuggish, street gang attack.

11

story as a shocking outlier as, you know, a way to

12

shame UVA, in particular, or just tell a, you

13

know, a, a horrific extreme story, or as an

14

example of something that you think is a larger

15

problem on campuses across the country?

16

MS. ERDELY:

So did you tell the

Well, the reason why her

17

story really stood out is obviously because it was

18

so extreme, but I -- the reason why I used it was

19

because her story -- what really shocked me about

20

her story was that her story was treated by her

21

peers and by the administration much like stories

22

of, let's call them, typical, you know, sort of

23

rape allegations; that they were treated -- she

24

was kind of brushed off by her friends and by the

25

administration.

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Page 6

When she told her friends about it, they

either didn't believe her or they down-played the

situation.

because they said that it would, it would kill her

reputation on campus.

report it to the administration, the

administration did nothing about -- they did

nothing with the information, and they even

continued to do nothing even when she eventually

10

told them that she had become aware of two other

11

women who were also gang raped at the same

12

fraternity.

13

They encouraged her not to report it

And eventually when she did

So the idea that even in a case that was

14

so extreme as Jackie's that there would be this

15

level of indifference, it was -- it really opened

16

up a window into what was really happening on

17

campus with, with regard to, you know, rape cases

18

in general.

19

MR. LEHRER:

So if there are any college

20

students listening right now, call up and talk

21

about you how much rape, date rape or other kinds,

22

you think there is on your campus, how seriously

23

your school takes it.

24

about the kind of new generation of antirape

25

rules, which we'll get into with Jed Rubenfeld in

Job # 28690

Conversely, you can talk

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Page 7

a minute, which he thinks are in some cases

wrong-headed and may exacerbate the problem in the

name of trying to fix it.

first priority.

any parents, anyone else at all.

(212)433-9692.

Rolling Stone article by our guest, which has been

going quite viral online, on campus and around the

country in general.

10
11

But college students,

Anyone else, campus associated,

(212)433-WNYC.

Certainly anybody who has read the

(212)433-9692.

Let's have

some of this discussion.

So, Sabrina, the UVA president has

12

apparently reacted to your article by suspending

13

all fraternity activity until January.

14
15
16

Is that the official response you were

hoping for?
MS. ERDELY:

I, I had no expectations as

17

to what was going to happen.

18

I wasn't expecting it to be this widely read, but

19

I think that it's a first -- I mean, it's a good

20

first step.

21

it differently, this -- the shutting down of

22

fraternities for a short time.

23

mistaking it as a slap on the wrist.

24

are kind of celebrating that this is the end of

25

fraternity culture at University of Virginia.

Job # 28690

I mean, I -- really,

I think that people are reacting to

Some people are

Reported by Lori A Boeding of Cavalier Reporting & Videography

Other people

I
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Page 8

don't think that either is correct.

this is just them hitting the pause button

appropriately so that they can hopefully start to

take some thoughtful steps about what to do next.

Because I do expect some dramatic changes in the

future, but I think it's really important that

those changes be thoughtful and not just something

that is whiffed and symbolic.

9
10

MR. LEHRER:

I think that

What dramatic changes, as

you put it, do you expect?

11

MS. ERDELY:

Well, that's hard to say.

12

I mean, this is an administration that has a lot

13

of problems, and I should say that this is not

14

uncommon to -- you know, I mean, you know, this is

15

actually very typical of many colleges, the kinds

16

of things that they have on your plate to fix

17

right now.

18

to me, fraternities are basically calling the

19

shots at this University, where sexual assault is

20

rampant, where sexual assault survivors are afraid

21

to come forward, where those few people who do

22

come forward to the administration seem to be

23

discouraged from moving their cases forward or

24

from, or from reporting to police, and finally,

25

the -- where perpetrators are very rarely ever

Job # 28690

They have a situation where, it seems

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The Brian Lehrer Show

Interview with Sabrina Erdely

10/2/2015

punished.

different areas that need to be addressed.

Page 9

So those are, those are a lot of

MR. LEHRER:

And before we bring in Jed

Rubenfeld, how much do you think frat culture,

rather than UVA culture, rather than alcohol

culture, whatever other piece you want to separate

out, is at the root of campus rape there and the

ignoring of campus rape there?

MS. ERDELY:

I mean, fraternity culture

10

certainly contributes to the problem of sexual

11

assault.

