Phi Kappa Psi at U of Virginia Voluntarily Suspends Activities

[1964Alum]

Originally Posted by pinksequins

Thank you, 1964, for your thoughtful posts on the matter. I particularly liked the points that you made concerning legal discovery and that the poor editorial management compromised any truth in the matter. It's not a black and white situation (where one side is fully truthful and the other not), and we are not yet in possession of all of the facts.

Thank you, pinksequins. No, I don't think we have the whole story as yet. And I would imagine that all parties are pretty much lawyered up at this point and are saying what their lawyers are counseling them to say publicly. Nor do we know what pressures were brought to bear and from where on Rolling Stone to issue its retraction. Or the effect that this kind of trauma would have on an individual's capacity to remember exactly what happened to her. None of this is all black or all white by a long shot.

And honorgirl, no one is being "gullible", in your words, in seeing all these shades of gray in this very complex situation.

Nor do I think the Greek community can issue a collective "exhale" over the more recent Rolling Stone statements.

[honorgal]

Originally Posted by 1964Alum

Thank you, pinksequins.

And honorgirl, no one is being "gullible", in your words, in seeing all these shades of gray in this very complex situation.

I think you have misunderstood my point. First of all, I wasn't referring to anyone here as "gullible". And I wasn't referring to the complexities in the situation, ie, the RS story and whether it is true or not true, or some variation I between.

I was directing that word at the Vox reporter, Sarah Kliff. She bases her entire thesis of what went wrong with the reporting of the story on the "fact" that Jackie said she tried to get herself dropped from the article. Did she get confirmation of that from RS, or even attempt to? If so, she doesn't tell us. Jackie's claim may very well be true, that she did ask. Or it may not be true. We simply have no idea, and Sarah Kliff apparently doesn't either.

If Jackie did try to get dropped from the story, then I agree with Sarah Kliff. And the reporter and RS have even more to answer for than previously thought.

Here's another explaination for what went wrong:

http://www.cjr.org/behind_the_news/r...bin_erdely.php

Nor do I think the Greek community can issue a collective "exhale" over the more recent Rolling Stone statements.

Not sure if this is directed at me, but I agree with you. There are some very loud and powerful voices intent on taking down the Greek system. As with most things, there are good points and negative points about that system. That these voices don't ackowledge the good is obvious. And they therefore are ignoring what might be the very negative consequences of achieving their goals. Does anyone here think that the alcohol culture would disappear without the Greek system? I think a case could be made that it would become worse.

[honorgal]

I'd like to add that we are all subject to biases. I am sure that mine was the basis for my gut reaction to the original story. Over the past decade, all three of my kids have been in the campus setting (my daughter is still in college). Three different schools, in very different geographical locales. All three joined a Greek organization and we have been involved, as parents, in their school communities. In particular, I've spent a lot of time visiting my daughters campus, helped with her group's week long rush as a "Rush mom" and have spent weekends there during the fall football season, interacting with the Greek community at their tailgating and parents activities. To a lesser extent, I did these things at my sons schools too. I've had the pleasure of getting to know some of their friends and aquaintences at all three schools.

I simply could not connect the events and conversations with and reactions from friends that were described in the RS article with any of the college kids I've gotten to know and observed.

We all have biases. We are better off if we examine them critically.