A rape on campus

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A Rape on Campus (German "A rape on campus ") is an article by Sabrina Rubin Erdely , which was published on November 19, 2014 in Rolling Stone magazine and withdrawn in April 2015. It bears the subtitle A Brutal Assault and Struggle for Justice at UVA (German "A brutal attack and the fight for justice at the UVA"). The subject was an alleged rape at the University of Virginia (UVA) in September 2012. This later turned out to be an unprovable story by the Rolling Stone worker after police and Washington Post journalistsquestioned this report and encountered numerous contradictions. The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung even spoke of a “monumental forgery”.

incident

The article described the alleged mass rape of a woman by members of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity fraternity during an admission ritual at a house party at the UVA. The focus was only on the statements of "Jackie", an alias for the alleged victim. No other party participants, stakeholders, or witnesses were interviewed. The university and the association “Phi Kappa Psi” were not sufficiently informed in advance of the content of the article, so that they could only give their opinion after the article was published. “Phi Kappa Psi” was able to prove, among other things, that no party had taken place in their house at the time in question.

The alleged incident was exposed as a lie after several journalists discovered inconsistencies. The Rolling Stone apologized several times for the false statement; However, Sabrina Rubin Erdely will continue to work for the magazine.

consequences

Consequences for the Rolling Stone

After the article was published, he developed with more than 2.7 million readers on the Rolling Stone - site soon for most read story off the usual music reporting of the magazine. It wasn't until a week after the publication that the editor began to have doubts. The Washington Post had very quickly located the friends of the informant "Jackie", who had been described under cover names in the article. "Jackie" had put the words in the mouth of a friend that the case had to be covered up because otherwise she would never be invited to a frat party again. She and the other friends violently contradicted Rolling Stone's descriptions . A man who resembled the description of the prime suspect and, as the story indicated, worked in the university's fitness center was also found. However, he had never met "Jackie" in person and was not a member of said fraternity. Another suspect, of whom "Jackie" even presented photos, was a high school colleague who had never attended the University of Virginia and was known to have been away at the time of the alleged crime. According to a report in the Washington Post on December 5, 2014, Rolling Stone rushed to make a statement. Editor-in-chief Will Dana wrote in an editorial that trusting “Jackie” as an alleged victim was “inappropriate”. This awkward position led to a shit storm against Rolling Stone on social media . After allegations that Rolling Stone wanted to distract from his own journalistic responsibility and blame the student solely, Dana changed his wording and apologized to the readers.

On April 5, 2015, the Columbia Journalism School, with the support of Rolling Stone, published a detailed report on the editorial work involved in research and publication. The authors of the study admitted that Sabrina Erdely did not invent anything herself during the research, but neither did she check any of the information provided by her informant. They called the false report an “avoidable mistake.” On the same day, Rolling Stone commented on the report: There was no need for action, the editorial system remained as it was. There will be no personal consequences. Washington Post's Chris Cillizza said it was "terrible for journalism." University of Virginia President Teresa A. Sullivan stated that A Rape on Campus did not uncover anything but efforts to investigate and conduct sexual assault on campus avoid, rather disabled. On the other hand, the reputation of individual students and that of the university has been damaged.

In the summer of 2015, editor-in-chief Will Dana left Rolling Stone after 19 years with the publisher's agreement . The New York Times suspected A Rape on Campus as the reason for Dana's resignation.

Consequences for the university

The University of Virginia campus

Three days after the allegations were published, the University of Virginia indefinitely suspended all fraternities' social activities and events on campus. The umbrella organizations of the 31 associations, 28 of which have their own house on the university campus, protested against this. There were demonstrations against the connection “Phi Kappa Psi”, their connection house was smeared and windows were broken. The students who lived in the fraternity house had to be accommodated in hotels. Three students, including the resident of the room where the rape allegedly took place, later sued Rolling Stone magazine for $ 7.5 million in damages for reputational damage each.

It wasn't until January 2015, after all student associations had signed an agreement with university management accepting stricter rules for parties and events, that social activities resumed. Especially with regard to supervision and alcohol consumption, which is banned in the United States until the age of 21, even the Obama administration had urged stricter controls at universities and colleges.