12

culture and how that culture can really set the

13

backdrop for sexual assault, and much of the

14

partying at UVA happens at fraternities, which is,

15

you know, the case at a lot of schools.

16

Fraternities have become for some reason a place

17

where there's a lot of misogyny; a lot of really

18

bad behavior towards women tends to be tolerated

19

as normal, and that has real world impact on their

20

behavior.

21

fraternity men are three times more likely to

22

commit sexual assault than non-affiliated men.

23

this is a big problem.

24
25
Job # 28690

In the article, I talk a lot about party

There are studies that show that

So

I don't know that shutting down

fraternities is necessarily the answer, though.
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Page 10

mean, my hope is that fraternities are going to

embrace this as an opportunity to turn things

around.

have to be places that are drenched in misogyny

and rape tolerance.

that that is not an essential part of the

fraternity identity.

know, then they should be shut down, but, you

know, if degrading women is a key part of their

Because I don't think that fraternities

I mean, I would like to think

If I'm wrong, then, you

10

culture, then they've, they've got to go.

11

suspect that that doesn't have to be happening,

12

you know, that they don't need to be places that

13

foster misogyny.

14
15

But I

MR. LEHRER:

When did your article come

MS. ERDELY:

It came out online on

out?

16
17

Wednesday.

18

know, I don't know, yesterday?

I think it came to news stands, you

19

MR. LEHRER:

Oh, really?

20

MS. ERDELY:

Yeah.

21

MR. LEHRER:

So this is a pretty quick

So this week?

22

fire storm that your piece has caused and pretty

23

quick reaction.

24
25
Job # 28690

So Jed Rubenfeld, Yale Law Professor,

your opinion piece in The New York Times,
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Page 11

Mishandling Rape, came out on the 15th, I see, so

before the Rolling Stone article.

Have you read Sabrina's piece yet?

MR. RUBENFELD:

No, I haven't.

Of

course, I've heard and read about the terrible,

awful rape that was, you know, described in the

story.

8
9

MR. LEHRER:

And you portray a

campus-based system of rape enforcement that winds

10

up both in too many rapists going unpunished and

11

too many innocent men being found guilty of sexual

12

assault in campus proceedings.

13

How can both be true?

14

MR. RUBENFELD:

Well, let's start with

15

the fundamental problem, which is the appalling

16

numbers of sexual assaults, of rapes happening on

17

college campuses, so about three to four out of a

18

hundred college women say that they are actually

19

raped in the kind of way that is being described

20

in the Rolling Stone piece; that is to say, what

21

you are describing as the outlier case, forceable

22

rape.

23

A total of about ten out of a hundred,

24

that's, you know, 10 percent, say that they were

25

raped all together; that includes people having

Job # 28690

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Page 12

sex with someone who are incapacitated by alcohol

or other drugs.

number, 10 percent, and we are failing the victims

of college rape.

This is a heinous, staggering

Here's what's happening:

Rapists never

go to jail.

part, for very good reasons, the victims of sexual

assault do not report to the police.

they're, they know that the arrest rates are low.

Almost never.

Why is that?

Well, in

They,

10

They are afraid they won't be believed.

11

afraid that they will be mistreated.

12

than 5 percent of female rape victims from college

13

ever report to the police, and that's in contrast

14

to the nationwide number where it's more like 35

15

percent report to the police.

16

terrible problem of the criminal justice failing

17

the victims of, female victims especially, of

18

college assault.

19

They are

So fewer

So we have a

What are we doing about that?

Well,

20

since 2011, the federal government has been

21

insisting that universities prosecute and

22

adjudicate these cases, and that's just not the

23

answer.

24

these cases.

25

dismiss rape charges when they shouldn't, and

Job # 28690

Colleges are not competent to handle

They are making mistakes.

Reported by Lori A Boeding of Cavalier Reporting & Videography

They

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Interview with Sabrina Erdely

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Page 13

probably they're finding some people guilty when

there was no assault.

all worlds.

MR. LEHRER:

You're getting the worst of

Therefore, Jed, more should

be referred out to law enforcement when there are

charges?

MR. RUBENFELD:

We've got to find a way

to bring law enforcement into this.

what's happening is -- look, there's, there's

You know,

10

research that indicates that over 90 percent of

11

campus rapes are committed by fewer than 4 percent

12

of college men.

13

serial rapists who get away with it and don't get

14

punished and don't go to jail.

