If You Liked Duke Lacrosse, You're Gonna Love UVa

The allegations are convulsing the university. The University of Virginia is banning fraternities altogether, so horrific is the gang rape alleged.

Perhaps maybe it would be wise to investigate whether it happened at all before this goes any further, eh?

Did the horrific gang rape detailed in a recent Rolling Stone article take place as reported? Some in the media are beginning to question the account of "Jackie," a student at the University of Virginia who says she was raped by seven men as part of a fraternity initiation.

Richard Bradley, a former editor at George magazine who was taken in by Stephen Glass (the former journalist who became infamous for fabricating stories), wrote on Nov. 24 that he has since grown necessarily skeptical of articles corroborating his "pre-existing biases."

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Bradley then examined the story of Jackie through his unique viewpoint – "of a magazine editor who has seen fakes before."

Bradley first discussed his discomfort with basing a story around an unnamed source, with corroborating evidence from other unnamed sources -- in this case, Jackie's friends who, according to the Rolling Stone story, were more concerned with Greek life than human life and who discouraged her from seeking medical attention. This discouragement came despite Jackie apparently being covered in blood with a bruised face from her horrific rape. These "friends" — Jackie mentions one as a "former" friend -- also complained that she was "still upset" about the horrific incident shortly after it took place.

Bradley also mentioned the allegation that Jackie knew two of her attackers, yet they aren’t named in the article and its author, Sabrina Rubin Erdley, doesn’t appear to have attempted to contact them.

The actual rape allegation also leaves several unanswered questions for Bradley, namely, that "gang rape is a rite of passage for young men to become fraternity 'brothers.'"

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Paul Farhi of the Washington Post also brought up some interesting questions in his article about Erdley. Wanting to write an article about campus sexual assault "at an elite university," Erdley interviewed students across the country until she found the perfect story in U.Va.'s Jackie.

Well this certainly does appear in accordance with traditions of American jurisprudence.

posted by Ace at 01:18 PM

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