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Fake UVA rape story: Alleged rape victim�s friends dispute Rolling Stone article's "facts"
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joe
Apr 16, 2015, 6:02:14 PM4/16/15
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Three University of Virginia students say Rolling Stone
misstated their reactions to an alleged 2012 gang rape.
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Three friends of an alleged victim of a
gang rape at a University of Virginia frat house say that a
magazine article that used the woman’s attack to paint a picture
of a culture of sexual violence on college campuses was wrong on
a number of key points: most important that they didn’t
encourage her to report the attack and that they were more
concerned about their reputations than her well-being.
One of the friends, a 20-year-old, third-year student referred
to as “Randall” in the Rolling Stone article but whose real name
is Ryan Duffin, said that not only did he encourage the alleged
victim to go to police, but he started to dial 911 on his
cellphone until she begged off, saying she just wanted to go
back to her dorm and go to sleep.
“I couldn’t help but notice that everything that the article
said about me was incorrect,” Duffin said.
The Rolling Stone article set off an intense debate about sexual
violence, alcohol, fraternities and journalism ethics.
The Associated Press also spoke with the other two friends
portrayed in the article: third-year, 20-year-old U.Va. students
Kathryn Hendley and Alex Stock, known as “Cindy” and “Andy” in
the article. None of the three friends was contacted by the
Rolling Stone’s reporter, Sabrina Rubin Erdely, before the
article was published; each of them rejected multiple assertions
made in the article, which has since been retracted.
All three say Erdely has since reached out to them, and Hendley
said Erdely apologized to her for portraying her the way she did.
The three friends say they continue to work on correcting the
record about what happened that night.
“People at U.Va. want answers just as much as I do,” Duffin
says. “But if anything, the takeaway from all this is that I
still don’t really care if what’s presented in this article is
true or not because I think it’s far more important that people
focus on the issue of sexual assault as a whole.”
Other news media have also interviewed the friends but this is
the first time each of them agreed to allow their full names to
be used. A lawyer representing the victim, who has been
identified only as “Jackie,” has declined several requests by
the AP to interview Jackie and did not immediately respond to a
request for comment for this article.
The Rolling Stone article, published last month, described a
culture of sexual violence hiding in plain sight at U.Va. The
article has roiled the campus and caused a huge backlash: U.Va.
suspended fraternity activities until January, the Board of
Visitors appointed an independent investigator to look into the
allegations and the university handed the case over to local
police.
The main focus of the piece is an alleged gang rape that Jackie
said happened on Sept. 28, 2012, during her first semester on
campus. In the article, she said she had gone out on a date with
a classmate named “Drew,” who later that night lured her into a
secluded room at a frat house. Once inside the room, she said,
she was raped by a group of seven fraternity brothers while her
date and one other man watched.
As described in the Rolling Stone article, a distraught Jackie
met her three friends at a picnic table in the shadows of the
frat house and tearfully told them what had happened.
While the article said Duffin suggested they take her to the
hospital, it described Stock and Hendley as carrying on a debate
about what would happen to her reputation and theirs should word
get out.
“The three friends launched into a heated discussion about the
social price of reporting Jackie’s rape, while Jackie stood
beside them, mute in her bloody dress, wishing only to go back
to her dorm room and fall into a deep, forgetful sleep,” the
article said. “Detached, Jackie listened as Cindy prevailed over
the group: ‘She’s gonna be the girl who cried rape, and we’ll
never be allowed into any frat party again.’ “
However, Hendley said that not only did she not say any of that,
she had arrived with Stock at the picnic table only to have
Jackie say she didn’t want her to be part of the conversation.
She said she watched from afar while Stock and Duffin talked
with Jackie.
Stock confirmed this account.
http://www.pressherald.com/2014/12/15/alleged-rape-victims-
friends-dispute-rolling-stone-articles-facts/
misstated their reactions to an alleged 2012 gang rape.
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Three friends of an alleged victim of a
gang rape at a University of Virginia frat house say that a
magazine article that used the woman’s attack to paint a picture
of a culture of sexual violence on college campuses was wrong on
a number of key points: most important that they didn’t
encourage her to report the attack and that they were more
concerned about their reputations than her well-being.
One of the friends, a 20-year-old, third-year student referred
to as “Randall” in the Rolling Stone article but whose real name
is Ryan Duffin, said that not only did he encourage the alleged
victim to go to police, but he started to dial 911 on his
cellphone until she begged off, saying she just wanted to go
back to her dorm and go to sleep.
“I couldn’t help but notice that everything that the article
said about me was incorrect,” Duffin said.
The Rolling Stone article set off an intense debate about sexual
violence, alcohol, fraternities and journalism ethics.
The Associated Press also spoke with the other two friends
portrayed in the article: third-year, 20-year-old U.Va. students
Kathryn Hendley and Alex Stock, known as “Cindy” and “Andy” in
the article. None of the three friends was contacted by the
Rolling Stone’s reporter, Sabrina Rubin Erdely, before the
article was published; each of them rejected multiple assertions
made in the article, which has since been retracted.
All three say Erdely has since reached out to them, and Hendley
said Erdely apologized to her for portraying her the way she did.
The three friends say they continue to work on correcting the
record about what happened that night.
“People at U.Va. want answers just as much as I do,” Duffin
says. “But if anything, the takeaway from all this is that I
still don’t really care if what’s presented in this article is
true or not because I think it’s far more important that people
focus on the issue of sexual assault as a whole.”
Other news media have also interviewed the friends but this is
the first time each of them agreed to allow their full names to
be used. A lawyer representing the victim, who has been
identified only as “Jackie,” has declined several requests by
the AP to interview Jackie and did not immediately respond to a
request for comment for this article.
The Rolling Stone article, published last month, described a
culture of sexual violence hiding in plain sight at U.Va. The
article has roiled the campus and caused a huge backlash: U.Va.
suspended fraternity activities until January, the Board of
Visitors appointed an independent investigator to look into the
allegations and the university handed the case over to local
police.
The main focus of the piece is an alleged gang rape that Jackie
said happened on Sept. 28, 2012, during her first semester on
campus. In the article, she said she had gone out on a date with
a classmate named “Drew,” who later that night lured her into a
secluded room at a frat house. Once inside the room, she said,
she was raped by a group of seven fraternity brothers while her
date and one other man watched.
As described in the Rolling Stone article, a distraught Jackie
met her three friends at a picnic table in the shadows of the
frat house and tearfully told them what had happened.
While the article said Duffin suggested they take her to the
hospital, it described Stock and Hendley as carrying on a debate
about what would happen to her reputation and theirs should word
get out.
“The three friends launched into a heated discussion about the
social price of reporting Jackie’s rape, while Jackie stood
beside them, mute in her bloody dress, wishing only to go back
to her dorm room and fall into a deep, forgetful sleep,” the
article said. “Detached, Jackie listened as Cindy prevailed over
the group: ‘She’s gonna be the girl who cried rape, and we’ll
never be allowed into any frat party again.’ “
However, Hendley said that not only did she not say any of that,
she had arrived with Stock at the picnic table only to have
Jackie say she didn’t want her to be part of the conversation.
She said she watched from afar while Stock and Duffin talked
with Jackie.
Stock confirmed this account.
http://www.pressherald.com/2014/12/15/alleged-rape-victims-
friends-dispute-rolling-stone-articles-facts/
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