15

couple -- you know, these guys are doing what they

16

are doing -- if they, if all that happened just as

17

described in Virginia, they are doing what they

18

are doing with impunity; they, they know that

19

people don't go to jail for this.

20

a few of these guys to jail, this will have an

21

enormous effect, because right now we are not

22

deterring anything.

23

So what we have is a problem of

And if just a

If we can send

And the other half of the problem is

24

alcohol.

25

rapes on college campuses involve alcohol, and

Job # 28690

You know, there's tons of evidence that

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Page 14

what's happened is, you know, we've done

prohibition; we say that college kids can't drink

until they're 21.

drives it underground; that creates this party

scene where alcohol, and to some extent other

drugs, are available and drawing people to parties

that are controlled by men, male-controlled,

male-dominated spaces and that, sad to say, is a

recipe for sexual predation.

Well, of course that just

You know, not long

10

ago, when alcohol could still be sold and consumed

11

by people at 18 on college campuses, there were

12

grownups and security personnel at the, at large

13

parties who could, you know, supervise and

14

monitor.

15

there, because, you know, you are not supposed to

16

be aware that anybody is drinking.

Well, right now the adults can't be

17

So we have this really foolish system

18

where we, where the schools are turning a blind

19

eye to the alcohol party scene at frats and other

20

all male clubs, and that is just another

21

incredibly foolish thing.

22

In other words, colleges should focus on

23

prevention.

24

not be so foolish about their alcohol regulations.

25

They should not be focusing on adjudication, which

Job # 28690

They should do that by -- they should

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Interview with Sabrina Erdely

10/2/2015

they don't do well.

all the time.

Page 15

In fact, they make mistakes

And, and here's the real problem, if the

college gets it right and if the college, let's

say, expels these guys at Virginia, that is not a

punishment that's sufficient to the crime.

even if they got expelled, that leaves them free,

that leaves them at large, that leaves them able

to commit rapes elsewhere.

10

Even,

That is not the way to

deter a crime.

11

MR. LEHRER:

Jed Rubenfeld, Yale Law

12

Professor, who wrote the opinion piece you may

13

have seen in The New York Times Sunday Review last

14

week, Mishandling Rape.

15

Sabrina Erdely from Rolling Stone

16

Magazine who wrote that piece that is being so

17

widely shared in the last few days about rape and

18

the ignoring of rape at the University of

19

Virginia, which has now almost instantly resulted

20

in the suspension of all fraternity activity there

21

until after Christmas break, and our board is full

22

of your phone calls.

23

people.

24
25
Job # 28690

Let's hear from a few

Sophie in Poughkeepsie, you are on WNYC.

Hi, Sophie.
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The Brian Lehrer Show

Interview with Sabrina Erdely

SOPHIA:

Hi.

Page 16

I'm a freshman at Baxter

College in Poughkeepsie, New York, and I was

wondering that -- um, coming from a campus that

does not have Greek life and is not particularly

charged with (unintelligible) attitude that comes

with fraternities, as to why we think these rapes

and allegations of sexual assault are not reported

to the police as an emergency call, but rather

reported to administration.

I mean, this is not

10

something, you know, being caught drinking in your

11

room or smoking in your room.

12

is sexual assault.

13

And so I was wondering as to why, why this isn't

14

reported directly to the police.

15
16
17
18
19
20

This is rape.

This

This is a very serious crime.

MR. LEHRER:

I, I would be curious to

hear both of your answers to that.

Sabrina, based on your reporting, can
you answer that question?
MS. ERDELY:

Yes, I think there are

actually two dimensions to this.

21

One is the way that rape has come to be

22

perceived, which -- this was kind of a surprising

23

aspect of my reporting is that even though we talk

24

about, you know, rape as -- you know, everybody is

25

antirape, you know, everybody is talking about it

Job # 28690

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The Brian Lehrer Show

Interview with Sabrina Erdely

as being a violent, you know, a very violent

crime.

an actual rape victim, the general public doesn't

tend to see it as the serious violent crime that

it is.

error in judgment, you know, a muddy, social faux

pas and not like a serious crime.

victims themselves, because they are in a certain

level of denial that something terrible just

Page 17

But when faced with like an actual rape,

We prefer to see it as some be kind of

And rape

10

happened to them -- you know, nobody wants to see

11

themselves victimized like that -- they will often

12

try to convince themselves that maybe this was not

13

a serious crime that was perpetrated upon them.

