When Rolling Stone apologized for “discrepancies” in a gruesome and galvanizing story of a gang rape at the University of Virginia, members of a first-year English-composition class at the university were among the first to know.
The class happened to meet on Friday afternoon in the upstairs room of a Starbucks across from the campus. Rennie Mapp, a lecturer in the English department, noticed a man working at the table she had reserved. He turned out to be T. Rees Shapiro, a Washington Post reporter who had been investigating the Rolling Stone account. His article, which challenged key elements of the alleged rape at a fraternity party in 2012, was just minutes from being published.
Ms. Mapp asked Mr. Shapiro to speak to her class briefly. He explained how he had found Jackie, the young woman at the center of the story, and had investigated her claims.
After class, a few students offered their thoughts about the revelations in Mr. Shapiro’s article.
“If the details were wrong, they brought harm to other people,” said Danielle G., a first-year student who asked that her last name not be used. Referring to members of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity, she said, “They had to leave the house, their lives were threatened—that’s kind of a big deal, if they had nothing to do with it and they were in danger.”
She and two classmates—Scarlett Bradley, a second-year, and Jamie Cranmer, a first-year—all expressed concern that doubts about Jackie’s story would detract from the issue of sexual assault at the university and at all other colleges.
“On the off-chance the story is true, this is really going to damage her,” Ms. Cranmer said.
‘No One Believed It to Begin With’
Earlier this week, it was hard to find students who openly questioned the gang-rape account. But on Friday afternoon, many students now said they had always wondered if the Rolling Stone story could be completely true.
That said, many students seemed to accept that something terrible had happened to Jackie, and instead focused blame on Rolling Stone’s journalistic standards and a young woman’s memory damaged by trauma.
News quickly spread via Yik Yak, a mobile-phone application popular among college students that allows users to post anonymous comments. By early afternoon, students were discussing the topic around the campus.
Jason Motley, a second-year who was discussing the new development with a friend near the university’s Rotunda, said he had first heard via Yik Yak.
“It looks like the reporter wasn’t super-careful,” he said.
A few of his other friends stopped to discuss the latest.
“I think a lot of people questioned the validity” before Friday, said Morgan Brazel, a first-year student who said she had discussed the initial story with other students on her dormitory hall. “It’s not really a shock or surprise because no one believed it to begin with.”
Ms. Brazel said the new revelations were a “relief” because she hoped they would take the university out of the spotlight.
Matt Pilsch, a first-year student, said he felt “relief that the outside world is seeing that the article wasn’t fair.” “I met people who know the Jackie girl,” he said, “and I don’t doubt she was raped.”
Mr. Motley agreed. “No one is questioning that rape is an issue,” he said. “They’re questioned the way it was reported.”
For Emily Renda, the new reporting comes as a deep disappointment. “I strongly hope that, regardless of what happened with this story … that the momentum that has been built and the amount of women and men who have come forward … will be not ignored,” said Ms. Renda, a recent alumna and a project coordinator in the student-affairs office who works on sexual-assault policy for the university.
“I do think an immense disservice was done to victims everywhere,” she said. “I hope that our focus on this story doesn’t undermine the credibility of survivors everywhere. I hope it doesn’t detract from the seriousness of the issue at hand.”
Ms. Renda said she did not know how the administration planned to respond.
“Frankly, as unbelievable as this may be, our first priority is still Jackie and still her well-being,” Ms. Renda said. “I support her to the utmost of my ability. That’s still my job and still my first concern.”