Tag: phi kappa psi

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In brief: Snake doppelgangers, North Korea release and more

Northern copperhead is the venomous snake you're most likely to encounter here. Note the Hershey’s Kiss-like pattern. Photo John White, Virginia Herpetological Society

Don’t tread on these

Venomous snakes and their harmless twins

Along with mosquitoes and ticks, other bites to avoid this summer are from snakes. The good news is, only two of Virginia’s three venomous species—the timber rattlesnake and northern copperhead—are found in the Charlottesville area, while the eastern cottonmouth hangs in the southeastern part of the state.

Timber Rattlesnake1-JohnWhite
Timber rattlesnake: Look for the rattle. Photo John White, Virginia Herpetological Society
Eastern Cottonmouth2-JohnWhite
Eastern cottonmouth: Not found around here Photo John White, Virginia Herpetological Society

And according to the Centers for Disease Control, only about five people a year die from snakebites in the United States.

It’s illegal to kill a snake in Virginia unless it poses an imminent threat. Unfortunately for some harmless snakes, their resemblance to the copperhead makes them targets for jittery humans. Fry’s Spring was in an uproar recently when a non-venomous species mistaken for a copperhead was killed. Michael Salotti, president of the Virginia Herpetological Society, advises, “A good rule to use for copperheads is their pattern resembles Hershey’s Kisses on their sides.”

If bitten by a venomous snake, remove jewelry in case of swelling and seek medical attention, he says. There’s no need to try to capture the snake because the same antivenin works for all the state’s native species.

And if you encounter a snake, Salotti says, “The best advice is to leave the snake alone.” Snakes are not aggressive and are quite beneficial to the ecosystem, he adds. And the eastern kingsnake will eat copperheads, although the majority of the 18 species documented in Albemarle County are ophiophagous—that’s Greek for “snake eating.”

Harmless look-a-likes

EasternRatsnake(Juvenile)_JohnWhiteEastern ratsnake

NorthernBlackRacer-Juvenile_JohnWhiteNorthern black racer (juvenile)

NorthernWatersnake_JohnWhiteNorthern watersnake

Photos John White—Virginia Herpetological Society

Homecoming

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson announces North Korea’s June 13 release of UVA student Otto Warmbier, who was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor in March 2016 for allegedly stealing a propaganda-related banner while visiting the country, according to the Associated Press. The Washington Post reports he’s been in a coma since his trial.

Unsolicited advice

The Rutherford Institute’s John Whitehead advises Charlottesville Police, as it deals with confrontations over the Robert E. Lee statue and the upcoming KKK rally, to avoid “heavy-handed, militarized, shock-and-awe tactics,” and suggests instead that cops shake protesters’ hands and thank them for exercising their First Amendment rights.

“KKK is not my scene.”—UVA alum Richard Spencer, who led the May 13 tiki-torch procession, in a text to the Washington Post

Jim Murray’s latest gig

James Murray joins the UVA Board of Visitors with previous experience on the College of William & Mary BOV. Photo courtesy James Murray
Charlottesville native son and venture capitalist James B. Murray Jr., former Columbia Capital partner of Senator Mark Warner, was elected vice rector by UVA’s Board of Visitors and will take the rector-in-waiting position July 1, when Frank M. “Rusty” Connor III begins a two-year term as rector. Murray served as William & Mary’s rector in the ’90s.

James B. Murray Jr. Submitted

Ragged Mountain litigation covered

Charlottesville’s insurance carrier, the Virginia Municipal League, which declined to cover litigation stemming from City Council’s vote to remove the Lee statue, will cover the city’s legal bills from a lawsuit filed by Albemarle County over mountain biking at Ragged Mountain Natural Area. According to the Daily Progress, the city filed a counterclaim June 7 seeking an order that the county repeal its law prohibiting biking at the reservoir.

Rolling Stone settles

The magazine will pay Phi Kappa Psi $1.65 million to settle the UVA fraternity chapter’s lawsuit that it was defamed in the now-debunked 2014 story, “A Rape on Campus.” Rolling Stone also settled with former dean Nicole Eramo after a jury awarded her $3 million last fall.

