UVA Dean Speaks Out for First Time Since “Rolling Stone” Article
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iStock/Thinkstock(CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va.) — University of Virginia Associate Dean of Students Nicole Eramo on Wednesday wrote an open letter to Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner about the magazine’s scathing article last year regarding an alleged sexual assault on campus, calling the accusations contained in the article “malicious and false.”
“In the article and related media appearances, Rolling Stone and [writer of the Rolling Stone article, Sabrina] Ederly stated that I discouraged Jackie from reporting or discussing her alleged assault, that Jackie suffered ‘abuse’ at my hands when she tried to hold the perpetrators accountable, that I called UVA ‘the rape school,’ that I did not ‘support’ Jackie, that I did ‘nothing’ in response to Jackie’s allegations and did not report them to police, and that I sought to ‘suppress’ Jackie’s alleged sexual assault,” Eramo wrote.
In the article, a woman referred to as Jackie claimed to have been assaulted by a group of men at a fraternity party on UVA’s campus.
“Rolling Stone celebrated these malicious and false allegations by accompanying the article with a cartoonish picture of me doctored to appear as though I was smiling and giving a ‘thumbs up’ to a crying victim sitting in my office, while angry potesters marched outside with signs like ‘Stop Victim Blaming,'” the letter continued.
It’s not clear whether Eramo intends to sue the magazine for defamation, though she has retained legal counsel.
The Washington Post published Eramo’s full letter.
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