Rolling Stone’s sensational article about a gang rape at a University of Virginia fraternity is under intense scrutiny after the magazine issued a statement saying the publication no longer stood by its story.
That, along with a Washington Post interview with the student at the center of the allegation, Jackie, and the fraternity’s response, have revealed discrepancies both in Jackie’s own telling of the story and with other accounts.
Jackie’s own discrepancies
1. Jackie’s description of the man she said attacked her
In the original Rolling Stone article, the man who allegedly lead Jackie upstairs at the fraternity house to be raped was described as a “handsome Phi Kappa Psi brother” who worked at the campus pool as a lifeguard with her. She reportedly told Rolling Stone that she was excited to have been asked on a date by a member of this particular fraternity.
In a story that appeared Friday, Jackie told the Washington Post that she didn’t know whether the man was a member of the fraternity. The Post noted that this “contradicted an earlier interview” with Jackie.
Jackie also told the Post the reason she even knew the attack happened at the Phi Psi fraternity was “because a year afterward my friend pointed out the building to me and said that’s where it happened.”
Further, the Post points out that Jackie provided the name of her alleged attacker to her friends, who quickly discovered he didn’t match the description she had given.
“The friends determined that the student that Jackie had named was not a member of Phi Kappa Psi and that other details about his background did not match up with information Jackie had disclosed earlier about her perpetrator,” the Post’s T. Rees Shapiro wrote.
The Post called the man, who said he knew who Jackie was but had never met her in person. The man did work at the pool but was not a member of Phi Psi.
Phi Psi, in a statement released by its lawyer Friday, said that no members of the fraternity were employees of the U.Va. Aquatic and Fitness Center in 2012.
2. How many men Jackie said raped her
Jackie told Rolling Stone that seven men raped her while two more, including the man who lead her to the party, cheered them on. Rolling Stone reported that Jackie remembered every moment of her three-hour ordeal.
Jackie also told the Post that she remembered the events of that night clearly.
Emily Renda, one of the few people named in the Rolling Stone article, told the Post that Jackie initially told her she was raped by five students, but that her story changed a few months later.
“I don’t even know what I believe at this point,” Renda said regarding Jackie’s discrepancies. But Renda said she hoped Jackie will address those concerns.
Discrepancies between Jackie’s account and the fraternity’s
3. When the attack would have occurred
Jackie has been adamant that she was raped on Sept. 28, 2012 at a “date function” at the Phi Psi house. Her account in Rolling Stone describes the party being crowded with students drinking beer and dancing as loud music played.
A statement from the chapter’s lawyer said no such social event happened during the weekend Jackie claimed.
4. Whether the attack was a fraternity initiation
Jackie told Rolling Stone that while she was being raped, she heard one man ask a student having trouble raping her “Don’t you want to be a brother?” She heard another one say: “We all had to do it, so you do, too.”
Phi Psi said that pledging and initiation periods take place only in the spring semester.
“We document the initiation of new members at the end of each spring,” the fraternity said. “Moreover, no ritualized sexual assault is part of our pledging or initiation process. This notion is vile, and we vehemently refute this claim.”
What really happened?
We may never know for sure. Jackie told the Post she had been diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder. Something may have happened to her, maybe even on the night she claims, but at a different place under different circumstances. For now, only a police investigation can figure that out, which is going to be difficult, considering the alleged incident occurred two years ago and physical evidence may no longer exist.