Title IX of the United States Education Amendments of 1972 regulates gender equality in the US education system. Court rulings insist on the responsibility of university management for a climate without discrimination in which a co- educational path of education is possible without fear of sexual assault. All the more serious were the allegations against Dean of Studies Nicole Eramo, that she reacted indifferently to the descriptions of the student "Jackie" and did not follow up leads to cover up the case. In a lawsuit for damages for defamation against the Rolling Stone , Eramo not only has to prove that the published statements of the former student "Jackie" against her were false, but also that the editor Erdely had neglected the required journalistic due diligence in her research . The Rolling Stone reported that Eramo "Jackie" was advised not to go to the police. On the advice of her lawyers, "Jackie" made no statements until April 2016, when the judge ordered an interrogation in camera. On November 4, 2016, the court found the magazine and Erdely (but not "Jackie", who only testified in this trial) guilty of defamation; The amount of damages and compensation for pain and suffering for Eramo must be decided in a further process.

Discussions

The case sparked a discussion about the difficulties of detecting sex offenses in American colleges and universities, and the journalistic inadequacies of a story based solely on the testimony of a single person without informing readers that the facts presented had not been verified in any way.

See also

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Reuters / AP: Article about alleged rape: University graduates sue "Rolling Stone". In: Spiegel Online . July 30, 2015, accessed June 1, 2016.
  2. ↑ Erik Ortiz: Rolling Stone Backpedals On UVA Rape Story, Says 'Trust' in Victim Misplaced. In: NBC News. December 5, 2014, accessed May 30, 2016 .
  3. ↑ a b T. Rees Shapiro: Key elements of Rolling Stone's U-Va. gang rape allegations in doubt. In: The Washington Post. December 5, 2014, accessed May 30, 2016 .
  4. ^ A b Michael Hanfeld: Debacle for "Rolling Stone". The monumental forgery becomes expensive. on Faz.NET, May 13, 2015, accessed June 1, 2016.
  5. ↑ a b Clemens Wergin: How dangerous are US universities for women? Rape as collateral damage to party culture. In: The world. December 11, 2014, accessed June 1, 2016.
  6. ↑ a b c Sheila Coronel, Steve Coll, Derek Kravitz: A Rape on Campus - What Went Wrong? In: Rolling Stone . April 5, 2015, accessed May 30, 2016.
  7. ^ Margaret Hartmann: Everything We Know About the UVA Rape Case [Updated]. In: New York Mag - Daily Intelligencer. July 30, 2015, accessed May 29, 2016 .
  8. ↑ Valerie Bauerlein, Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg: Sample of Now-Discredited Rolling Stone Article Didn't Find Fireable Error. In: The Wall Street Journal . April 6, 2015, accessed May 30, 2016.
  9. ^ A b Sheila Coronel, Steve Coll, Derek Kravitz: Rolling Stone's Investigation: 'A failure that was avoidable'. In: Columbia Journalism Review. Columbia Journalism School, April 5, 2015, accessed June 3, 2016.
  10. ↑ Chris Cillizza: Rolling Stone isn't firing anyone. That's terrible for journalism. In: The Washington Post. April 6, 2015, accessed June 3, 2016.
  11. ^ Teresa A. Sullivan: President Teresa A. Sullivan Statement Regarding the Findings of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism Report. In: UVA Today. University of Virginia, April 5, 2015, accessed June 3, 2016.
  12. ↑ Ravi Somaiya: Will Dana, Rolling Stone's managing editor, to Depart. In: The New York Times. July 29, 2015, accessed June 3, 2016.
  13. ^ Nick Anderson: New safety rules announced for University of Virginia fraternity parties. In: The Washington Post. January 6, 2015, accessed May 31, 2016.
  14. ^ Peter Jacobs: UVA dean scores a major point in her fight against Rolling Stone. on Business Insider Germany, January 28, 2016, accessed June 2, 2016.
  15. ^ Molly Redden: 'Jackie' of Rolling Stone UVA rape article ordered to testify in defamation case. In: The Guardian . April 6, 2016, accessed June 2, 2016
  16. ↑ https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/jury-finds-reporter-rolling-stone-responsible-for-defaming-u-va-dean-with-gang-rape-story/2016/11/04 /aaf407fa-a1e8-11e6-a44d-cc2898cfab06_story.html
  17. ↑ Anna-Lena Roth: US debate about sexual abuse: The question of trust. In: Spiegel Online. December 12, 2014, accessed June 1, 2016.