A Rape on Campus
| Author | Sabrina Rubin Erdely |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Subject | An alleged gang rape at a college fraternity |
| Set in | University of Virginia |
| Publisher | Rolling Stone |
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| Media type | Magazine article |
"A Rape on Campus" is a now-retracted Rolling Stone magazine article, written by Sabrina Erdely and originally published on November 19, 2014, that claimed to describe a group sexual assault at the University of Virginia (UVA). Rolling Stone retracted the story in its entirety on April 5, 2015.
The article included a claim that a UVA student, identified only as "Jackie" by the magazine, had been taken to a party hosted by the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity at UVA by a fellow student. At the party, Jackie alleged in the article, her date led her to a bedroom where she was raped by several fraternity members as part of an initiation rite. Jackie's account generated much media attention, and UVA suspended the fraternity. After other journalists investigated the article's claims and found significant discrepancies, Rolling Stone issued multiple apologies for the story. Further investigation concluded that Jackie had fabricated the incident.
According to the Washington Post, ABC News and others, Jackie may have invented the gang rape story in an unsuccessful attempt to win the affections of a fellow student that she had a crush on. As stated by Robby Soave of Reason Magazine: "It’s already well established that the lies of Jackie—the false accuser at the center of Rolling Stone’s gang rape hoax—grew out of her efforts to catfish Ryan Duffin, a boy she had a crush on."
The Columbia Journalism Review called the story "this year's media-fail sweepstakes" and the Poynter Institute named it as the "Error of the Year" in journalism.
At the request of Rolling Stone publisher Jann S. Wenner, the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism agreed to audit the editorial processes that led to the publication of the story.
On January 12, 2015, Charlottesville Police Department officials told the University that "their investigation has not revealed any substantive basis to confirm that the allegations raised in the Rolling Stone article occurred at Phi Kappa Psi...so there's no reason to keep [the students] suspended." On January 30, 2015, UVA President Teresa Sullivan acknowledged that the Rolling Stone story was discredited. Charlottesville Police officially suspended their four-month investigation on March 23, 2015, stating, "there is no substantive basis to support the account alleged in the Rolling Stone article." In light of the findings, Erik Wemple of The Washington Post pronounced the story "a complete crock". In the Columbia Journalism Review, Bill Grueskin called the story "a mess — thinly sourced, full of erroneous assumptions, and plagued by gaping holes in the reporting."
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