14

And I think that has a lot to do with the fact

15

that we are -- we, in the general public, tend to

16

discuss it in this, in this -- you know, frame it

17

in that, in those terms.

18

delay in calling police because we are just not

19

framing it in terms of seeing it as a violent

20

crime.

21

So, so there is often a

But the other dimension to it is that,

22

just as Jed had said earlier, is that police don't

23

have a great track record in terms of pursuing

24

rape reports.

25

realty here; is that in an ideal world, a rape

Job # 28690

I mean, this is kind of the sad

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Page 18

victim would call police and they would pursue it

and then the prosecutor would prosecute it and the

rapist would go to jail.

But in realty, you know, these are

very -- they tend to be very complicated cases

that require a certain level of expertise.

are cases that, you know, generally there aren't

witnesses, there is generally alcohol involved,

and somewhere along the line, law enforcement very

These

10

often says, you know, we just don't want to deal

11

with this.

12

So I think that better training is going

13

to be necessary in order to -- so that rape

14

victims feel like they are in good hands when they

15

go to report to law enforcement.

16

MR. LEHRER:

Jed, as a legal expert and

17

as a faculty member on a campus, what would you

18

add?

19

MR. RUBENFELD:

Well, two things.

It is

20

scary for a victim to go by herself down to the

21

police station.

22

name, lose confidentiality.

She might be treated

23

suspiciously by the police.

It will be scary and

24

lonely for her to go to the hospital to get the

25

rape kit processed.

Job # 28690

She would have to give her own

Women victims need -- first

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Page 19

of all, we need a retraining of the police, and

I'm in touch with police departments in college

towns, and they know it; we need to retrain the

police so that they are more receptive and treat

these claims respectfully.

But what I propose in my piece is that

colleges should be sending a lawyer down with that

victim down to the police station to encourage her

to go down and to make sure her rights are

10

respected, to make sure she is treated

11

appropriately, to make sure the police handle the

12

claim correctly, and then they should send a

13

counselor with her to the hospital to get that

14

rape kit.

15

report.

16

We need to encourage more victims to

The second piece of it is, you know,

17

perversely, paradoxically, the new college sexual

18

assault procedures offer women and men who are

19

victims of sexual assault a better alternative

20

right now.

21

lower standard of proof.

22

respectfully, as of course they should be.

23

the vast majority of college sexual assault

24

victims now choose to report to their university,

25

not the police.

Job # 28690

They keep confidentiality.

They get a

They are treated more

And so

Exactly the wrong result.

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Page 20

Because colleges cannot handle their claims, and

their punishments are not sufficient to deter

anybody.

4
5

MR. LEHRER:
are on WNYC.

Tom, in Hillsborough, you

TOM:

Hello.
Yes, I've been listening to this

discussion with some interest.

by background, I was a prosecutor and I'm now

criminal defense attorney.

Just very briefly,

I disagree

10

fundamentally with many of the premises that are

11

being floated here.

12

Very specifically not mentioned by your

13

people is that a lot of allegations of sexual

14

assault, to begin with, are fraudulent and not

15

accurate.

16

That's number one.

17

That has been proven demonstrably.

Number two, the general attitude that's

18

being fronted here is that whenever somebody makes

19

a complaint that it, therefore, must be true.

20

There's no disagreement by me that the colleges

21

are not set up to adjudicate these type of

22

allegations.

23

the law professor and this reporter, about how

24

police and justice attorney's offices treat rape

25

allegations in my experience is completely wrong.

Job # 28690

The attitude of both of your people,

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Page 21

So I think you are really sort of doing a

disservice by misrepresenting what actually

occurs, by exaggerating a problem that probably

does exist but is being used for different

purposes.

comments.

7
8
9

I mean, that's sort of my general

MR. LEHRER:

When you say "used for

different purposes," what are you accusing who of?

TOM:

Well, more specifically, for

10

example, there's a woman at Columbia University

11

who, where I actually went to school, who

12

apparently is walking around campus with a

13

mattress as a form of protest of the way her claim

14

was adjudicated within the school system.

15

My understanding of the facts, based on

16

the article in The New York Times, was that she

17

had consensual sex with someone and the issue was

18

that she did not consent to anal sex, but she did

19

consent to traditional sex.

20

my opinion, is not something that anybody could

21

really ever successfully prove.

