The University of Virginia released more than 100 pages of correspondence with Rolling Stone on December 19, and the name “Jackie,” the source for an alleged gang rape at a fraternity, was never mentioned by Sabrina Rubin Erdely or Rolling Stone fact-checker Elisabeth Garber-Paul.
UVA spokesperson Anthony de Bruyn warns Garber-Paul that Erdely’s story of a woman called “Stacy” who was assaulted in spring 2014 and learned that her assailant had done the same to two other women, is incorrect.
“It has been brought to our attention by a few students that Sabrina has spoken to that she is referencing an incident where a male student raped three different women and received a one-year suspension,” wrote de Bruyn. “That is in fact objectively false.”
When Erdely asked what is incorrect, de Bruyn responded, “Due to privacy concerns, we are unable to be more specific about the spring 2014 case.”
The e-mails also show how UVA gagged two people who are perhaps most knowledgeable about sexual assault at the University—Dean Nicole Eramo and Women’s Center Gender Violence Director Claire Kaplan. UVA’s McGregor McCance wrote to Erdely September 11 that they would be unavailable, but the issue was important enough that she could interview UVA President Teresa Sullivan as the “institutional voice.” McCance also apologized for “the change in direction” in canceling an interview that had been scheduled with Eramo.