Charlottesville Police Department officials have told the University of Virginia that there was no substantive basis for the gang-rape allegations lodged against a fraternity in a November Rolling Stone article.
The police began investigating the claim that a freshman U.Va. student was gang-raped by seven men (or five men, or forced to perform oral sex on five men) immediately following an explosive article in Rolling Stone that has since been discredited.
In a press release announcing the reinstatement of Phi Kappa Psi, the fraternity accused of committing the gang rape as part of an initiation, U.Va. officials said they were told by police that the incident couldn’t have occurred at that particular university.
Captain Gary Pleasants, in an e-mail to the Washington Examiner, emphasized that the department’s communication to the university does not mean the investigation is concluded, just that there was “no substantive basis that the alleged incident occurred at THAT fraternity.”
“We are still investigating and will release a statement once that investigation has been completed,” Pleasants added.
Following the allegations put forth in Rolling Stone without any corroboration, U.Va.’s chapter of Phi Psi voluntarily surrendered its Fraternal Organization Agreement with the university and suspended all chapter activities during the investigation. U.Va. also suspended social activities for all campus Greek organizations until Jan. 9.
Now Phi Psi is being reinstated, and Stephen Scipione, president of Virginia Alpha Chapter Phi Kappa Psi, reminded everyone to wait until all the facts are in before rushing to judgment in the future.
“In today’s 24-hour news cycle, we must guard against a rush to judgment as we often don’t have all of the facts in front of us,” Scipione said. The fraternity had been vandalized, with members being branded as rapists, following the initial allegations.