22

Meanwhile --

23

MR. LEHRER:

That type of case, in

But let me stop you for a

24

second and ask, if the main distinction that our

25

guests, particularly Jed Rubenfeld, Yale Law

Job # 28690

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Page 22

Professor, is getting at is that the actual

criminal justice system, rather than campus

authorities, are better prepared to handle these

allegations, why wouldn't that be true --

TOM:

MR. LEHRER:

-- for false allegations as

well as true allegations?

8
9

No, that is true.

TOM:

It is a hundred percent true.

All

these claims should be set up in a way through

10

these colleges that have resources, and every

11

college does, to adjudicate the claims correctly

12

and assist the victims.

13

to do that; they are transitioning to do that, so

14

I don't disagree with that.

15

disagree with is this kind of hysteria that seems

16

to be developing about these issues.

17

They are not set up now

But what I do

You know, I cited to your call screener

18

an example of a case I know of from a college that

19

I attended where a victim, alleged victim, showed

20

up over a year later claiming that she now

21

remembered that she had been raped by someone who

22

was an alleged friend.

23

doesn't have any merit.

24
25
Job # 28690

MR. LEHRER:

I mean, that case just

Tom, thank you for your

call.
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Interview with Sabrina Erdely

10/2/2015

1
2

Page 23

Jed Rubenfeld, what are you thinking

listening to Tom?

MR. RUBENFELD:

MR. LEHRER:

Well, I mean, um --

For instance, some cases

are going to -- I'm not exactly even sure of his

point, because --

MS. ERDELY:

Actually, do you mind if

MR. LEHRER:

Oh, Sabrina, please.

10

MS. ERDELY:

I mean, I'd like to say --

I --

11

I mean, he's, he's trying to say -- I believe that

12

one of the things that he's trying to say is that

13

many of these reports are false, but I'd like to

14

say that that is actually categorically not true.

15

There have been -- there's been research on this

16

that shows that somewhere between 2 and 8 percent

17

of rape reports are, are either false or what they

18

call unfounded, meaning that 9 -- let's say 92

19

percent of them are, are actually true.

20

So there's this myth that, you know, all

21

these people are coming forward with these, with

22

these false allegations, but nothing could be

23

further from the truth.

24

are actually -- you know, these are, these are,

25

these are genuine, and I think that these are one

Job # 28690

I mean, these are, these

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Page 24

of these rape myths that actually tend to keep

victims from not reporting, because they think

that they are not going to be believed, and that

has historically been the case.

I mean, I think what's different in this

cultural moment than ever before is that for the

very first time rape victims are being believed,

and that's why we are seeing so much discussion

about, you know, rape in the military, rape on

10

college campuses, Bill Cosby.

11

together right now, because for the first time we

12

are allowing ourselves to have a general

13

discussion in which we're giving rape victims some

14

credibility.

15
16
17

MR. LEHRER:
on WNYC.

It's all coming

Claire in Brooklyn, you're

Hi, Claire.
CLAIRE:

Hi.

Thank you so much for

18

taking my call.

19

from Columbia with my master's, and I graduated

20

from Georgetown in 2013, and I have more of a

21

comment than a question, but Georgetown doesn't

22

have fraternities.

23

place, I would say, and we have quite frequent

24

contact with UVA, and I kind of wanted to say that

25

I think while fraternities maybe are a good thing

Job # 28690

I am a -- well, I just graduated

But it is a pretty privileged

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Page 25

to focus on in a lot of these schools, it seems

like sort of more environments of privilege and

superiority and lack of transparency generally are

the problem.

I went to also an elite boarding school.

Most of my family and many of my friends did as

well.

me was actually raped in a very similar situation

to what the Rolling Stone article describes but at

And someone who is really, really close to

10

the age of 14 and at an elite boarding school.

11

She did not report the situation for many of the

12

same reasons that Jackie in the article didn't

13

report.

14

off to elite colleges as well, and many of them

15

would have had the choice to join fraternities.

16

And I'm assuming all of those men went

So I just wanted to get comments on

17

cultures that are, cultures that are similar to

18

fraternities and how to sort of prevent that sort

19

of environment from developing in the first place.

20

Thank you.

21

MR. LEHRER:

Yeah, well stated and a

22

great question.

23

we're almost out of time, but Sabrina if this can

24

happen at Georgetown, which doesn't even have

25

fraternities, she says, just as it could happen at

Job # 28690

If this can happen in -- and

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Page 26

UVA, is there some common culture element that

needs to be the focus here, rather than

fraternities, per se?

