CHARLOTTESVILLE (Virginia), Nov 24 — The University of Virginia’s board is meeting tomorrow, days after an article in Rolling Stone magazine detailed an alleged 2012 gang rape at a fraternity house and the university’s handling of it.
Over the weekend, UVA President Teresa A. Sullivan suspended its more than 30 fraternities and related social activities until Jan 9.
The university is scheduling meetings of students, faculty, alumni and other groups “to discuss our next steps in preventing sexual assault and sexual violence,” Sullivan said in a statement on the UVA website Saturday.
The Rolling Stone article tells the story of a brutal gang rape at the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity house, how the victim’s friends were more concerned with their future social status than in reporting what happened and the university’s poor handling of cases of sexual assault.
The board will discuss the allegations and campus policy and procedures regarding such assaults, said Sullivan, who asked the Charlottesville Police to investigate.
“The wrongs described in Rolling Stone are appalling and have caused all of us to re-examine our responsibility to this community,” Sullivan said.
“Rape is an abhorrent crime that has no place in the world, let alone on the campuses and grounds of our nation’s colleges and universities.”
Independent Review
Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring said last week that UVA had requested he appoint an independent counsel to review the school’s policies and processes on sexual assault and to assist the school’s review of how it addresses sexual misconduct.
While Herring had initially picked former federal judge Mark Filip to serve in that capacity, his name was retracted because Filip had once been a member of Phi Kappa Psi, though not at UVA.
Almost a third of students at UVA belong to a fraternity or sorority and Greek life is a focal point of the school’s social life.
The victim, whose story is told under the assumed name of Jackie, is a current third-year student at the Charlottesville campus, according to the article.
“While the article was sickening to read, it has highlighted this and has ignited a critical and much-needed conversation about the dangerous behavior occurring here and elsewhere in the country,” Tom Faulders, president of the alumni association, said in a letter to UVA alumni.
The suspension of the fraternities ends a few days before the start of the spring semester at the school founded by Thomas Jefferson. — Bloomberg