Gay bashing

State Senator Bryce Reeves, who represents eastern Albemarle and is running for lieutenant governor, criticized opponent Jill Holtzman Vogel for voting to confirm “the first openly gay judge in Virginia,” Tracy Thorne-Begland. That, says the Richmond Times-Dispatch in an op-ed, disqualifies him from higher office.

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Fraternity knew Jackie’s claims sketchy, but kept silent, says Rolling Stone

After the Rolling Stone article was published in 2014, angry protesters gathered outside the Phi Psi house. Photo Martyn Kyle

The national Phi Kappa Psi organization was in court last week seeking to quash subpoenas from Rolling Stone, which contends both the national and UVA chapter of the fraternity knew there were “factual discrepancies” in Jackie’s story of a gang rape before the magazine published its now infamous “A Rape on Campus,” but kept quiet about those discrepancies to both Rolling Stone and to UVA then-associate dean Nicole Eramo.

Had the fraternity spoken up, the article “never would have been published,” said Rolling Stone in a court document.

The local Phi Kappa Psi chapter, scene of Jackie’s tale of a now-discredited alleged gang rape, is suing Rolling Stone for $25 million, the third defamation case stemming from the November 19, 2014, article.

Last fall, a jury awarded Eramo $3 million, a verdict Rolling Stone is trying to get set aside. And a suit filed by three fraternity brothers was thrown out.

At the April 5 hearing, the attorney for the national Phi Kappa Psi organization argued it was a separate legal entity from the local chapter. Rolling Stone’s subpoenas seeking information from all 99 chapters was “absolutely invasive” and “absolutely unnecessary,” said attorney Dirk McClanahan. “They don’t need to hunt down our dirty laundry.”

While the local chapter will produce the documents requested, he said, “The guys in Des Moines who are busted for hazing or drinking are categorically irrelevant.”

Rolling Stone attorney Jonathon Fazzola disagreed and said embarrassing members affect both the national organization and chapters throughout the country. “They’re inextricably linked,” he said.

Two months before the Rolling Stone story was published, said Fazzola, the national organization was contacted by UVA with Jackie’s allegations. It sent someone to the chapter to investigate, and prepared talking points to the media and training sessions—and consulted attorneys about libel.

Fazzola further argued that Phi Psi initially found Jackie’s allegations plausible because “it knows its own culture” and that its investigation “could be an admission it knows its own reputation.”

While Judge Richard Moore found the latter “a stretch,” he acknowledged Rolling Stone’s efforts. “If they can show [Phi Kappa Psi] already had a lousy reputation,” the article “can’t hurt it,” he said.

Moore also mentioned 2006, the year Liz Seccuro saw charges brought against Phi Psi member William Beebe for a 1984 rape at the UVA chapter. His involvement came to light when he wrote an apology letter to her 21 years later as part of a 12-step program. Beebe was convicted and served 18 months in prison.

‘It’s relevant that there have been sexual assault allegations at chapters,” said Rolling Stone attorney Liz McNamara, who defended the magazine in last fall’s federal court trial.

Rolling Stone also argued that the national fraternity did not have standing to quash the subpoenas because it was not a party in the suit, pointing out that its insurer, Holmes Murphy & Associates, had not objected to the discovery requests.

McClanahan maintained that the national org “is a victim here, too,” and that Rolling Stone had an agenda against all fraternities. He said the magazine’s 29 subpoenas are “unduly burdensome” and an attempt to “terrorize” the chapters.

“They’re saying, ‘We believe Phi Kappa Psi could be institutionalizing rape and we want to explore that further,’” said McClanahan. “What we’re getting is blind conjecture.”

Judge Moore took a break to read the subpoenas. Upon his return, he said, “I’m just not persuaded most of what’s asked for is relevant. Most are too broad.”

He quashed 13 of Rolling Stone’s 29 subpoenas.

After the hearing, Rolling Stone seemed undeterred by the denials.

“The local fraternity here is seeking a whopping $25 million in damages,” said McNamara in an email. ”Clearly their reputation is intertwined with the national reputation of Phi Kappa Psi.” PKP national has been very involved from the outset, she said, “and we believe it’s appropriate to get discovery from the national organization, and the judge agreed with us on that point.”