MS. ERDELY:

I think she raises a great

point.

play huge roles in sexual assault; people taking

something, feeling entitled to take something that

is, that is, that is not theirs.

have not cornered the market on that, on

I think that entitlement and narcissism

And fraternities

10

entitlement and on narcism.

11

culture that holds itself as elite is perhaps

12

prone to this kind of thing.

13

So I think that any

But, you know, it's worth saying that,

14

even though I drilled down on University of

15

Virginia and that's what I focused on, part of the

16

reason why I focused on it is because I felt that

17

it was a culture that was representative of what's

18

going on at a lot of places across the country.

19

So I really can't emphasize this enough.

20

not saying that this is only happening at

21

University of Virginia.

22

saying that what's probably happening at the

23

University of Virginia is really, really what's

24

happening everywhere.

25

MR. LEHRER:

Job # 28690

I was

Just the opposite.

I'm

Jed, a last thought from

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Page 27

you, because in your article you do recommend ways

to go forward more productively to deal with the

problem.

What's at the heart of it?

MR. RUBENFELD:

Well, I think we should

walk back a little bit.

that they're -- that the problem is correctly

described as, you know, we have a rape culture in

America or on college campuses.

research suggests that over 90 percent of rapes

I do not believe myself

Again, the

10

are committed by 4 percent or fewer of college

11

men.

12

small number of rapists, serial rapists; we need

13

to do something about them.

What we have is a problem of a relatively

14
15

MR. LEHRER:

We need to --

Overrepresented in

fraternities, if you know those stats, Jed?

16

MR. RUBENFELD:

We, we do have stats

17

that indicate that men in fraternities are more

18

likely to commit sexual assault and that victims

19

who go to fraternity parties are more likely to be

20

assaulted.

21

But what we need to do is focus our

22

attention on deterring and stopping that, those,

23

that small number of rapists from committing rapes

24

in the future, not, not, not thinking that what we

25

have is a general, you know, elite male rape

Job # 28690

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Page 28

culture so that the entire -- we're sort of

damning the whole culture as, as -- and not

focusing on the real problem, which is to punish

and deter and stop those who are committing these

rapes.

6
7

MR. LEHRER:
caught.

8
9

More punishment of those

MR. RUBENFELD:

More deterrence and more

prevention by universities.

Just, you know, we

10

have to get inside -- we have to break the link

11

between all male clubs, like fraternities, alcohol

12

and the party scene at these colleges.

13

impossible to do, and we have to do it.

14

MR. LEHRER:

That's not

Jed Rubenfeld, Yale Law

15

Professor, who had an opinion piece in The New

16

York Times last week called Mishandling Rape.

17

He's also co-author of the book, The Triple

18

Package:

19

rise and fall of cultural groups in America.

20

How three unlikely traits explain the

And Sabrina Rubin Erdely, who wrote the

21

Rolling Stone article on rape at the University of

22

Virginia, which has gone so viral and resulted in

23

just a matter of days of the -- in the UVA

24

president suspending all fraternity activity until

25

after Christmas break.

Job # 28690

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The Brian Lehrer Show

Interview with Sabrina Erdely

10/2/2015

1
2

Page 29

Thank you both very much for coming on

with us today.

MR. RUBENFELD:

MS. ERDELY:

Thank you.

Thank you.

5
6

(Programming remarks)

7
8

---

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Job # 28690

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Page 30

1
2

REPORTER'S CERTIFICATE

3
4

I do hereby certify that the foregoing

is a true and correct transcript of the audio

file to the best of my ability in this matter.

7
8
9
10
11
12

__________________________________
Lori A. Boeding, CCR
Notary Public No. 239861
Commonwealth of Virginia at Large
Commission expires: 8/31/16

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Job # 28690

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(434) 293-3300

EXHIBIT H
(Pictures of Demonstrators at the Phi Kappa Psi House)

Protests and Demonstrations

EXHIBIT I
(Pictures of Vandalism at Phi Kappa Psi House)

Vandalism at PKP House

EXHIBIT J
(Examples of Social Media Backlash)

Social Media Backlash

EXHIBIT K
(Examples of anti-Phi Kappa Psi Social Media Activism)

Social Media Activism

EXHIBIT L
(Change.org petitions against Phi Kappa Psi)

EXHIBIT M
(Threats against Phi Kappa Psi members)

Threats Against PKP Members