Yesterday there were calls by national fraternity organizations for the University of Virginia to rescind its suspension of fraternity activities in light of the questions and controversies that have emerged about the Rolling Stone article which reported a story claiming the occurrence of a gang rape at a UVA fraternity house. UVA president Theresa Sullivan announced that the suspension would remain in force while investigations into the problems related to rape and sexual assault on the campus continue.
University of Virginia Won’t Lift Fraternity Ban Amid Furor Over Rape Story in Rolling Stone
On Sunday, three national fraternity and sorority organizations called upon the University of Virginia to lift and apologize for its ban of Greek life activities, imposed after the furor surrounding a Rolling Stone article, whose accuracy is now in dispute after the magazine said its reporting was inadequate. In a statement released Monday afternoon, the university neither lifted its suspension of Greek activities nor apologized for it, saying the purpose of the ban was “to give the university and Greek leadership a pause to identify solutions.”
An investigation by the police in Charlottesville, Va., and an internal inquiry ordered by the state attorney general’s office may ultimately lead to the truth in the University of Virginia case. As of Monday, the police department acknowledged it had started an investigation, but would not elaborate.
Prior to Monday the Charlottesville police were saying that they were conducting an inquiry but had not moved to a formal criminal investigation because of a lack of a criminal complaint from the woman reporting the incident. That appears to have changed. There is no indication that "Jackie" has filed a complaint, so it would seem that they decided that they had an adequate basis for conducting and investigation without it.
It really seems desirable that some form of official and impartial investigation of this matter is conducted. Regardless of the dependencies in the Rolling Stone article, there are people who knew Jackie at the time that the incident is supposed to have occurred coming forward to say that something of a very serious nature did happen to her. It is not going to be possible to simply dismiss it as a complete fabrication.