The case is scheduled for a 10-day jury trial starting October 23.

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Flurry of filings in Rolling Stone lawsuits

Phi Kappa Psi. File photo

Last week saw one lawsuit against Rolling Stone dismissed, while Sabrina Rubin Erdely filed an 86-page statement about how she reported the UVA-rocking article “A Rape on Campus,” and plaintiff Nicole Eramo asked for several issues to be determined in advance of her October defamation trial against the magazine and Erdely.

On June 29 a judge dismissed a lawsuit brought by Phi Kappa Psi brothers George Elias IV, Stephen Hadford and Ross Fowler, who were not named in the article.

A dozen documents were filed July 1, including Eramo’s request for a partial summary judgment on issues such as whether she was a public figure, whether the depiction that she discouraged Jackie from reporting her alleged assault is defamatory and whether Rolling Stone acted with malice when it republished the article online December 5, 2014, after Erdely sent an e-mail at 1:54am with her realization Jackie was not credible and the story should be retracted.

Until those early morning hours, wrote Erdely, she had complete faith in Jackie’s credibility and the accuracy of her story. “I never would have written or published an article in which I did not have complete confidence,” she said.

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Frat brothers’ defamation case thrown out

Phi Kappa Psi. File photo

A New York federal judge dismissed a defamation lawsuit on June 29 filed by three members of Phi Kappa Psi against Rolling Stone and writer Sabrina Rubin Erdely for the now-discredited 2014 story, “A Rape on Campus.”

“Their defamation claims are directed toward a report about events that simply did not happen,” wrote U.S. District Judge P. Kevin Castel in his decision.

George Elias IV, Stephen Hadford and Ross Fowler were UVA students in 2012, when the alleged rape occurred, although a Charlottesville Police investigation later determined no evidence the gang rape described in Erdely’s article ever took place. None of the plaintiffs were identified by name, but they claim that the article’s references to the attackers inadvertently involved them—even though they also claim that the same attackers were invented by “Jackie.”

The three fraternity members said the story could have prompted friends, family and peers to erroneously deduce that they were participants in the gang rape.

Elias said it could be inferred from the description of the room where the purported rape occurred that it was the room he lived in for two years and the only one accessible at the top of the stairs without an electronic keypad lock.

“Now, climbing the frat-house stairs with Drew, Jackie felt excited,” said the article. “Drew ushered Jackie into a bedroom, shutting the door behind them.”

Castel disagreed, and said that while Elias had one of several bedrooms on the second floor, the article did not identify him.

Fowler’s qualms arose with the story’s insinuations that the alleged gang rape was a requirement for initiation with its statements such as, “Don’t you want to be a brother?” and “We all had to do it, so you do, too.” As the fraternity’s rush chair, he alleged the story directly implies that he was the maestro behind the heinous acts described.

Fowler further claims that as an avid swimmer who frequented UVA’s Aquatic Center, readers would automatically associate him as one of the rape’s perpetrators.

Judge Castel didn’t buy those claims either, and said Fowler relied on an interpretation at odds with the surrounding context created by the article and said a “strained or artificial construction” could not be made defamatory.

“Essentially, real people don’t have a right to sue when someone makes up fictitious people that in some way resembles them,” says legal expert David Heilberg.

Hadford, a 2013 UVA graduate, continued to live on Grounds for 15 months after graduation and frequently rode his bike between his residence and his job at UVA Medical Center’s emergency department. According to Jackie, former associate dean Nicole Eramo claimed all of Jackie’s perpetrators had graduated, yet, Jackie had seen one riding his bicycle that same day she talked to Eramo.

“Friends, family, and acquaintances of Hadford would have made the connection that Hadford must have been the person who Jackie saw riding his bike on campus,” he claimed in his suit. The judge denied this allegation because the article failed to provide additional details of the bike rider.

This is one of three cases that Rolling Stone and Erdely faces. Phi Kappa Psi also filed a defamation suit, and another hearing in Eramo’s lawsuit is scheduled August 12 in Roanoke.