Rolling Stone Removed Reference To University Urging Alleged Rape Victim To Tell Police

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Rolling Stone knew that the University of Virginia dean who was handling a gang-rape report had set up two meetings with police so the alleged victim, Jackie, could notify authorities. But the reference to these meetings, lawyers said, was edited out of the article now at the center of a defamation lawsuit.

Lawyers for the dean, Nicole Eramo, revealed in federal court Tuesday that Jackie, a student whose sexual assault case was the centerpiece of a now-retracted 2014 article about campus rape, forwarded an email to Rolling Stone reporter Sabrina Rubin Erdely showing the meetings being arranged. The November 2014 story, “A Rape on Campus,” described Jackie being gang-raped by seven men at the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity house — a claim that was later discredited, and Eramo has filed a defamation suit against the magazine.

Eramo's lawyer, Tom Clare, said during opening statements that in May 2013, the dean told Jackie her alleged assault was “too serious” for informal resolution by the university and that she could pursue a school disciplinary proceeding or go to the police.

In an email Eramo sent to Jackie at that time, which was shown to jurors, she said, “I do want you to continue to consider these options.” Erdely’s story, “A Rape on Campus,” left that part out.

Eramo didn't learn where the alleged assault took place until April 2014, after Jackie told the dean that fraternity men threw a beer bottle at her one night in retaliation to her speaking about the alleged rape. “Jackie tells Nicole [the assault] took place at Phi Psi,” Clare told the jury. Eramo then arranged for two meetings with police so Jackie could report the assault while in her office, but Jackie was unwilling to go forward or allow her name to be shared.

Rolling Stone knew about Eramo arranging these meetings, Clare said, because Jackie forwarded emails to Erderly. A draft of “A Rape on Campus” even included a reference to these meetings, he added, but it was taken out of the final version published in November 2014.

The lawyers also laid out that it wasn’t solely the article that defamed Eramo. Clare argued that comments Erdely made in various interviews to publicize the story defamed his client. Prior to opening statements, interviews Erdely gave to WNYC and a Slate podcast, where the writer said the UVA administration “brushed off” Jackie’s report of a gang rape, were played in court.

The administration “did nothing” with the information Jackie provided, “the administration has a lot of problems,” and the university attempted to “suppress” her from filing a rape report, Erdely said in the interviews.

When Erdely said the “university” or the “administration” downplayed Jackie’s assault, “that could only have been Ms. Eramo, according to ‘A Rape on Campus,’” Clare told the jury.

LINK: Controversial Interview With UVA Dean Allowed In Rolling Stone Trial

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