Gang Rape Allegations Prompt Suspension of All UVA Greek Organizations

All fraternities and sororities at the University of Virgnia have been suspended for the rest of the semester.

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – An expose that was published last week describing a freshman female’s alleged 2012 gang rape at a Phi Kappa Psi fraternity party has prompted the University of Virginia (UVA) to suspend all fraternity and sorority activities.

The Rolling Stone article describes how a first-year UVA student was sexually assaulted by seven men at a party. It also criticizes the school’s response after the victim reported the crime.

“The wrongs described in Rolling Stone are appalling and have caused all of us to reexamine our responsibility to this community,” said UVA President Teresa Sullivan in a statement released Saturday. “Rape is an abhorrent crime that has no place in the world, let alone on the campuses and grounds of our nation’s colleges and universities.”

As a result, all Greek life at UVA has been suspended until Jan. 9, 2015.

On Friday, Sullivan asked local police to investigate the victim’s claims. She also asked witnesses to the 2012 incident to talk to law enforcement.

“There are individuals in our community who know what happened that night, and I am calling on them to come forward to the police to report the facts,” she said in a statement. “Only you can shed light on the truth, and it is your responsibility to do so.”

Sullivan also pledged to evaluate UVA’s culture and review its policies and procedures involving sexual violence.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons, by Terren

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Robin has been covering the security and campus law enforcement industries since 1998 and is a specialist in school, university and hospital security, public safety and emergency management, as well as emerging technologies and systems integration. She joined CS in 2005 and has authored award-winning editorial on campus law enforcement and security funding, officer recruitment and retention, access control, IP video, network integration, event management, crime trends, the Clery Act, Title IX compliance, sexual assault, dating abuse, emergency communications, incident management software and more. Robin has been featured on national and local media outlets and was formerly associate editor for the trade publication Security Sales & Integration. She obtained her undergraduate degree in history from California State University, Long Beach.

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