On November 19, Rolling Stone published “A Rape on Campus: A Brutal Assault and Struggle for Justice at UVA,” written, with all the objectivity of a brainwashed cult member, by the now incommunicado (no doubt on advice of counsel) Sabrina Rubin Erdely. The centerpiece of the article was the alleged fraternity gang rape of a first-year student named Jackie. Although Erdely’s not-fit-for-journalism-junior-college handiwork had doubters from the beginning, on November 22, University of Virginia President Theresa Sullivan, in a decision that would please the late Earl Warren (and his Commission) for its hastiness and liberals everywhere for its political correctness, suspended all social activity for Greek organizations until January 9. Sullivan’s edict started to look a bit hasty when Rolling Stone, on December 5, posted a quasi retraction regarding Erdeley’s word-turd, in which the magazine pusillanimously blamed Jackie the putative victim instead of the author’s apparent unwillingness to do even a Nancy Drew level of investigative work (no more was needed to see that the story was largely, if not entirely, apocryphal). By December 22, the article was so discredited that Rolling Stone announced that it had asked the Columbia Journalism School to investigate how the magazine had botched this one so egregiously.

