WASHINGTON — The University of Virginia’s leaders are lashing out at Rolling Stone and promising new, more specific changes in the wake of the article detailing an alleged gang-rape in a fraternity house that the magazine has since said included factual discrepancies.
At a Board of Visitors meeting Friday, UVA President Teresa Sullivan outlined a $3.5 million investment in improved cameras, lighting around the grounds and at intersections, and fencing and lighting around railroad bridges.
The university will also add new counselors to the women’s center and dedicated Title IX coordinators. There will also be new sexual misconduct investigators, a new police sub-station on the Corner, unarmed security officers called ambassadors, student-led security programs, and a study of a late-night transportation program.
The total cost will be at least $2.5 million each year, mainly for the so-called ambassador program, on top of the one-time infrastructure improvements.
The school also plans to expand training for students and staff on sexual assault and alcohol use.
Some of the focus on additional safety measures and counseling is tied not just to the Rolling Stone article, but also to the concerns of parents and alumni after the deaths of three UVA students this semester, including Hannah Graham.
The university plans to pay for the changes by “reallocating cash and reserves”.
The school says some of the changes were already in the works, but have been accelerated in the wake of the reaction to the Rolling Stone article. Sullivan had announced plans for many of the changes in the weeks following the article’s publication.
Sullivan says she is considering requiring students to take sexual misconduct and alcohol training every year, not just prior to registering as a first-year.
Fraternal organizations on the grounds remain banned from holding social functions through the start of the spring semester on Jan. 9. Sullivan says she expects new operational agreements with fraternal groups within the next few weeks, and adds that she plans to seek revised agreements with other student groups.
At the start of the meeting, Rector George Martin attacked Rolling Stone: “Like a neighborhood thrown into chaos by drive-by violence, our tightly knit community has experienced the full fury of drive-by journalism in the 21st century—of callous indifference to the truth and callous indifference to the consequences. “
He said innocent people have been hurt, the school’s reputation has been “unfairly tarnished” and the community has been “cast into self-doubt”. Martin added that the article harmed the effort to root out sexual assault.
The board opened Friday’s meeting by going into closed session to get legal advice about the school’s legal obligations under federal privacy laws, and later concluded with a public briefing on the university’s obligations under the Clery Act and Title IX, including warnings to students of possible crimes on the Grounds.
Even before the Rolling Stone article, the school had been one of dozens under federal investigation over sexual assaults.
Sullivan says UVa. can become a leader in the “culture of reporting”.
